Our Name

In light of the recent protests in Iran and the courageous attempts to overthrow the Islamic Republic of Iran for various human rights violations against its own people, our name was chosen intentionally to be partly political, partly historical, and partly aspirational. We have, like many, been both horrified by the Regime’s violence towards protestors, including mass incarceration and execution (with numerous cases of bodies never found or returned to grieving families) and humbled by the strength and relentless determination of supporters worldwide. The Persian Empire has been celebrated as the birthplace of human rights and we hope that someday Iran will restore that legacy.

Our founder, being an American-born Iranian, felt particularly connected to Iran and more generally, Persian history, to find the inspiration for both operating a business as well as naming one. Growing up both within and outside of a culture that frequently discriminates against dogs in modern times and balancing that knowledge with the knowledge of the ancient Persian religion, poetry, and philosophies which celebrate and cherish not only dogs but also human rights, feminism, and artistic expression of individuals regardless of religion, language, or gender, she understood the sizable disconnect between what made Ancient Persia great, and what the modern regime, and their predecessors dating back to the Arab conquests of Ancient Persia, have idealized as ‘greatness’ in the modern era.

The ancient Persians believed dogs were 1/3rd human, 1/3rd wild animal, and 1/3rd divine. They believed that how a person treated dogs in life would determine where they would end up in the afterlife - and dogs even were an integral part of funeral rites, believed to scare off evil spirits so the dead could reach the afterlife safely. The most highly revered dogs were ones with ‘four eyes’, typically black and white dogs with black patches above or around the eyes, symbolizing an extra set of eyes with which to see the spiritual world as clearly as the physical. We aspire to treat each animal who enters our care with the same level of respect, care, and devotion as the nomadic tribes of the Fertile Crescent, namely the Persians, would have treated their prized sighthounds, livestock and guardian dogs, and companion animals.

Therefore, through the name, TAILS OF PERSIA Pet Spa, we choose to celebrate, commiserate, and ground ourselves in what has been, should be, and what could be.