A LETTER FROM A READER
My Walking Group Asked Why My Dog Has Better Sunglasses Than They Do
I've never written anything like this before, and I'm not entirely sure why I'm doing it now, except that so many people have asked me the same question this month that it seemed easier to just write it all down once.
Why does your dog have better sunglasses than I do?
That's what Marion asked, on our Tuesday walk, when I mentioned where the basket by my back door had come from. She wasn't talking about Brooky's actual sunglasses. She meant the ones on the basket.
I did not choose that, not really. Nobody decides to buy something ugly. You buy the cheap plastic one meaning to replace it, and then ten years go by.
HOW IT HAPPENS
You don't set out to have a "dog corner." It just happens. The leash by the door. The half-chewed toys nobody puts away. The towel from the last walk in the rain, still slightly damp, draped over whatever's nearest.
So you buy a bin. Any bin. The plastic one from the hardware shop, because it was there and it was cheap, and you tell yourself you'll sort it out properly one day.
Ten years later, "one day" still hasn't come.
WHAT I HAD WRONG
Here's where I got it wrong, in two ways.
The first was assuming it had to be one or the other: something pretty that you display, or something sturdy you actually use for the mess. Not both. It turns out that's not true. It's quilted fabric, properly structured, not the flimsy sort that collapses the second it's not stuffed full. Sturdy handles for carrying it through to wherever it's going. And it holds its shape. Pop a towel or a couple of toys inside and it stands there, crisp and straight, not sagging the way the old one always did.
The second was a bit sillier, if I'm honest. I worried anything this cheerful covered in dogs in sunglasses would look like a novelty item, not something you'd actually want in a proper hallway. It doesn't. It's properly illustrated, the kind of thing that makes people smile rather than wonder what's wrong with you.
See The Dog CollectionMine Is Happy Dogs
It's from Olivia Bennett Melbourne, a small Australian shop that's spent thirteen years making the everyday things in our homes a little less forgettable. Mine has five dogs on it, each one in its own coloured sunglasses. Red, orange, pink, magenta, against a background that looks like someone tipped out a box of flowers. It has no business making me laugh every time I walk past it, but it does. Brooky has a bit of that energy herself, if I'm honest. She's never once acted like an old dog.
WHAT HAPPENED WHEN PEOPLE CAME ROUND
It lives in the open now, by the back door where Brooky's things always end up anyway.
Four different people have asked about it this month alone. Marion, on our Tuesday walk. Another woman from the group the week after. And now my daughter, who has started checking whenever she visits.
Nobody has ever asked about the plastic bin. Not once, in ten years.
THREE THINGS I HAVE LEARNED SINCE
One. It's not just for one thing. I use mine for Brooky's toys most days, but it's swallowed wet towels after a beach walk, spare leads, even a bag of dog food for a week when the pantry was being repainted.
Two. It arrives a little flat, and that's normal. Mine looked slightly squashed straight out of the box. It's soft fabric, not a rigid shell, so it travels compressed. A minute of gently shaping it by hand and it stood right up. Once I had a couple of towels in there, it held its shape perfectly, crisp and straight, no help needed after that.
Three. It's printed, not embroidered. I'll admit I assumed otherwise at first glance. It's a proper high-detail print, not stitched thread, which is exactly why it wipes clean so easily and why the colour hasn't faded a bit, even after a few washes.
ABOUT THE PRICE
I'll be straightforward about this, because that was the thing that made me suspicious too.
Happy Dogs is $64.95 AUD. It was $219.95 AUD.
My first thought was that it was a lot for a laundry basket. Then I thought about what it was actually replacing: the same tired plastic bin every dog owner seems to end up with somewhere, the kind that goes scratched and cloudy within a year, the kind you don't really want to put your hand into to dig out the ball Brooky's after. I'd have kept replacing that same ugly bin every couple of years regardless, and never once liked it.
It's from Olivia Bennett Melbourne, a small Australian shop. She closes up shop after thirteen years there this month, and the shop is clearing what's left before it does. Once a design like this sells out, it isn't coming back.
See The Dog CollectionWHAT I WOULD TELL YOU IF WE WERE FRIENDS
If you and I were sitting in my kitchen and you asked me about this, here's what I'd say.
Have a look at whatever's currently holding your dog's things. If it's a bin you didn't really choose because it was just there, it was cheap and it did the job, this is worth a look.
It's a small thing. But the small things you look at every day add up to how the whole room feels.
Marion asked about the sunglasses before she asked about anything else on that basket. I still laugh about it.
— Allison
HAPPY DOGS | QUILTED STORAGE BASKET
$219.95 AUD $64.95 AUD
- Soft quilted fabric with a colorful sunglasses-dog print, all round
- Printed design, wipes clean, colour doesn't fade
- Stands upright once shaped, holds its form beautifully once filled
- Folds flat to store or take with you
- Three sizes, from dog toys to a family's worth of towels
- Free Australia Delivery
Moving Sale on now. Once these designs sell out, they're gone for good.