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On the east end of Long Island, where the 0.0001 percent go to summer, the latest luxury flex isn’t a private pickleball court or a backyard helicopter pad. It’s a live-in dog nanny.

“There’s something about the Hamptons that breeds this sort of thing,” says Lisa Hartman, whose doggy au pair service has brokered about a half dozen live-in arrangements. “You know who’s out here. They want their time. They want to go out to dinner at Nick & Toni’s or play golf at the Maidstone. And they’re wealthy enough to hire a dog nanny. It’s just one more on their staff.”

According to Hartman, this all goes back to COVID, when everybody was adopting puppies. After the pandemic ended and people resumed their lives, they suddenly found themselves with full-grown dogs who didn’t want to be left home alone. “The dogs had major issues,” she says. “People hadn’t taught them how to be alone.” 

That’s when people began hiring full-time live-in dog nannies, paying as much as $55 an hour on top of room and board in the mega-mansions in the dunes. “It’s a better life for the dog than going back and forth to the city on a helicopter,” Hartman says.

Of course, here in Hollywood, spoiling pets isn’t exactly unheard of. But as far as Rambling’s been able to determine, live-in dog nannies have not yet become a thing in L.A. “I’ve never heard of it,” notes Beverly Hills celebrity dog walker Joey Richardson, who takes care of canines for Larry David, Sacha Baron Cohen and Sarah Silverman. “I mean, I’ve stayed at Larry’s house when he’s been gone for a month, but I’ve never stayed there while he was there.”

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This story appeared in the June 16 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.

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