A confirmed cat lover, I was, however, captivated by a recent shaggy dog story concerning the Kennel Club in the UK.
This dusty old group of dog lovers has organised Crufts, the world’s biggest dog show, for almost 150 years. Ahead of this year’s event, however, many of the members are having drooling fits of distemper over the issue of cross breed dogs. While the stuffy old Kennel Club still refuses to allow cross breed dogs to be shown alongside its own pedigree superstars, it appears the British public is going mad for them.
People want designer dogs. The “brands” with the biggest bow wow on the street today are Puggles and labradoodles. I wonder if you can guess what different breeds these hot new pooches come from. To help you, some other increasingly popular cross breeds are the silky-poo, which is a cross between a silky terrier and a poodle, a Shih-poo, which is a cross between a Shih-tzu and poodle and my own personal favourite the cockapoo, which is a cross between a cocker spaniel and a poodle. I can’t remember the poodle ever being more popular.
Rather than enjoying the weird and wonderful names, breeders of pure pedigree dogs are furious and some have even sent hate mail to breeders of cross breeds. They seem to forget that their own ‘pure’ breeds were once cross breeds of something else. Maybe they feel like they’re losing out on the cash; some of these cross breeds are, after all, being sold for two to three thousand pounds (Bt140,000-210,000) each.
It was at this point in the story my business mind started ticking. And being the eco-friendly green kind of guy I am, I’ve hatched a win-win situation. The simple ideas are always the best. Bangkok sois are full of homeless dogs, all of them designer in their own way. Okay, so it will take a little marketing but, once again, we don’t need to re-invent the wheel. We can work with what we’ve got. Bangkok already has the longest city name; why not the longest name for a designer cross breed? There’s a real prize specimen in my soi – a labolliedanefoxwolfcayote.
By the way, if you are anything like me, you will also be wondering how a little male pug dog manages to do the business with a much larger female poodle. Well, here’s an insider’s secret: a pile of telephone books is used to give the little guy extra height. I expect these come in handy for dialing a celebration pizza after the lovemaking is over.
