I see all kinds of things on my hourlong walk to work. I see tourists, nudists, cops, protesters, marijuana-smokers, chess-players, panhandlers, and cable car operators. I see vendors selling fresh produce, fish, and live chickens. I see street performers tap dancing on wooden boards, break dancers with boom boxes, bucket drummers, steel drummers, and regular rock ‘n roll drummers.
Above all else, I see weirdos. Crazies. Everywhere. I see the girl who sits in front of the BART station playing with rats. Or the gentleman at Civic Center Plaza with a cat on his head. Or the guy who walks around as if it’s normal to have a toucan perched on his shoulder. Why wouldn’t it be? On the streets of San Francisco, abnormal is the new normal.
But every so often, I see something so far from normal, that I can’t help but stare. Like last week, for instance. I saw something so barbaric and inhumane that, for the first time in months, I stopped in my tracks.
I saw a dog wearing a fur.
Let me say that again. I saw a dog wearing a fur.
I saw a man walking his dogs--two Pomeranians, if I’m not mistaken--one of which was wearing a miniature fur wrap. And as I watched them trounce past the wide brick steps of the Levis store in Union Square, I couldn’t help but feel slightly sick.
Not because I’m anti-fur. (I have no strong opinion on fur. Or faux fur, for that matter.) Not because I’m a cat person. (I’m not.) And certainly not because I’m against dogs in clothes. (Far from it.) Mostly, I felt disgusted because I was looking at a dog--a furry animal in its own right--wearing the fur of another.
Why was I so bothered? It’s not my dog, I thought to myself, and it’s not my place to pass judgement. Maybe I was grossed-out because I wasn’t certain that the fur was, in fact, faux. But would it matter? I’m not sure that it would.
What matters is the fact that somewhere in this world, there are people--an entire team, in fact, of designers, manufacturers, and retail outlets--that foraged a market for doggy furs. (That is, furs for dogs, not the fur of dogs. Hopefully.)
I picture these specialists gathered at an investor meeting, pitching the idea to potential investors.
“Besides Dolce & Gabana luggage sets?”
“Fur. And do you know which demographic is lagging the most in terms of fur-wearing?”
“Surprisingly, it’s lap dogs. According to this 2008 fur industry study, lap dog owners barely buy any pet clothing made of fur or faux fur....”
What’s even more appalling is that some investor thought this was a good enough idea to green-light the project.
“So let me get this straight. You’re saying we should start designing fur pieces for dogs and other pets, to wear over the fur they already have?”
“And you think these pet owners are poised to pay upwards of $100 for each piece?”
“Brilliant. Here’s $500K to get started.”
It’s pretty much exactly how I imagine the investor meeting with the guy who first pitched the concept of bottled water went.
“So let me get this straight. You’re saying we should put tap water in a bottle and sell it to people who already have the exact same tap water coming out of their kitchen faucets?”
“Brilliant. Here’s $500K to get started.”
In the end, it’s not my place to judge whether or not some pet owner wants to dress his dog in the pelt of its somewhat-distant cousin, faux or otherwise. But I will say that I am still curious as to why, of the two Pomeranians I saw walking on the street the other day, only one of them was wearing a fur.
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