Figured I'd post why I like the pet dyes so people can look at the issue from an alternate perspective.
1. As it's currently implemented the quest seems to be an un-scriptable repeatable quest which will always retain it's demand. Correct me if I'm wrong, but since you have to complete a puzzle in a separate window, the scripts cant interact with the puzzle since it has to read the individual colors in the window to solve the puzzle. As far as I'm aware certain scripting programs wouldn't be able to read the puzzle. The puzzle can only be completed once a day. This ensures that the dyes wont flood the market in 10 seconds (does anyone know whether it's 1 try or one completion per day?). And since the dyes wear out, the demand will always be there.
To sum up the above statement: the dyes are a new, repeatable source of income that anyone can get.
2. Puzzles! (that aren't broken!)
3. Allows people to personalize their pets! How awesome is this? Why should be be stuck with brown and grey horses? What about black horses? White horses, even orange-ish horses are realistic. Personally I'm sick of seeing 10,000 tamers with red or brown greater dragons. In what fiction are dragons only red or brown?
Being able to personalize our pets makes them more unique, and special to their owners, we can develop a pet's unique identity better. Sure, some people will dye their pets garish colors for fun, and they'll be kinda annoying (though the garish colors are mostly removed), but it's a great feature for people who are actually attached to their pets.
Personally I plan on dye-ing one of my hell hounds black, in a pack of 5, it can get easy to confuse them, and it's almost impossible to develop them as having unique personalities. Besides, why shouldn't hell hounds be black? It's a very legitimate color for them, no one would have blinked an eye if hell hounds originally came in black as well as red.
Blue hell hounds would be rather odd, but i dont see why someone can't RP their pet as "magically enhanced" giving them a different chromatic hue. Heck, one could even RP the pack as different elemental hounds: green for poison, normal for fire, purple for energy, etc.
To sum up the whole post. Yea, some idiots are going to dye their pets outrageous colors "just 'cause," but since it allows people who use the feature "correctly" to enhance their in-game characters, I support it.
Oh, and...

Dancing Purple Llamas!
New UO catchphrase: Does your MMO have dancing purple llamas? Enough said.
