A discussion
Lilla and I just had a discussion just now that started with me telling her about a news item where a man paid $150 for a toy poodle and got some steroid-enhanced ferret instead. The discussion basically amounted to me expressing my confusion at why anyone would pay $150 for a dog, but the same confusion applies to cats and other small pets, and her trying to explain it.
But you know, I think it's just one of those things I don't understand about humans and never will. Like, okay: I can understand if you need a specific breed for a specific task, because for instance golden retrievers make the best service dogs and huskies make the best dogs for pulling sleds. But for a pet... a dog is a dog and a cat is a cat. What does it matter what breed it is, if all you need it for is a pet? The only time, as far as I can see, that one would need a specific breed of animal as a pet is if you're allergic to, say, cats and you thus need a Sphinx cat. Even if you want a small dog that fits in your purse, those can be found at rescue centers.
She did explain to me that dog personalities can be bred, so certain breeds can be preferred for their personalities. But this doesn't help, really; I'm still dumbfounded by the whole phenomenon. It seems to me that other people don't value money as much as having a certain kind of dog. Maybe I'm just cheap from being poor all my life, but I would never pay more than $20 for any kind of pet. I would probably laugh at anyone who tried to sell me any pet more expensive than that. Even if I had money to fritter away on pointless stuff like being picky about dog breeds.
Not that I would ever have a dog; I'm afraid of most dogs, and disgusted by the ones that I'm not afraid of. And my personality is not suited to dogs anyway; dogs have WAY too much energy, they're disgusting slobbery gits, and there's just something about them beyond those considerations that feels Wrong to me. I might some day get a cat again, but I will never ever get a dog.
But like I said, the same idea applies to cats. It's even stronger where cats are concerned, in fact, because there's very little difference, from what I can tell, in personality from one cat breed to another. About the only difference I've ever heard in cats is that Siamese cats are more 'talkative' than other breeds.
This was cross-posted from http://fayanora.dreamwidth.org/1199328.html
You can comment either here or there.
But you know, I think it's just one of those things I don't understand about humans and never will. Like, okay: I can understand if you need a specific breed for a specific task, because for instance golden retrievers make the best service dogs and huskies make the best dogs for pulling sleds. But for a pet... a dog is a dog and a cat is a cat. What does it matter what breed it is, if all you need it for is a pet? The only time, as far as I can see, that one would need a specific breed of animal as a pet is if you're allergic to, say, cats and you thus need a Sphinx cat. Even if you want a small dog that fits in your purse, those can be found at rescue centers.
She did explain to me that dog personalities can be bred, so certain breeds can be preferred for their personalities. But this doesn't help, really; I'm still dumbfounded by the whole phenomenon. It seems to me that other people don't value money as much as having a certain kind of dog. Maybe I'm just cheap from being poor all my life, but I would never pay more than $20 for any kind of pet. I would probably laugh at anyone who tried to sell me any pet more expensive than that. Even if I had money to fritter away on pointless stuff like being picky about dog breeds.
Not that I would ever have a dog; I'm afraid of most dogs, and disgusted by the ones that I'm not afraid of. And my personality is not suited to dogs anyway; dogs have WAY too much energy, they're disgusting slobbery gits, and there's just something about them beyond those considerations that feels Wrong to me. I might some day get a cat again, but I will never ever get a dog.
But like I said, the same idea applies to cats. It's even stronger where cats are concerned, in fact, because there's very little difference, from what I can tell, in personality from one cat breed to another. About the only difference I've ever heard in cats is that Siamese cats are more 'talkative' than other breeds.
This was cross-posted from http://fayanora.dreamwidth.org/1199328.html
You can comment either here or there.