The New Generation Of Banging Hardtechno

bracerm2f

25 Oct 2009
I have to say I never believed in dog clothes. The whole pet apparel thing always seemed kinda silly to me. Dogs have fur to keep warm and that should be all they need. All the hype about dog clothes just seemed to me to be part of a big cash-grab designed to suck as much money out of pet owners as possible.
West highland terrier in jersey
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Uses of a dog life jacket
25 Oct, 2009 Posts by Glenn, Westie equipment, dog clothes, west highland terrier

I do have to share one surprising dog accessory with you because it blew me away. The product is called Neuticles. Can you guess? That’s right folks, artificial balls to replace what Rover lost at the Vet. Supposed to be good for his self-esteem. I had never heard of them, but they have been around since 1994. Seems crazy to me, but the inventor has sold a quarter of a million in that time at $1000 a pop, so what do I know?
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It all started with a little soccer jersey when she was around 8 months old. I protested and dragged my feet at the time, but Marilyn insisted. It was on sale and that is always the clincher for her. Next week, PetCetera went bankrupt and had a 90% off sale. We walked away from that one with five little coats.. I didn’t mind, since they only cost around ten bucks each.
PS I just came across this article about neuticles that is just a riot. Give yourself a laugh and check it out.
So, now I find myself really conflicted about the whole clothes for dogs thing. Intellectually I’m still against it in principle. On the other hand, if I’m going to continue spending an hour or two a day out in the rain with her, the raincoat seems like a sound investment. She gets really wet really fast in a hard rain. One of the main reasons for this is that she is still wearing her summer cut and has very little hair left on her back. Maybe it will be better once her shell coat grows out again. We’ll just have to see.
For now, at any rate, we’re good in the dog clothes area. I won’t buy any more.( Unless I can find a little rain hat that fits her that is.)
How much does that cash-grab amount to? Well, I’m lazy and don’t like to research too much, but according to Business Week Americans spent forty-one billion dollars on their pets in 2007. That’s more than the gross domestic product of all but 64 countries in the world and the amount was expected to grow to $52 billion by now. I don’t know whether that actually happened with the economy the way it is, but I wouldn’t be surprised.
There are dog coats, dog sweaters,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], dog raincoats,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], dog t-shirts. There are even shops specializing in niches of the pet apparel market eg chihuahua clothes, big dog clothing and small dog clothes. There just isn’t any end to it. And don’t get me started on the accessories.
Then we decided to go canoeing up on Allouette Lake. Marilyn was really paranoid about our little pal going in the drink, even though she swims quite well. Needless to say,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], we got her a little life jacket. It has a handle on the back that is very useful at times!

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Time for the Dog Clothes
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What does all this have to do with Willow the West Highland Terrier? We’ve been buying dog clothes for her. That’s right, folks, we’ve crossed over to the dark side!
Our latest purchase in the area of dog clothing came last week. Marilyn went on a road trip to Dawson Creek and left us here because the people she was visiting in Dawson didn’t want the dog along. That left me and Willow to take care of the horse and that meant walking ten kilometers to the barn and back every day. As fate would have it, Marilyn’s departure co-incided with the arrival of our fall rains. If she was going to be out in the pouring rain for two hours, Willow definitely needed a dog rain coat. Now she has one.