Pet Boutique on the Upper East Side: Canine Styles Guide

Canine Styles keeps its flagship at 830 Lexington Avenue, between 63rd and 64th Streets on the Upper East Side, and the posted hours are Monday to Saturday, 9 to 6. It is the pet boutique New York dog owners mean when they say the oldest one in town: the business dates to 1959, and the shop calls itself New York's oldest and finest dog emporium. Inside you get coats cut for dogs from 3 pounds to 120 pounds, carriers, beds, treats and a grooming room.

Canine Styles opened in 1959 and has been run for years by Mark Drendel and Chad Conway. Drendel's own story is part of the lore: he started in the pet trade as a salesperson in the late 1980s after calling Canine Styles, where he already brought his own dogs for grooming. The shop has been featured in Vogue, O Magazine, In Style and The New York Times Style Section, and it appeared on the Today Show. It sells an exclusive line made for and by Canine Styles instead of simply reselling other labels, and it releases two new collections a year.

The flagship you walk into today was redone in February 2017. Interior designer David Kleinberg grew the shop from 400 to 1,000 square feet and aimed for an English country house: oak cabinetry, brass fixtures, an old-world feel that looks nothing like a big-box pet aisle. The owners said they wanted customers to feel at home because regulars are like family.

The strongest section is outerwear, because the shop designs it. The website lists barn coats from $95, down puffer coats from $165 and dog raincoats from $60. A cashmere solid sweater is $265, a hand-knitted Nantucket wool sweater starts at $100, and the Alqo Wasi heritage alpaca sweater is $135. These are the pieces that explain why a Lexington Avenue dog boutique survives next to Madison Avenue: the cuts are classic, the fabrics are real, and the fit range is wide.

Away from coats, the carriers are the other signature. The Montee Puffer Carrier is $435 online, and the original flagship launch highlighted travel carriers in five sizes and fifteen colors in wool, cashmere and cotton canvas. A Lounger Bed starts at $250, and a Blue Chinoiserie small dog bowl is $75. If you only need a gift, the toys and treats sit at the low end: a Duckie McBeak toy is $15, a cotton rope bone is $16, and the holiday treat box is $18.

Our honest read: skip the cheapest rope toys here unless you are filling a gift bag, since they are not what the shop is known for, and spend on one well-fitted coat instead. A coat for a small dog you carry through a Manhattan winter earns its price faster than a bed does,.

Grooming is the other half of the business, and the way it works is unusual. The shop offers a Hair Cut, a Bath and a Bath Plus. The haircut is a scissor cut by master groomers, with a brush-out, a shampoo bath and conditioner rinse, a hand-dryer blow-out, nail cutting and a sanitation clip. Bath Plus covers the same bath, sanitation clips, nails and blow-out without the cut.

The house rules are written on the website: no cage dryers, no sedatives of any kind, and no rough handling. Every grooming station stays visible to the public at all times, so you can see how your dog is treated from the sales floor. A full groom takes about three hours, and the shop will take longer if your dog needs it.

The flagship is open Monday to Saturday, 9 to 6, and the website does not list Sunday hours for this store. Opening time at 9 on a weekday is the simplest way to get a quiet fitting, since the shop is a single room of about 1,000 square feet. Bring the dog's chest and neck measurements and the length from collar to tail base so a coat can be matched quickly.

If the flagship is crowded, the same company runs an Uptown shop on Lexington Avenue at 81st and 82nd Streets, open Monday to Saturday 9 to 6, and a Westside shop on Broadway at 78th Street, open Monday to Saturday 9 to 6 and Sunday 11 to 6. The Westside store is the only one with posted Sunday hours, so it is the plan B if your errand falls on a Sunday.

The flagship sits three avenues east of Fifth Avenue, mid-block between 63rd and 64th Streets. The closest subway is Lexington Av/63 St, served by the F and Q, and the 4, 5, 6, N, R and W stop a few blocks south at Lexington Av/59 St. Dogs ride the subway only in a carrier, which is one more reason the Canine Styles carriers sell well: a bag that fits under the seat is what turns a Saturday shop run into an easy trip.

After you buy, walk west to the Central Park Zoo side of the park, where Fifth Avenue meets 64th Street, and loop through the park's southeast corner with the new coat on. Or head back along Lexington toward Bloomingdale's and the 59th Street corridor, for a stretch of sidewalk shops. Both walks run under fifteen minutes and give a new sweater a real test in cold wind.

The size range is the draw: the shop says its coats fit dogs from 3 pounds to 120 pounds, which covers a carried Chihuahua and a Great Dane alike. Owners of cold-sensitive small breeds and owners of large dogs who cannot find a coat past a standard XL are the people this range is built for.

The one rule worth following is to bring the dog: a coat that fits on the rack is not always the coat that fits the dog, and the shop keeps its grooming stations in public view, so a dog in the shop is part of the routine. Browsing without a dog is fine if you only want to look at the collection. The full range is also on caninestyles.com.

Canine Styles Flagship, 830 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10065, between 63rd and 64th Streets. Hours: Monday to Saturday, 9 to 6, as listed on caninestyles.com/pages/locations. Prices quoted above come from the shop's own website product pages. Grooming is by appointment through the shop. Bring your dog's measurements, and if you plan to carry your dog onto the subway, buy the carrier here first and walk the first block with the dog in it.