In August 1975 Gary Dahl, an advertising executive, came up with the wacky idea of having a 'rock' as a pet. He just didn't want the hassle of looking after traditional pets like dogs, cats and birds etc., which Gary considered to be too messy, expensive and hard to look after.
After the initial weird looks and grunts from his friends, they soon came round to the idea, and thought the concept of 'Pet Rocks' was quite fun.