Welcome to the weekly Perfume Chat Room, perfumistas! I envision this chat room as a weekly drop-in spot online, where readers may ask questions, suggest fragrances, tell others their SOTD, comment on new releases or old favorites, and respond to each other. The perennial theme is fragrance, but we can interpret that broadly. This is meant to be a kind space, so please try not to give or take offense, and let’s all agree to disagree when opinions differ. In fragrance as in life, your mileage may vary! YMMV.

Today is Friday, August 9, and we are still glued to the Paris Olympics! I haven’t felt this engaged with the Olympics in a long time. However, the latest in fragrance news has nothing to do with the Olympics. It seems that Dolce & Gabbana have launched a new fragrance — for dogs: Dolce & Gabbana Launches a Dog Perfume. Veterinarians Turn Up Their Noses. The vets’ concern is that smell plays a much larger role in the lives of dogs than it does for humans, because their sense of smell is much more powerful and they use scent to navigate the world as well as social relationships.

I do understand the temptation. Our beloved old dog Lucy can get stinky. She hates baths, so they are a rare event and we use waterless dog shampoo on her instead. But even so, she smells, well, like a dog. Would we rather she smelled like, say, “the woody, creamy undertones of sandalwood”? Well, sure, but not at the expense of her comfort and wellbeing.

I was very interested in the veterinarians’ responses. They noted that some scents can be helpful to dogs, like the use of lavender for calming. Generally, though, they’re not fans of the concept of dog perfume.

However, just as a fun imaginative exercise, what existing scents might you associate with a pet (yours or someone else’s)? I have to go with Papillon Perfumes’ gorgeous Bengale Rouge, just because perfumer Liz Moores created it with inspiration from her own Bengal cat Mimi. I don’t need Lucy to smell like sandalwood if I can apply Bengale Rouge myself and smell of sandalwood, rose, honey, vanilla, and myrrh! It’s a gorgeous fragrance, and I recommend trying it if you haven’t had the chance.

Liz describes it so beautifully that I’ll just share her own words:

“The muse for this perfume is my Bengal cat, Mimi. I have always been captivated by the beauty of her fur and her natural perfume. I didn’t want to create a literal fragrance, rather a re-imagining of the notes that lay upon her leopard coat. It was important that this perfume brought the comfort and warmth that so many of us receive from our pets, as well as do justice to Mimi’s natural elegance and grace. I moved away from dramatic, feral notes and focused upon a domesticated cosiness that would embrace the wearer with the same snugness and pleasure that I feel when I am with her. I wanted to include some of the exotic facets of the Bengal cats’ origins; unique, elegant and striking, I hoped to capture the majesty and mystery of these beautiful creatures in a sumptuous and soft perfume.”

What fragrances do you associate with a pet, or really any animal?