Prince Charles: The Spoiled Canine

The neighbors behind us have a poodle of some sort named Charlie. Charlie is a nice dog. I have no qualms with him. However, as friendly a dog as he is, I think his owners go to ridiculous extremes to make him comfortable. A few months ago, I noticed that Charlie was wearing a rain coat when it was drizzling outside. I joked to the neighbor about it, and he said 'oh, just wait!' He informed me that when it is really raining, his wife or one of his twins will follow him around holding an umbrella over him so he can do his business. Are you kidding?! Well, the other night we were, uh, lucky enough to witness this in action. Sure enough, they followed him around the yard so he could sniff out a place to mark his territory. Also, lest I forget to mention, he was sporting a puffy marshmallow jacket complete with hood. Our neighbor also told us that when it snows, they will shovel a path for him in the backyard so he won't have to walk in the snow to do his thing. Seriously!? My friend Jenni has heard this rant many a time when we used to work together: what did dogs do before we decided to take them inside? Did they freeze to death and starve for lack of specialty dog food? God made dogs to live outside. They have fur coats, and are suited to withstand weather and such. I do realize that some dogs have been bred in such a way that they may not be able to survive outside. But most dogs? They'll do just fine outside. This is one reason I am hesitant to get a dog. I don't really do inside pets, but people around here will call in on you if you leave a pet outside in bad weather. The other and main reason I do not want to get a dog is that they poop. I already have enough buns to wipe without having a dog to follow around. Until they come up with a dog that doesn't poop, I think I will remain happily pet free.