Dogs and Kennels

So I'm musing about dogs, and spas, and kennels. What would posses a person to own a dog in NYC? Even a little one?

Because dogs are social, outdoor animals bred for herding sheep, hunting vermin and generally getting up to lots of outdoors, active type stuff. And, as we all know, New York, with it's concrete, high density and lack of general outdoors anything, is far from the best place for all that stuff.

Growing up as a child in New Jersey, we had a dog. Cleo, a temperamental, demanding little Shetland Sheepdog. She never could get over barking at Squirrels, or birds --- and she couldn't be let off the leash lest she run away and never come back.

So it must come down to companionship. That we all need to feel needed, and wanted, and that is a universal. So we would splurge on a doggy day care because we want our dog to be happy as they can be.

So, what if the message here was -- despite the higher cost -- your dog was happier if they went to a specific place everyday -- and thusly the unique selling proposition, if you will, is that your dog will love you more. How do you show that? What would a dog do to show their appreciation?

How about bring you not just the paper, and your slippers to your bed, but starbucks coffee and all the daily publications in new york? Hold the mirror for you while you shave? Bring you more toilet paper in the crapper? Hang a "welcome home from work, master!" banner on the front door? Clean up their own feces off the sidewalk? Make coffee in the morning? Pay your bills? Give massages? And if that, what's a dog massage look like? Fix the plumbing, paint the apartment, dust, mop, vacuum, brush the cat, babysit, cook you dinner....Maybe that works with the welcome home master banner...sew your buttons back on a shirt or jacket, pick up the dry cleaning, go grocery shopping, do the taxes, recycle, wash the car, wash themselves (dog in a shower?)