YSaC, Vol. CLXXI

2009 January 5

shitzu – $200


selling an 8 month old shitzu pup.
shes very friendly and loving.
shes very good with kids. shes black and white.
was born on april 1st 2008.

im asking $200

you can reach me at xxx xxx-xxxx
names ivan

keywords:: mastiff,saint bernard,rottweiler,husky,labrador,jack russell terrier,reptiles,snakes,monitors,pets,cars,b16,b18,type r,gsr,ls,zc,integra,civic,crx,accord,rsx,tl,k20,h22,infinity,ford,chevy,dodge,chrysler,pioneer,kenwood,alpine,

“Shitzu”? Really? You know, I think there should be a spelling test for prospective dog owners. Can you spell the name of the breed you’re adopting? No? Then no dog for you.

That’s quite the keyword list for a “shitzu”. I wonder how many people start off looking for a Saint Bernard and end up buying a Shih Tzu instead because it popped up in their keyword search. Probably about as many as start off looking for Chryslers or Kenwoods, I suppose.

Keyword spammers deserve to die. As do people who post ads selling animals on Craigslist.

(In a rare moment of seriousness for me: I’m disturbed by the number of people who are already selling the animals they got for Christmas because they “just can’t take care of them anymore”. Seriously — don’t advertise that you can’t take care of an animal for more than five days and then insist that it go to a “good home”. That’s just stupid and wrong. Grrrrr.)

17 Responses leave one →
  1. 2009 January 5
    Ken permalink

    I read an article a few months back mentioning that thieves were stealing pure-breed dogs from owners and selling them. It really makes me wonder if this is an unfit dog owner or a stolen dog.

    Adores: 0
  2. 2009 January 5

    $200 is a bit high, but I know Craigslist recommends a reasonable “rehoming fee” for good reason: it can help deter people who would pick up a free animal just to torture or kill it. When we had to find a home for a cat last year, we asked like $35, just to cover the cost of her food, toys, litter box, etc., and fortunately, she ended up with a nice family just across the street.

    Adores: 0
  3. 2009 January 5
    Mandee permalink

    I like the rehoming fee Jill mentioned. My friend has had to get rid of several dogs, and always charges a rehoming fee so she knows that the dog is going to be in a good home. I do think that $200 is high, though. And really…a shitzu?!? Doesn’t Craigslist have spell check??

    Adores: 0
    • 2009 September 4
      Kagenin permalink

      No, but most web browsers have a spell-check feature built in (MSIE does, FF does, Opera does even the comparatively young Google Chrome does… I honestly can’t think of a modern browser that doesn’t…) so you can check everything you type into a text-entry field (such as these lovely “Leave a Reply” fields).

      They probably don’t know what the red squiggly lines under half the words in their listing mean.

      Adores: 0
      • 2009 September 7

        “MSIE”? Only the IE8 does and you’d have to be drunk, mad, stoned and masochistic to use it by choice.

        Adores: 4
  4. 2009 January 5
    Courtney permalink

    No, but every computer comes with some sort of word processing software which does have spell check. Never mind this wonderful thing we have now called Google. What they really need is some sort of stupid check, but then what would we do for entertainment?

    Adores: 0
    • 2010 May 1
      Julia permalink

      @Courtney:
      “What they really need is some sort of stupid check”
      There’s a group of people working on that right now, actually: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StupidFilter

      Adores: 0
      • 2010 November 23
        Crossfire905 permalink

        “Most of the sample data was taken from comments on YouTube.”

        I laughed. 😀

        Adores: 0
  5. 2009 January 6
    Rebecca permalink

    I dunno. I don’t think I’d feel obligated to take care of a pet such as a dog if someone just dumped it in my lap unasked for and was all like “Merry Christmas!” I’d probably shove it right back at them. Having said that I am still taking care of the unasked-for goldfish my friend gave me 4 years ago. Thing is giving me the stink eye right now.

    Adores: 3
  6. 2009 January 7
    Tirya permalink

    There’s a REASON that responsible breeders and rescue groups will not let people buy live animals as gifts. Unfortunately the people who only care about the money don’t give a damn what happens to the animal, so they’re more than happy to sell a pet at the holidays… and this is what happens far too often.

    We want to get another dog, but we are waiting until the end of January or the beginning of February, because we know the shelters will start filling up with discarded “Christmas pets”… hopefully we can give one a REAL home.

    Adores: 1
  7. 2009 January 8
    Felicia permalink

    That dog is black and white O.o?

    Adores: 0
  8. 2009 January 9

    Most importantly, that dog is mad ugly. If someone gave it to me for Christmas, I’d give someone else $200 to make it go away.

    Adores: 4
  9. 2009 May 27
    A. Non Imus permalink

    I love that most of those keywords are Honda-related

    Adores: 0
  10. 2009 July 3

    I was a vet tech for some years and was always impressed/horrified by some of the dog breed spellings I saw. You know those short legged dogs also known as wiener dogs? That’s a “doxson”. Or even a “Datsun”. The big, black and tan slobbery ones sometimes used as guard dogs? That’s a “rock waller”. No joke.

    Shitzu, sharpay and pitt bull were pretty commonplace as well.

    Adores: 1
    • 2009 September 28
      Procrastinator permalink

      At least the poster didn’t call it a “shit zu”.

      Adores: 1
  11. 2009 July 13
    Mr. Bubbles permalink

    I think the third pic is of a different dog

    Adores: 0
  12. 2009 September 13
    Hillari-T permalink

    To be utterly frank, the only people who would give pets away through CL are those who are too cheap to pay the surrendering fee that rescue agencies and shelters require. If you really wanted to make sure the dog/cat went to a good home, and you really had to “get rid of it right away” a rescue agency would be your best option. Not posting to a multitude of strangers with the request that the interested party be “responsible” as your only screening method.

    Adores: 1

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