Sooo... the American Kennel Club has been importuning me to purchase any number of services and products for  Ruby-Doo the Corgi Pup, even though sometime in the next five or six months she will be spayed, and even though the rankest amateur can see at a glance that she is not, repeat NOT, a show-quality corgi. And that is even though pup's registration papers distinctly state "OFFSPRING OF THIS DOG NOT ELIGIBLE FOR REGISTRATION."

In addition to whatever fee the breeder paid for registering the litter with AKC (and passed along to me, probably in spades), we are told that we can buy (woop-de-doo!) a pedigree: dating back three generations, 25 dollah; dating back four, 32 dollah. We can allow ourself to be roped into a 60-day trial of a doggy veterinary insurance plan (something a friend of ours found to be virtually useless, when he needed help with vet bills and after he had paid premiums for some years). We are invited to subscribe to a Pembroke Welsh Corgi newsletter for a mere $48 to $61/year, depending on how urgently we wish to have the thing delivered to our precincts. And for a mere $14 we can buy a book, The New Illustrated Study of the Pembroke Welsh Corgi Standard, such a bargain.

Well, if the alleged freebie alleged health insurance plan comes with whatever registering the breeder did, bueno. I'll look into that, and I'll believe it when I see it.

But otherwise: one is left wondering: WHY?

This is a dog that is never going to have puppies. Is never going to show up on any show circuit, anywhere. It's a dog that's smart and funny and fearless and friendly and companionable, which is all one could possible desire from a pet-quality dog, whether from a high-falutin' breeder or a pen at the Humane Society.

Why on earth would I want to pay someone to tell me that this is a very nice little dog?