Michéle Ouellet Benson
The Pagerie Pet is not only your son or daughter, but closest confidant. Introducing Wo(man)’s Best Friend, a series that reveals our favourite Pagerie companions and the personality traits that make them one of a kind.
Entrepreneur and model Michéle Ouellet Benson knows a thing or two about how to wine and dine. Her company Lorenza, which she co-founded with her mum, is an exceptional wine collection that values connection.
WO(MAN)'S BEST FRIEND
Michéle Ouellet Benson
The Pagerie Pet is not only your son or daughter, but closest confidant. Introducing Wo(man)'s Best Friend, a series that reveals our favorite Pagerie companions and the personality traits that make them one of a kind.
Entrepreneur and model Michéle Ouellet Benson knows a thing or two about how to wine and dine. Her company Lorenza, which she co-founded with her mum, is an exceptional wine collection that values connection.
And according to Michéle, food and entertaining friends are her love language. Her favorite dish to make? Vongole (see her favorite recipe from Bon Appetit, here). “We’re lucky to have a lot of friends who are chefs and we’ve been doing a lot of collaborations with chefs of varying degrees,” she said. “Not everybody has their own restaurant, some are recipe developers, but it’s really the thing that connects us all. And we love to think of our wine as part of that connective experience.”
“It’s such a special kind of love, I haven’t had a dog as an adult in this way before."
And when it comes to connection, Michéle is deeply connected to her canine companion, Roma. “It’s such a special kind of love,” said Michéle. “I haven’t had a dog as an adult in this way before. Ned, my husband, had his dog when we met and obviously, I became super attached to him, but Roma we’ve both had together since she was a puppy. It is what I imagine to be a maternal kind of love. It’s very deep and very pure. She is a puppy, so she is annoying sometimes, but I do love her and she’s just hilarious.”
And according to Michéle, food and entertaining friends are her love language. Her favorite dish to make? Vongole (see her favorite recipe from Bon Appetit, here). “We’re lucky to have a lot of friends who are chefs and we’ve been doing a lot of collaborations with chefs of varying degrees,” she said. “Not everybody has their own restaurant, some are recipe developers, but it’s really the thing that connects us all. And we love to think of our wine as part of that connective experience.”
“It’s such a special kind of love, I haven’t had a dog as an adult in this way before."
And when it comes to connection, Michéle is deeply connected to her canine companion, Roma. “It’s such a special kind of love,” said Michéle. “I haven’t had a dog as an adult in this way before. Ned, my husband, had his dog when we met and obviously, I became super attached to him, but Roma we’ve both had together since she was a puppy. It is what I imagine to be a maternal kind of love. It’s very deep and very pure. She is a puppy, so she is annoying sometimes, but I do love her and she’s just hilarious.”
Roma’s namesake comes from her and her husband’s connection to Rome. “We got engaged in Rome,” she added. “We love going there and Ned’s an Italian citizen and a big fan of their football team. All of that factored in.”
Michéle adores how cuddly and affectionate Roma is, a stark difference from her previous dog. “She’ll sit on you or lick you,” she said.
“She also does this really funny bark when one of us comes home. It’s like she’s talking. But really, she loves to sit on the couch with us and she wants to be in the middle.”
Roma’s namesake comes from her and her husband’s connection to Rome. “We got engaged in Rome,” she added. “We love going there and Ned’s an Italian citizen and a big fan of their football team. All of that factored in.”
Michéle adores how cuddly and affectionate Roma is, a stark difference from her previous dog. “She’ll sit on you or lick you,” she said.
“She also does this really funny bark when one of us comes home. It’s like she’s talking. But really, she loves to sit on the couch with us and she wants to be in the middle.”
Breed: Roma is a border collie shepherd mix, but I think there’s some pit in there too.
Cutest quirk: She does the sideways head thing, which is insane. Her ears are really expressive. She has one that kind of flops over and then sometimes she’ll put them straight back and that’s when she’s asking for treats. She’s very silly. She loves to sit on our heads or on our shoulders when we’re in bed. She loves to be in the mix.
Best trick: She can sit really well! If there are any treats involved, you can kind of get her to do whatever you want.
Go-to cuddle spot: She loves being on the couch and has since we first got her. She also really likes going underneath the coffee table. But Roma just wants to be wherever you are. She follows us around and it’s really sweet.
Pagerie must-have: Roma feels like an elegant princess now with her Pagerie Dórro collar. She's an elevated and fashionable young lady dog.
Favourite human food: We haven’t really given her any human food on purpose, but she loves carrots.
Daily uniform: We don’t clothe her. But she got a bath the other day and they put a bandana on her, which was very cute.
Go-to outdoor activity: Walks and hikes. When it wasn’t so strict, you could take dogs on the beach and she loves that. She’s quite scared of the water, but she loves to run on the beach.
A couple of times a week she’ll go with this sweet woman who takes dogs on hikes. Sometimes she’ll go for daycare when we’re both working and she has a whole little life and friendship with them. It’s really funny to think about her alternate universe that we don’t even really know about. We get lots of photos and videos and she has tons of friends.
Preferred luxury item: When she was a puppy, she ate one of my Chanel wedding shoes. It was highly devastating. We also buy her something called Wag Butter; it’s fancy peanut butter for dogs that we get at Gjusta. We got her this beautiful bouclé dog bed that she has finally warmed up to. But if there’s any cashmere lying around, anything soft and cuddly, or something that we have worn, she wants to be among it.
ROMA'S PAGERIE OBJECTS