Extra Large Dog Houses

Extra large dog houses are only possible when the size of the dog is considered. The so-called "extra large dog houses" are actually just big dog houses.

The way to find out what size dog you have is to measure the length of its middle finger, and multiply it by two. If this number is between 12 and 17 inches, that's a medium-size dog. If it's between 18 and 22 inches, that's a large dog; if it's more than 22 inches it's an extra large dog.

I am not a fan of extra large dog houses. I have known many people who have owned, or whose children have owned, extra large dog houses. They are all the same. They are ugly. They are impractical. They are expensive. And they look like poor man's mansions.

The idea that it is smart to build a house that looks like a mansion for your dog is as dumb as the idea that it is smart to build a house that looks like a castle for yourself.

If you think about it, the extra-large dog houses are much like jokes, which seem to be much like extra-large dog houses. They are not really different from ordinary dog houses. But they are different enough to make them stand out, and so they do.

Jokes are funny because they break an unspoken rule. Extra-large dog houses are funny because they break an unspoken rule that is not really a rule at all: the rule that things that are different should be distinguished from things that are similar.