Wash and wag

By Jonathan Starkey
Staff Reporter

	Coastal Point • RUSLANA LAMBERT McDuff gets a good wash from Steve Latchaw at Muddy Pawz.

It is ideal for people with large breeds of dogs that don’t fit into the tub at home, and is just one of many unique features of Selbyville’s new pet store on Route 113, next to Action marine.

Marit Latchaw and her son, Steve, opened the store on Jan. 6 after working at Pet Blitz, an Ocean City pet store on 128th Street, for more than four years. The space available at the Selbyville location made it an ideal spot to open a new store, they said.

“The area was bigger, the rent was lower,” Steve Latchaw said. “(The Ocean City store) just wasn’t conducive to what we were doing.”

Besides the dog wash, Muddy Pawz has a separate room for the puppies they sell and an outdoor area for them to play — features which weren’t available at the Ocean City store because of its size.

“The Ocean City store was very small,” Marti Latchaw said. “There’s more space for the puppies (in Selbyville). That’s good for them.”

Muddy Pawz sells various types of dogs, from large breeds such as Great Danes to much smaller Shitzus, and deals only with breeders approved by the United States Department of Agriculture.

Customers can buy a dog — many of which were bred to be show dogs — for as little as $400 and as much as $2,500, and all come with a warranty. Muddy Pawz’s warranty covers genetic disorders, such as eye problems, for three years and general health issues, such as kennel cough, for 30 days.

“We sell premium dogs. We know the lines on these dogs,” Steve Latchaw said. “The lines are very established.”

The new pet store also has sells premium holistic dog foods, as well as dog beds and toys, and it doesn’t just limit its pet selection to dogs.

For $5 to $68, customers can invest in a pet corn snake, a gecko or a bearded dragon, which is the most expensive reptile they offer, though it is smaller than its name implies.

Cats, birds and other small animals, such as hamsters are also available at the store.

Marti and Steve Latchaw said that business went briskly for the first two weeks but has settled down as the holidays became a distant memory. After working in the pet business in Ocean City for more than four years, though, they aren’t surprised by slow winter business at the shore.

“Winter down here is winter down here,” Steve Latchaw added. “But it’s turning out OK. There’s not a day that goes by that someone from the Ocean City store doesn’t come by.”