The other day, my family and I were passing through Bergen County, New Jersey on our way home from New York City by way of the ferry.  As we pulled away from the ferry terminal, my 9 year old son saw a billboard for a luxury day care and spa for dogs.  He was obviously disturbed by this, and asked me why people would spend money on a luxury day care and spa for dogs instead of donating their money to poor people or to an animal shelter.  My son is the type of child who never passes by a collection tin in a store without putting money into it, whether it is for cancer research, for children with leukemia, for the homeless, or for an animal shelter.  If he doesn't have his allowance with him, he will always ask us for some change to put into the tin.  So I wasn't surprised in the least bit that he was upset about the idea of a luxry spa for pets.  However, I didn't have a good answer; all I do was tell him was that people in this country have the right to choose to spend their money on just about anything they want to.  His reply was that he knows that, but why would they CHOOSE to spend it on something that an animal does NOT need instead of something that a person or animal DOES need, like food?  Sadly,  that's a question for which I just don't have the answer.