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Dolce & Gabbana has a new fragrance -- and it's for dogs

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Dolce & Gabbana has a new fragrance. I'm told it smells of sandalwood and musk, and the bottle is adorned with a gold-plated paw.

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

A paw - is it for dogs?

FADEL: Apparently. It's called Fefe. And for just $99...

MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).

FADEL: ...It could be yours, A.

MARTÍNEZ: Doggone it. I mean, do dogs think it smells good?

FADEL: We ran that by Dr. Ann Hohenhaus. She's a senior veterinarian at the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center in New York City.

ANN HOHENHAUS: Dogs experience their world through their nose. You and I have 5 million receptors for smell in our nose. And the dog has 30 million.

MARTÍNEZ: OK, so what I think smells nice could smell different to a dog.

FADEL: And probably overwhelming - dogs also have different cleaning rituals than we do.

HOHENHAUS: We don't lick ourselves, and dogs lick themselves all over. So is this going to cause any mouth irritation or any tummy upset in dogs?

MARTÍNEZ: So that sounds like a problem, I got to say.

FADEL: The instructions say to spray the fragrance on human hands or a brush and then rub it on the dog so you don't get it in their eyes.

HOHENHAUS: We see dogs all the time that have been to a grooming parlor and gotten soap in their eye. And then they got an ulcer on the clear part of their eye or the cornea.

MARTÍNEZ: So, Leila, I mean, is this a product even humans want, or is it barking up the wrong tree?

FADEL: I mean - I don't know - it sounds like it. We talked to Jess Rona, a Los Angeles groomer. She says none of her clients have asked for something like this.

JESS RONA: I'm not a fan of dog perfumes. I don't think the dogs love it.

MARTÍNEZ: Wow. This is getting rougher and rougher.

FADEL: So if your dog smells, Dr. Hohenhaus says a fragrance probably won't solve the problem.

HOHENHAUS: They might have bad teeth. They might have diabetes, which gives them a funny smell. They could have cancer somewhere that smells bad. And they could also have a skin infection.

FADEL: And Jess Rona, the dog groomer, says try a nice bath.

RONA: When you have a beautiful bath and the dog is squeaky clean, you don't really need to add perfume.

MARTÍNEZ: There you go. So in conclusion, just take care of your dog's health and maybe bathe them from time to time.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HOUND DOG")

ELVIS PRESLEY: (Singing) You ain't nothing but a hound dog. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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