Larry the yellow Lab sleeps on a memory foam mattress. Paddy the Irish wolfhound laps from an automatically refilling water dish. Olga and Oslo, two Rhodesian Ridgeback-mix puppies, sprawl on a radiant-heated floor in Zen-like bliss.

They are among 80 homeless hounds inhabiting a new animal shelter that is ritzier than many day spas. These mutts exude the contentment of society housewives detoxing at an ashram, soothed into near total silence under a glass skylight skimmed by cascading sheets of recirculated water, the room aglow with daylight streaming through glass walls and thrumming with piped-in harp music.

[...]

Pet lovers find the "holistic" shelter inspirational. Workers show no embarrassment over a place fancier than many of their homes. But Haisley knows he must defend it.

"Of course, people will say it's nicer than some shelters for people," Haisley said, stopping to scratch Tate, a Labrador retriever mix, between the ears. "I understand that, but I don't run a human shelter. And if I did, it would have all this.