Everyone thinks their dog is the best in some way. I recognize that when I say that we thought our Yorkie-Poodle mix was too. Last October, after thirteen plus years of companionship, we had ample opportunity to reflect on that when she passed on.
We knew we'd get another one. It was only a question of when. There were a couple of months of contacting shelters, rescue operations and private breeders. That odyssey itself is enough material for another post, particularly the rescue operations that required more paperwork to just talk to us than I've signed buying some cars.
The question was finally answered when my wife visited the Petland Arboretum location. The frustration of the previous months and the irresistible nature of holding anything small, warm and furry won out. A full AKC Yorkie, now named "Oscar" resides with us.
This many months later, while organizing some files, I ended up handling the receipt for Oscar. These little dogs are in demand. We learned that from the private breeders. We
really learned that at Petland. Such is a free market economy. Nobody forced us to buy him, but he was well over our original target amount. What struck me fresh today was at the bottom of the receipt:
"You Have Saved: $13.10". Hmmm. What exactly was the cost comparison here? This wasn't a commodity purchase. No mass market comparison shopping is possible on individual dogs that I know of. Possibly on the "free" stuff that was thrown in as part of the package? So what is the amount - an automatically added random number designed to induce customer loyalty? If it wasn't for the seemingly random and inconsistent pricing on the dogs we've seen there since while buying supplies, it probably wouldn't have struck me this way.
Oscar is a good dog, although a bit of a rascal since he is still a puppy. All in all I'd have like to have paid less, but we did get what we paid for. Most importantly, my wife loves the little dog so I guess it was a big savings.
No comments:
Post a Comment