Development Edit

In April 1975, in a bar in Bonny Doon, Gary Dahl listened to his friends complain about their pets; this gave him the idea for the perfect "pet": a rock.[2] A rock would not need to be fed, walked, bathed, or groomed, and it would not die, become sick, or be disobedient. Dahl said that they were to be the perfect pets and joked about it with his friends.[6] He took his idea seriously, however, and drafted an "instruction manual" for a pet rock. The manual was full of puns and gags that referred to the rock as an actual pet. Dahl's biggest expense was the die-cutting and manufacture of the boxes. The rocks only cost a penny each, and the straw was nearly free. For the initial run of booklets, Dahl had a printing job for a client, and "tacked" the pet rock booklet onto the main job. This resulted in a batch requiring only a cut and trim, at almost no cost except for some labor.

Marketing Edit

A 32-page official training manual titled The Care and Training of Your Pet Rock was included, with instructions on how to properly raise and care for one's new Pet Rock (notably lacking instructions for feeding, bathing, and so on).[7] The instruction manual was the real product, full of gags, puns and jokes, and contained several commands that could be taught to the new pet. While "sit" and "stay" were effortless to accomplish, "roll over" usually required a little extra help from the trainer. "Come," "stand" and "shake hands" were found to be near-impossible to teach; however, "attack" was fairly simple (also with some additional help from the owner's force).

Availability Edit

The Pet Rock became available again on September 3, 2012. Rosebud Entertainment currently holds the United States trademark rights to the Pet Rock.[8]

See also Edit