Ewe've Been Conned

Posted at 04:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Update: Amusing as it is, it looks like this story may not have been entirely factual. Makes me feel a bit sheepish. Thanks to Amy and Canaduck for pointing that out!

Apparently, thousands of rich Japanese women were conned into buying lambs as pets, believing them to be super valuable miniature poodles. No, I’m not kidding. This insane scam was brought to light when Japanese movie star Maiko Kawakami complained on a talk show that her new poodle refused to bark or eat dog food. Another couple found out the truth when their groomer told them that she couldn’t cut the “poodle’s” nails, umm, because they were hooves! As funny as these people’s clueless-ness is, the sad part is that the aftermath of this scam is that hundreds or thousands of sheep have been left to God only knows what fate.


Sheep	Poodle

It reminds me of the way people in this country jump on the bandwagon and buy purebred puppies because they match the drapes in their new house, because they’re trying to make their lives look like a picture from an LL Bean catalog or because the latest Disney movie makes the kids beg for one. Then, a few months later after the novelty has worn off, the dogs wind up in shelters, or worse, on the street. This whole poodle thing is really no less absurd than the dalmatian craze that swept the US after the 101 Dalmatians sequel came out a few years ago and the clown fish craze after Finding Nemo.

It’s funny that this story came up now, as next week is national Be Kind to Animals Week, and to celebrate we’ll be highlighting one simple thing per day we can all do to make the lives of our own companion animals better and to help animals nationwide. But I want to start a little early. Let’s all agree not to buy sheep as house pets. If we can all agree to do that, I think we’re on the right track . . . OK, yes, now I’m kidding.

Comments

One of the worst is the latest fad for the so-called "designer" dogs like maltipoos, goldendoodles, puggles, etc

These are just MIXED-BREED dogs getting badly bred by hillbillies looking to con the ignorant

Look on Petfinder.com and there is every designer dog you can name- wonderful dogs that desperately need homes

While the puppy mills BREED mixed breed dogs to sell

INSANE!!!

(For a look at some of these "designer" dog kennels, look at pictures and video at http://www.prisonersofgreed.org

incredible, awful torture and abuse to sell through pet stores and websites and classifieds

Posted by: kelly | May 1, 2007 05:53 PM

Sorry to tell you this, Jack, but the story isn't true:

http://www.snopes.com/critters/lurkers/poodlesheep.asp

Posted by: Canaduck | May 1, 2007 07:16 PM

Ha! Looks like I've been conned too. :)

Posted by: Jack | May 2, 2007 07:00 AM

The thing I find most bothersome about this story is the number of people who apparently believed it. You can't know much about animals and think a whole bunch of people would mistake sheep for poodles, especially close up in their own homes.

Posted by: Linda H | May 4, 2007 06:57 PM