The Healthy Dog Store
with Dog & Cat Grooming

The HEALTHY DOG STORE is the confluence of Bonnie Peregoy's love of dog's beauty and brains. Bonnie says "It is dedicated to the customers who through the years have entrusted me with their best friends; dropping their precious pets off at my door and blindly trusting me to handle them with care and concern. To the wonderful dogs and cats who have passed through those doors, and have patiently waited for me to learn their language, so I could listen to them. And to my own dogs, who have kept me company on this journey, and taught me that language."

Bonnie Peregoy first apprenticed as a dog groomer in 1973. She worked part time as a groomer for many years while also holding other jobs, but in 1985 she bought a boarding kennel in Tolland Connecticut with business partner Leslie Nelson and “went to the dogs” full time doing boarding and grooming for the next 11 years (in Connecticut and Maryland). In 1996 she left the boarding business, and began working exclusively as a groomer, on Capitol Hill in Washington DC .

Bonnie’s Dog & Cat Grooming salon has been a fixture at the corner of 14^th and E St SE since 1998, where her customers are capitol hill staffers, writers, lawyers and the occasional congressman, senator, or media personality. Bonnie Peregoy and her staff win high marks for their gentle touch with even the most skittish dogs <1="../wash_post.php" target="_blank">Washington Post 8/21/05

Since acquiring her first Afghan Hound in 1973, she has competed with her dogs in both conformation, obedience, and field trials; AKC and ASFA sanctioned events. She has bred multiple AKC champions, including Ch Elation’s Moonshadow of Sheimar CDX, who remains the only Afghan hound in the history of the breed to have both earned an advanced obedience title and be an All Breed and Specialty Best in show winner. He was from a litter Bonnie bred which still holds the record for the most obedience titled Afghan Hounds from one litter (5).

In 1994, after hearing a Ted Turner lecture, Bonnie threw away her choke chains and embraced the exclusive use of Positive Reinforcement for dog training. With a business partner she formed Positive Power Productions and produced her first series of training videos featuring Ted Turner, Leslie Nelson and Patty Ruzzo, called The Power of Positive Training.  This first series of seminars and videos remains a foundation in the revolution of dog training from punishment and superstition to relationship and the scientific application of positive reinforcement. Many of today’s top trainers reference that work as their launching pad in switching to positive reinforcement behavior shaping. Healthy Dog Productions has gone on to produce many other training videos, audiotapes, CDs and DVDs.

Bonnie was the President of the Talbot Kennel Club for 6 years, the Potomac Afghan Hound Club for 6 years, and the Obedience Chairman of the Afghan Hound Club of America. She has served as Obedience Trial Chairman, Show Chairman, and has judged conformation and obedience at many AKC sanctioned events (sweepstakes and matches). Since 1994 she has annually been on the summer staff at Camp Gone To The Dogs in Vermont .

"Bonnie was the winner of the DWAA (Dog Writers Association of America) 1993 Maxwell Award for Best Magazine Article, and has been a featured speaker at Groom Expo in Hershey PA, multiple times"
Member of the: NDGAA (National Dog Groomers Association of America) APDT (Assciation of Pet Dog Trainers)