The Pet Store Is My Target
We all know the joke that when we walk into Target for just one thing we can’t get out of there without spending at minimum fifty bucks. Well, I have discovered my “Target” is the pet store. Not any one store in particular, but if I end up at a pet store I am coming out of there with more than one item and probably spending at least $50!
This isn’t a new thing at all, we have had dogs for 16 years and
I have an unlimited budget when it comes to spending for my dogs. Now I am not saying I have an unlimited wallet, but in my mind there is no cap on what I think I should spend on my dogs. For as long as we have had dogs, even the number of dog beds out number the amount of dogs we have at one time! And of course they are also allowed on the furniture so not really sure why we even bought all of these beds! We couldn’t help ourselves, it is the “Target syndrome”!
And don’t even get us started on soft blankets! Grover loves soft blankets, and I am sure he doesn’t get as excited as he does in our minds, but we love buying him new blankets, and that is usually one of his Christmas presents.
I know I am not alone on this either, so please friends, come on out of the closet with me and admit that we love to shop for our pets!
A couple of weeks ago we were running errands and I told Adam I just needed to pop into the pet store because the dogs needed more goat’s milk. I came back to the car and jokingly said “I can’t believe I spent that much!” Adam just looked at me like you really can’t believe it with a smirk on his face. He knows me too well! The shopping trips when seasonal items have landed in stores always get me! I mean it is fall and almost Thanksgiving so they of course need to have the pumpkin pie Grandma Lucy treats. And I remembered they needed poop bags, Zukes for their interactive toys, and I picked up a couple other things to add to their dinners. I think the pet store is the only place I shop where I literally never look at the prices of things, and that stuff adds up fast! Before I know it I have pulled a Target trip!
I mean there are so many cool things out there for dogs, especially for the holidays! Special meal boxes, the fun stuff you can put together for a “dogcuterie” board, the different seasonal treat flavors, the specialty cookies, and have you guys seen the doggie advent calendars?! And we can’t ever pass up a special trip to see our friends at the Good Boy Bakery to pick up their beautifully decorated cookies and “Woofles”, our dogs love them!
I have loved shopping for my dogs so much that for about 2 years I worked a part time job at a pet store. I wasn’t working there to make money at all, it was more to support my dog supply shopping habit. I had access to all the cool new stuff as soon as we got it, plus a discount! So when you think about it, I was spending less because of the discount, no never mind that I was probably buying things I never would have had I not worked there. But as a bonus, I got to help other people shop for their pets!
I have to divert a little here because my picking up a retail gig somewhere I love to shop is absolutely a trait I picked up from my mom. I remember I was Christmas shopping with my mom and my dad, this was probably 20 years ago, which blows my mind that I even have a 20 years ago story! But I digress on my digression; so we were Christmas shopping and we go into White Barn Candle Co on a whim. While cashing out my mom talked other customers into buying more things, she was just so excited about what she was buying and it radiated onto literally everyone else who was shopping around her. But on the spot she was asked if she wanted a job there! It was the funniest thing and my dad and I still laugh about it today. But I think for me the excitement I had working that part time job was that I was at a place where I didn’t have to hide the joy I had in shopping for my dogs and much like my mom with the candle company, I could bring that joy to others and help others. And part of the excitement was keeping that memory of my mom in the back of my head and knowing I am so much like her. Thank you for indulging me in telling that story and hopefully you didn’t totally just walk away or leave for a Target shopping trip! HA!
I am literally a kid in a candy store when it comes to shopping for my dogs, because after all, they totally deserve to enjoy life and the only way they can is for me to make sure that happens. I truly believe my dogs are happy and it makes me smile every day knowing that I can make that happen, because isn’t making life happy for others, our pets included, what life is all about?