Pet Store Names

I have a cat with picky tastes. Her picky tastes require that I shop at bougie pet stores, as if I buy the wrong kitty litter...let's just say no one wants that. PetCo and Pets Mart don't carry the right kind.

This is fine, I like supporting small, local businesses. The pet store closest to my office is named after the owner's pets, Sam and Willy. Perfectly acceptable. But let's examine some of the other local pet boutiques:

Barker and Meowsky

Wiggleyville

Urbanimal

For Dog's Sake

Ruff Haus

Doggy Style

Tails in the City

Spotland Yard

The Houndry

Gourmutts

The Barking Lot

I'm not making any of this up. All these stores are in Chicago, and these are just the ones I can remember.

I have no beef with the quality of the stores (in fact, I've only been to two of them), it's just the names. Is there some rule that all pet owners are supposed to love cutesy puns? All of these names basically demand that one talk in baby talk. Or point out the "cleverness" of the names.

Many of these names also imply some sort of escapist alternate reality. For example, I bet the traffic in Wiggleyville is much friendlier (and more sober) than the traffic in actual Wrigleyville. Can't you just picture the law firm of Barker and Meowsky? My cat is the grumpy old human resources manager dictating who gets to sit on the radiator and who is relegated to the chair. Spotland Yard? "which liddle puppy made a mess? ooh, da cute liddle puddy tat. I tot I taw a puddy tat!"

This is exactly the type of thing that makes non-pet owners think pet owners are all nuts.