Dog bow ties far from 'pointless', says Beverley pet boutique owner

Lucy Thompson said the post's author was "clueless" as to the amount of joy items such as bow ties brought to owners

A building society has come under fire from a dog accessory shop owner after suggesting on social media that bow ties for pets were "pointless".

Lucy Thompson, 36, who has a store in Beverley, said she was "baffled and offended" by Nationwide's post.

She said the author was obviously not a dog lover and was "clueless" as to the amount of joy items such as bow ties brought to owners.

Nationwide said it "loved" dogs in bow ties and had meant no offence.

The Facebook post, which went up on Wednesday, posed the question: "That bow tie you bought your dog, or the needlessly complicated kitchen gadget you used once.

"What's your most pointless purchase this year?"

Ms Thompson said items such as doggy bow ties and bandanas were incredibly popular

Ms Thompson, whose dream of opening a dog boutique was only realised during lockdown, said to have someone representing Nationwide tell her "what she is doing is pointless" was "quite offensive".

She said as a nation of dog lovers, accessories such as bow ties and bandanas had a place and were "incredibly popular".

"If it makes the owner smile, it is far from being pointless," she said, adding that the dog accessory-dissing author needed to "lighten up" and spread some joy.

"Whichever marketing genius came up with that is clearly not a dog lover," she said.

She said one of her customers was also hand-making bow ties for dogs to raise money for a cancer charity.

"Try telling her what she is doing is pointless," Ms Thompson added.

Another respondent said: "Nothing [is] pointless if it makes you happy... even for a short while."

Ms Thompson described the post itself as "pointless", adding that she was still waiting for an apology after responding to the comments directly.

A spokesperson for Nationwide said: "We love dogs, we love bow ties, we love dogs in bow ties.

"We were encouraging light-hearted conversation on purchases, no offence intended."