This week, just as I was getting sick and tired of it raining cats and dogs in New York (to think, me, tired of cats and dogs… never), Lucky and I jetted over to weather-purrfect LA to catch up with Maui and Blondie. I know what you’re thinking – how was I going to find a Hawaiian Island and a 70s rock band in LA? Well I didn’t just find Maui and Blondie, I found them with their owner, High School Musical star Ashley Tisdale.
Tisdale sat down with Lucky and I to give us the exclusive interview on her two Maltipoos. Blondie (not named after the band) is very close with Tisdale’s father and is more of an introvert while Maui (named after Tisdale’s favorite destination) goes everywhere with the young starlet. Maui is in the spotlight so much that she even got a cameo in the upcoming High School Musical 3. As soon as Lucky heard the news she immediately wanted to know whose behind she has to sniff to get a part in the next HSM flick.
As for Maui and her HSM co-star, Zac Efron? Tisdale tells us, “She loves Zac. Zac’s her boyfriend!” But don’t think fellow HSMer and Efron’s beaux, Vanessa Hudgen gets jealous. Tisdale told us, “She’s okay with it. She’s in love.” I guess there are no complaints when it comes to Efron, Tisdale told us herself that if Efron was a dog he would be a “very good looking dog.” Sounds like a hunky retriever if you ask me.
After meeting Maui and Blondie, Lucky and I got to meet Sweeny, the adorable Wheaton Terrier who belongs to warbler Josh Groban. Sweeny is named after the main character in the Stephan Sondheim musical, Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (most recently portrayed by Johnny Depp in the major motion picture). Groban admits he’s still a musical theatre dork and that’s how Wheaton got his name, but reluctantly tells us that Sweeny’s, “Not quite as demonic as the character in the musical, but sometimes he can come pretty close.”
While the weather was a vacation, the trip was not, but we did stay in one of the greatest, dog-friendliest hotels we have been to to-date. Huntington Beach, California is known as Surf City, USA but with the Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort’s pet program it could quickly become Dog City, USA. The Hilton’s recent $10 million renovation ($70 million in dog dollars) was wisely spent updating the hotel and creating a delicious doggy program that is so lux, your pet will never want to leave. I often has the problem with Lucky and this time around it was so serious I had to actually drag her out of her cozy doggy bed which matched my own.
Fortunately, when Lucky heard “beach” she was willing to leave, but when she heard “off-leash beach” I couldn’t even catch up with her. Huntington Beach is home to the Huntington Dog Beach where for almost a mile dogs can run free in the sand and sun. The running had to stop sometime, because it was back to NYC for Lucky and I to start prepping for our next trip: Yappy Hour in New Orleans to help finally build a New Orleans shelter for the Humane Society of Louisiana! Lucky is the Chairdog and I am the Chairwoman – check out www.animalfair.com for more information!
Photos by: Micky Flores