Maxwell Dog Holds Costume Runway Along Ventura Boulevard

These supermodels were all dogs.

The scene outside of on Ventura Boulevard had some of the most made-up costumed canines to ever strut the street.

“It’s the first time we’ve ever done anything like this, it’s the first time we’ve ever held a book signing, it was fun,” said owner of the dog boutique Lynn Crosby.

There was a dog in a hula skirt, another doing karate with his owner, and one dressed as a bumble bee.

“I had a more risqué version of this outfit that I wore yesterday to a contest,” said Bonnie Butler, of Toluca Lake, who dressed up as a sexy pirate with her dog Blackie. She visits her father in a Studio City nursing home regularly, and they had the contest on Saturday where she wore a little more (or less), but on Sunday she took third prize of a $25 gift certificate.

Studio City marketing master Miguel Ormeno came up with the idea of the Flintstones car for little Lily. His wife Andrea Carrion said, “It is a funny idea, but I’m not sure Lily likes to wear it for very long.” They rescued Lily a year-and-a-half ago and live only a few blocks away. They won second place, a $50 gift certificate.

It was an abused bulldog Tallulah that won the first place $100 certificate. Andrea Skidmore and Kian Daizadeh, of Toluca Lake, rescued her four years ago, and she has one eye. But, she loves feathers and doesn’t mind wearing a boa headdress.

“She gets a bit tired of them after a while, but she tolerates the costume,” laughed Skidmore. “She now has her own room, so she’s got a good life.”

Two acclaimed authors Monica Holloway (Cowboy and Wills) and Barbara Abercrombie (Cherished: 21 Writers on Animals they have Loved and Lost) read from their dog-related books and then they donated all proceeds of the books they were going to sell to the Best Friends Animal Society (www.BestFriends.org) which shelters and rescues animals of all kinds.

Holloway is a Mother's Choice Award Gold recipient who wrote Driving With Dead People and has an upcoming anthology called Shame Prom from women who write about their most embarrassing moment. Abercrombie will soon have out a book A Year of Writing Dangerously which will help fellow writers with tips.

“My book Cherished has stories from 21 writers who have lost their beloved animals, and I have dogs, cats, a horse, a pig in there, and my husband pointed out that Best Friends rescues all of those, so that is my charity,” said Abercrombie, who brought her rescue dog Nelson, dressed as a mini-dragon.

Holloway came with her son Wills, who was diagnosed as autistic at 3, and found help with a dog, Cowboy. Wills, now 13, served as judge of the dog costume contest, along with his dad Michael Price, Co-Executive Producer of the Simpsons, and Wills insisted that everyone get a prize. Wills was accompanied by Buddy, his Golden Retriever squeezed into a much-too-small bee costume, but Buddy seemed happy with it.

“This is such a wonderful store, in such a fantastic location,” Holloway said. “We’ve been talking about doing a book signing here for so long, and it’s perfect to do it around Halloween with a contest like this.”

Both Holloway and Abercrombie have upcoming books being published and they were happy that they were able to contribute $500 to the Best Friends charity with money raised at the event.

Meanwhile, both dog and man were treated with treats. The cookies for the dogs (provided by Maxwell Dog) looked as tasty as the cookies for humans (provided by Holloway), and Crosby pointed to the sweet potato chips and said, “We sell them for the dogs, but they’re tasty.”