He’s here every morning, and he keeps punctual office hours. A photo of him in office attire, complete with necktie, hangs by the door. From his perch in a comfy seat by the counter, he scopes out the customers as they enter, or takes an interested glance at the products that employees carry past. Sometimes, he naps on the job. You might think Sylar owns the place.
In truth, he’s just the canine mascot at Pet Place Market in North Bend. But the truth is that Sylar has got quite a bit in common with Brenna Schoultz, the owner of both Pet Place Market and him.
“He comes to work every single day, sits up here and greets people,” Schoultz said of the 6-year-old toy Manchester terrier. “Sometimes growls at people. Everybody knows him.”
Brenna Schoultz has owned Pet Place Market, formerly Renaissance Pet Boutique and Spa, for five years. She admits that Sylar looks a bit like her. She’s also noticed the same trend among other Valley residents and their animals. That’s why she’s organizing a dog-and-owner look-alike contest, part of the pet events at this weekend’s Festival at Mount Si.
“We’ve got a lot of customers who look like their pets, even though they don’t know it,” Schoultz said. “So we decided to change things up a little bit.”
Instead of a talent show and pet beauty pageant, two events are planned: The lookalike competition and an ugliest dog contest that asks the question, “Is your mutt’s mug so ugly only you could love it? “
The poster shows the mug of a Chinese crested dog, famed for their lack of looks.
The dog-owner lookalike contest is 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 12, at the children’s area at the Festival at Mount Si at Si View Park. The ugliest dog competition follows at 4:30 p.m.
Register at Pet Place Market, 213 Bendigo Blvd N Ste 2, North Bend · (425) 888-8828
Families and children are welcome to take part in the lookalike contest, and the Market has a selection of items to help dogs dress up.
Always together
Counting the similarities, both Sylar and his owner are brown-eyed. Schoultz has long, dark hair. Sylar has a sleek black coat.
“We both like to sleep,” said Schoultz, watching Sylar curl up in his elevated dog bed. “If I could sleep all day, I would.”
“He’s pretty spoiled,” she added. “I wish I was that spoiled.” Sylar loves being with Schoultz, and she loves being at her job.
“I like curing dogs, helping people with some of the same issues I had,” she says, “helping them gain knowledge and teaching them that there’s more to a dog than just being a dog.”
