Monday,  December 15, 2008 3:01 AM

A surgeon will spend an estimated $370,000 to equip her home in Gloucestershire, England, with a state-of-the-art three-room suite for her two Great Danes -- complete with cameras to monitor them via the Internet. Instead of an ordinary dog door, a retina scanner will control entry to the suite -- and, without the need for human stewards, the big darlings will be dispensed dry food and filtered water automatically in self-cleaning bowls. A temperature-regulated saline spa will allow relaxing dips before the dogs hit the sack on sheepskin-lined beds.

-- Chuck Shepherd Universal Press Syndicate