I'm not at all shocked. Over $ .5 billion is spent on Halloween costumes for pets in annually. Of course these nut jobs will buy pet furniture.
I'm not at all shocked. Over $ .5 billion is spent on Halloween costumes for pets in annually. Of course these nut jobs will buy pet furniture.
When we lived in a subdivision full of kids I dressed my 4 dogs and my son’s 2 big dogs in Halloween costumes because the kids loved it. I bought one set of costumes on sale and they wore the same ones every year. The kids were thrilled and I put up a gate so that the dogs couldn’t escape.
Whenever I see this kind of stuff, I think of how dogs (and cats) were viewed a few generations ago. Mostly kept outside or in the barn on cold days, fed table scraps and often short-lived due to outside dangers. To keep the barn cat population steady, my grandfather would sometimes put spring born kittens in a burlap bag and toss them in the irrigation ditch.
Yes, where I grew up, although many people developed deep bonds with their working animals, they were not usually viewed as part of the family. We had coon hounds, outside - they were working dogs. The cats were barn cats, and had a job to do. Overly well-fed barn cats are not usually good mousers. That said, they generally got table scraps and sometimes a pan of milk, along with whatever they caught. It was a different time, and a different view of animals. My grandfather "retired" his work horses to pasture, but a lot of farmers, once they had a tractor and the demand for horses crashed, just sent them to slaughter. Pasture was needed for income producing animals. Personally, I prefer the pampered pets ethos, overall, but I can't condemn what was done back in the day, unless it was done cruelly.
Buy “furniture” for my dog(s)?! Ha! They won’t even sleep on the dog bed/mat in the corner in the living room. I have cocker spaniels and long ago gave up buying furniture for them, they either sit and sleep with me, or o the floor by me.
Buying pet furniture seems no more ridiculous than paying $300 for a fake washer dryer set for your toddler.
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Times sure have changed. My childhood dog, a mutt, lived to be 18. Other than puppy shots and one or two rabies shots and a spay, she had no other vet visits.
I used to bathe her with flea shampoo.
No doggy bed or furniture. She did make one easy chair in the living room her own--that where she slept to "guard" us while we slept upstairs. No toys--she wasn't interested, and certainly no wardrobe, though I used to dress her in baby clothes sometimes when I was young.
She ate canned dog food and some table scraps. Bones from the butcher kept her teeth in good order.
But she got lots of off-leash exercise with me in the woods behind our house...
A great dog, an "easy-keeper." Mutts are the best.
peaceful, easy feeling
You are right. Dogs today are treated very differently and the vet prices increase for basic services shows that.
Our dogs slept outside in the shed or barn and got their rabies shot as required. I don't remember a vet bill at all but the dogs lived to 12-13 years old.
Moving into town, my dog sleeps on my old bed pillow that I re-covered in his crate in my bedroom.
He still gets his annual checkup, preventive meds as needed and lots of walking. He is as happy as any of my earlier dogs. He is not allowed on the furniture ever.
As Cicero said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”
My little dogs have no off limit areas. The only place I didn’t allow the big guy was our bed because of my asthma and he was a husky/shepherd mix. The big guy liked to sleep under the dining room table whenever we ate there. No one minded as he never bothered anyone and had issues as we were his 4th home and he had been abused. I invited someone once that made a comment not liking it. My friends all got this funny smile on their face knowing that person would never be invited again.
Noki saved me from a pit bull attack a week after getting him. He stepped in front of me and was vicious protecting me. He ended up bit in many places before the owner got his dog. It was then that I knew Noki would give his life for me. I still miss the big guy.
I like your attitude, Teacher Terry--love me, love my furry roommate. Noki was a true hero.
I've never bought pet furniture because all my cats slept wherever they wanted to. I probably would buy a cat bed now because there are so many nice ones (boiled wool!), and I would hope they would use it occasionally.
And I would never--ever--buy domestic drudgery items for a child--especially ones targeted to females.
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