A few days ago I was talking with someone who had recently gotten a new dog and he said it was the best dog he’d ever had…. he also said it was the most expensive dog he’d ever owned.
Well, that got me to thinking — until the last few years I/we have always had dogs. When I was growing up, I don’t ever remember a time that we didn’t have at least one dog in our house.
And until I was an adult, I don’t remember ever “paying” for a dog. Back in Maysville most people had dogs, and when dogs had puppies, people just gave them away. I suspect that if you had suggested that someone would pay money for a dog, you’d have thought there must be something wrong with them.
Of course that’s all changed today — there’s pretty much no such thing as a “free dog.” I’m not sure when this happened, but apparently a dog — any dog — is big business nowadays.
I suppose some of it has to do with “animal cruelty” and the various associations concerned about the treatment of animals — and that’s a good thing.
I read somewhere that dogs are expensive because of the pandemic. With people stuck at home and working alone, to make-up for the lack of in-person meetings and connections, people opted for dogs instead. Could be something to that.
But as I think back, when I was a kid, I didn’t know of any “dog breeders.” People just had dogs and dogs had puppies. Today, almost everyone is a dog breeder. And from what I can tell, it costs a lot to breed healthy puppies
So just like about everything else, owing a pet has changed a lot over my lifetime. Dogs are still great pets and companions — and they’re still “man’s best friend,” but that friendship is just more expensive now.
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