This is bloody disgusting. I heard a reference to Dog Bling on the radio a couple of weeks ago - Google it and prepare to hurl.If humans want to adorn themselves with jewellery - fake or otherwise - than that is fair enough. That is all about reinforcing feelings of self worth, identity, culture, tribalism blah blah blah. But unless they are being prepared as a Sunday roast, why do we need to dress up our animals too? Do they actually give a stuff?
I'm not saying we shouldn't clothe them. I can almost sympathise with the little old ladies who put little tartan coats on shivering rodent-dogs, because without them they would die of hypothermia. It does of course beg the question why they need the rats on strings in the first place. Don't try that 'companionship' rubbish on me - what kind of moral and spiritual support could these nasty little mutant dogs provide anyone? They spend their pointless little lives either standing on window ledges in a wide-eyed catatonic state of terminal bewilderment, or on the rear parcel shelves of Nissan Micras yip-yipping automatically at anything that moves, as they slowly cook from the inside out because their owners neglect to provide any shade or air.
Yet however small the beasts are, they still crap like a lion on Ex-Lax. Dear old Doris has to carry a Waitrose bag around with her so that she can scoop Tricky Woo's oozings up, only to absent mindedly leave the bag under a park bench for some unfortunate toddler to discover.
"Look Mummy, I've found some Play DooDoo."
I'm not saying that all small dogs are rubbish. Jack Russells are totally cool. They are strong, sturdy little animals, packed full of natural character and would sooner gnaw their own leg off than stand for being dressed up like a Barbara Cartland voodoo doll.
The thing is this: if you want to make your dog happy then feed them and exercise them regularly, and when you are out, be prepared for them to jump into stagnant ponds and filthy ditches, roll in cow shit and eat manure. The look of utter satisfaction on a dog's face when he is plastered in mud and crap is worth far more than all the tatty bling in China.And if you want to make your kids happy too, then the same applies. Apart of course from all that stuff about shit and manure...
