Dogs popular in K-dramas, Korea now available in Taguig
MANILA, Philippines — Besides compelling storylines and cute "oppas," Korean dramas make a dent on fans’ memories because of the stars’ fluffy fur babies!
Who could ever forget Park Seo-joon’s Simba? Park Min-young’s Leon? Or Choi Han-sung's (Lee Sun-kyun) adorable Terry from “Coffee Prince”?
Luckily for K-drama fans and non-fans alike, some of these Instagrammable “gang-aji” (Korean for puppy or pet dog) are now more accessible via Pretty Bubble Boutique in Two Parkade, 30th Street in Bonifacio Global City (BGC), Taguig City.
Pretty Bubble Boutique in BGC is the third branch of Pretty Bubble Dog, an original concept that opened in South Korea in 1995. The premium pet shop expanded to the Philippines in 2015 with a store in Cebu City.
Following its success in Cebu, the store has now extended its teacup and toy dog breeds, premium pet supplies and pet care services to Metro Manila, its new flagship store in the country.
“We stayed here in the Philippines for almost 20 years and the pet industry (if) compared to Korea and here, the gap is quite big,” Soyoung Shin, the brand’s co-owner, told Philstar.com in an exclusive interview at the shop’s BGC opening last week.
“In Korea, the pet industry is like the same in humans, they (the pets) have boarding school training, very high-end grooming, so the breeding facilities are licensed to ensure customers that we are bringing a healthy puppy.”
According to Soyoung, their brand aims to replicate Korea’s pet industry “exactly” in the Philippines.
“We started back in 2015 and saw a lot of families happy and coming back for us that’s why we decided to expand and welcome everyone here.”
From Pretty Bubble Dog, the BGC branch now carries the “boutique” name because it aims not to become just any other pet shop, said Shin.
“We decided (that) it’s also a boutique where also humans can go to the boutique store for their gift or for someone’s gift to buy high-end products and services,” she explained. “In the same way, pets deserve (high-end services and products) because they give unconditional love to their families, so we want them to feel like this is their home.”
For now, the boutique carries no cats and only over 25 dog breeds, including poodle, long-haired Dachshund, Coton de Tulear, Shiba Inu, Yorkshire Terrier, Pomeranian, Maltipoo and Bichon Frise, the breed of Park Seo-joon’s Simba.
All of the dogs came from Korea and are very popular there, said Shin. The puppies come in “very limited quantities” and with “no exact schedule” for restocking because the store makes sure to pick the best ones from their partner breeders to ensure that the puppies’ are at peak of health. Shin said their brand has formed a relationship with their partner Korean breeders for over 10 years.
“For them to be cleared for travel (from Korea), they (the puppies) should have at least the five-in-one vaccine and anti-rabies,” Soyoung said of the initial injections the puppies have upon purchase.
The puppies range from four to nine months old. Some families prefer older dogs especially if they have infants or toddlers in the house, shared Soyoung. She recommended Poodle, Maltese and Maltipoo breeds for those looking for hypo-allergenic ones.
Besides having the K-drama pets, the boutique itself looks like a K-drama set with its minimalist but classy interiors by Filipino interior designer Nicole Tan.
The keys to her design, Tan told Philstar.com, are easy-to-clean dark tiled floors and transparent cases (not cages) that target to conjure a loving environment for the dogs.
“We want to (highlight) the boutique’s premium services while balancing it out to make everyone feel welcome and happy,” Tan enthused.
“One of the things that we deliberately did was the dark flooring so that the puppies, their white fur, would stand out… We want to give them a wide big space. We don’t want them to feel confined. That’s why the space, we maximized it with high ceiling and we made it very airy and bright. So instead of making them feel like they’re caged, we make them feel like they’re in for a relaxing treatment.”
Likewise, for the new “pawrents” of the boutique’s fur babies, Tan advised them to house their dogs in a similar environment like the boutique.
“Any kind of loving atmosphere is okay, just as long as the pet has space also and they would feel loved by any family.”
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