# This purse bites. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 13, 2007, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-purse-bites/400001 "2007-04-13T19:14:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-purse-bites/400001/1 "2007-04-13T19:14:39Z")
Check out [this](http://mfrost.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/carrier.jpg) snazzy little contraption that allows you to convert your frou-frou dog into a shoulder bag. (Because small dogs just _love_ dangling and swinging off their owner’s arm.) Cute, but where would I put my keys and cigarettes? ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-purse-bites/400001/2 "2007-04-13T19:19:53Z")
What is it these days with bringing dogs everywhere? I don’t want your dog’s butt in my grocery cart! ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-purse-bites/400001/3 "2007-04-13T20:10:49Z")
I just want to state, for the record, that if one must crouch down on one’s knee to scratch said critter behind its ears while it’s standing on the ground, it is **not** a dog. It may be genetically, _Canis familiaris_, but that’s not enough to earn it the title dog. Such sub-sized critters are to be known, henceforce, as rats-with-delusions-of-adequacy. And if the current fasion mode is to carry a rat-with-delusions-of-adequacy with one everywhere, I do hope they won’t do it near me. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-purse-bites/400001/4 "2007-04-13T20:48:03Z")
Great. First, these little football-sized fashion accessories were carried in handbags. Now they _are_ the handbag. ---
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-purse-bites/400001/5 "2007-04-13T20:56:41Z")
you know, I think my (70lb) dog would totally dig that. But he’s much too heavy to be a shoulder bag, he would have to be made into a backpack or something for me to be able to lift and carry him. And if I got tired I could just flip on my back and let him carry me. This mental image will amuse me all weekend. ---
**Author:** ![Caridwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c89c15/32.png) [@Caridwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caridwen)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-purse-bites/400001/6 "2007-04-13T20:57:51Z")
[QUOTE=OtakuLoki] I just want to state, for the record, that if one must crouch down on one’s knee to scratch said critter behind its ears while it’s standing on the ground, it is **not** a dog. It may be genetically, _Canis familiaris_, but that’s not enough to earn it the title dog. Such sub-sized critters are to be known, henceforce, as rats-with-delusions-of-adequacy. And if the current fasion mode is to carry a rat-with-delusions-of-adequacy with one everywhere, I do hope they won’t do it near me. [/QUOTE] Exactly how large does one’s pet have to be before it’s acceptable to you and why should anyone particularly care what you think of their pet? Dogs come in all sizes and yes they are dogs. Blame the neurotic dog owner for carting it around. I’ve had dogs in every size and shape you can think of and they’re all dogs. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-purse-bites/400001/7 "2007-04-13T22:07:45Z")
[QUOTE=Caridwen] Exactly how large does one’s pet have to be before it’s acceptable to you and why should anyone particularly care what you think of their pet? Dogs come in all sizes and yes they are dogs. Blame the neurotic dog owner for carting it around. I’ve had dogs in every size and shape you can think of and they’re all dogs. [/QUOTE] Because there are laws that dogs and dog owners are supposedly held accountable to? I say supposedly because there are a number of small dog owners who don’t bother with them. And there are those in law enforcement who won’t enforce them on said small dogs. According to either my landlord or my neighbor they aren’t really dogs. At least one of them has trouble with that. My lease is specifically ‘no pets except cats.’ But my neighbor upstairs has a small yippy thing that used to bark constantly whenever it was left alone. Cats don’t do that. (I use the past tense, because when I mentioned it to the dog’s owner she did something to take care of the barking.) Likewise, have you tried to press complaints to animal control for a poodle that’s bitten several children? They don’t get the same sort of response that a report of a roaming Great Dane does. On the one hand, I agree that a Great Dane can do more damage if it starts biting people, but once the smaller dog has proven to be a menance it should be treated as a dangerous dog. Not a funny-looking something else.