Psst...Have I Got a Book For You!

So there's doting and then there's doting but the parents in this recent article from The Wall Street Journal seem to be to have too much time on their hands. Consider that these empty nester fifty somethings have swapped driving to their kids' sporting events for driving to events for their dogs. Yes, you read that correctly.

Aside from the fact that they are willing to drive to the far corners of the earth when their days of trying to locate soccer fields in the middle of cornfields are over (read: no more MAPQUEST!!), these people are obsessed with finding sporting or social outings for their pets.

Consider the following scenario one recent weekend in Georgia. More than 100 pet parents set up "camp" at a facility called Canine Ranch to "watch" their dogs compete in activities like sheep herding, frisbee catching (in the pool), hurdle jumping and dock diving (to see who goes the farthest off a dock).

Owner of Canine Ranch (who is laughing all the way to the bank), Chris McLeod says that more than fifty percent of her business if from these empty nester parents who have simply traded over scheduled kids for dogs. "This is like their kids' softball or ballet, but now it's their dogs," she said.

And it's not just down south. In Seattle there is a place called University Canine Learning Academy (UCLA, can you stand it?) with 12 week classes in "dog sports." The clientele? You guessed it? Predominantly fifty something moms whose offspring have gone to college, like Evie Bronikowski who used to drive to a myriad of lessons for her children. "After they left, I thought, 'Holy Toledo, I've got a lot of time,'" she admitted. The new objects of her downtime: three dogs who get carted to weekly lessons in agility, one at a time.

I sincerely doubt that any of the dogs are minding all this attention or the activities, but seriously people, is this truly how you want to spend your lives? I can think of a lot of elderly people who would love to be driven to the grocery store or doctor's appointments once or twice a week if you are so intent on perfecting your chauffeuring skills.

But who am I to tell anyone how to spend their time or their money. In fact, there's a great book coming out in the Fall of 2011 that might interest them: Lick Your Plate! Celebrity Chefs Cook for Their Dogs and Yours. Cook-offs anyone?