Chart topper Geri Halliwell may once have told her fans to "spice up your life", but there was only one man she turned to when she wanted to spruce up her dog.

That was North Yorkshire groomer David Fielding, a man with two careers, but an undying passion for clipping canines.

He works at an Easingwold veterinary centre for two days a week, but for the rest, he sees to the pampered pooches of London stars.

Among the owners on his client book was chart-topping Geri, currently riding high in the hit parade with her cover of The Weather Girls' 1983 disco classic, It's Raining Men.

At least, that's how it was. A little unwelcome newspaper attention changed that, and now Geri has taken her beloved shih-tzu Harry elsewhere.

"A reporter came in and asked me if I groomed Geri Halliwell's dog, and I just said yes," said David, who works at Toft Lodge Veterinary Centre in Easingwold, and also at Animal Fair in trendy Kensington.

"I didn't think anything of it at the time, but then it turned up in a magazine, and that was the last I heard from Geri."

The secret was blown in The Independent on Sunday's Reality magazine, in a feature on the habits of celebrity dog-owners.

David, from Stamford Bridge, tries hard to keep all his celebrity clients secret he has many, but won't name them.

He says he misses Geri, but understands why she parted company with Animal Fair.

"I only met her the once and she was very cool. The rest of the time, her driver would bring in Harry and say: 'Do whatever you want, mate, she just wants it short.' That was it.

"She doesn't want the world to know where she takes him, and that's perfectly fair."

Harry, he says, was "a fabulous little dog", although he has sympathy for anyone trying to keep a four-legged friend in London.

"It's a filthy city. You'd think the country dogs would get in the most mess, but not at all.

"And there are so many regulations governing where dogs can go in London, so up here they're much happier," he added.

David's favourite local clients are the hard-working farm dogs who come in for a once-yearly crop.

"They just want rid of the winter coat, and once it's off they're all over the place really excited.

"And farmers can make just as much fuss of their dogs as celebrities, you know."

David worked full time as a groomer in London before moving back home to North Yorkshire and finding extra work at Toft Lodge.

"I don't mind about whose dog it is," he added.

"I just get on and do the job."

A spokesman for The Independent on Sunday said that the Reality magazine had been scrapped, and that no-one was available to comment on its material.

Updated: 09:16 Tuesday, June 19, 2001