Dogs Outrank Friends and Family on Holiday Gift Lists

Amid the rampant belt-tightening, dogs fair better than human friends and even family in the holiday shopping rush. Human hangers-on and family gift obligations get the heave-ho, but dogs? Well, they remain KEEPERS even in tough economic times. Or, so says, an article in yesterday’s New York Times (Fewer Gifts and Frills …)

The piece by Stephanie Rosenbloom reads, in part:

Of the various retailing surveys chronicling the collapse of materialism, one from American Express found that consumers are more likely to excise certain friends and family members than their pets.

“Dogsand pets are winning in this recession,” said Kit Yarrow, a consumerpsychologist and chairwoman of the psychology department at Golden GateUniversity in San Francisco. “The things that nurture us and make usfeel cared for, they’ve been elevated in stature lately. All auxiliarypeople are out.”

Because of all that’s going on around me, this holiday season will indeed be different from years past. Who is in? Who is out? What can I afford, etc? All questions that flood me … yet, I find myself compelled to buy “just one more thing” for the dogs.

I guess I’m not alone. After all, when I am alone (or at least feel that way when at my stress saturation point), the dogs remain by my side.