Love your Pet Day

Mark your calendars because February 20^th is National Love Your Pet Day.  We get so many holidays to ourselves, our pets deserve some extra loving, too.  This holiday is a great opportunity to make your pet feel pampered and truly loved.  Go out of your way to make them feel special by planning a day’s worth of activities and healthy treats that fill their tummies.  Here’s a few ideas to get you started:

Take Long Walks

Take your time and give your dog or cat a nice outdoor excursion.  Allow them to wander in foreign territories, sniff a few butts, and take you for a nice run.  Of course, keep them on a leash if you don’t have a local dog park to allow them to roam free.  If you’ve never taken your dog to their own park to play around, go out your way to find one and treat them to a day full of outdoor exploration.

New, Healthy Treats

Everyone loves receiving treats during the holidays, our pets are no different.  Give them something they’ve never tried before, but make sure it is safe and healthy for them to eat.  Pet treats can be a little pricey sometimes, so we often avoid trying new things, but splurge a little on Love Your Pet Day.  They deserve it, after all.

Let them be themselves

Don’t get so wound-up if your pet misbehaves, let them express themselves and try to understand their own unique personality.  A good example is when new pets are brought home and you have a certain expectation for how they should act, based on the breed or your own pre-existing ideas.  The truth is, pets all have different personalities and we should take a step back and account for this, rather than punish them for falling outside our own preconceived notions of good behavior.

Treat them to song and dance

Pets have amazing hearing, and many pets do enjoy song and dance.  You can fill the house with some tunes, just make sure you are cognizant of their own sensitivity.  Don’t play music too loud or yell to loud when watching sports.  Most pets will tolerate our loudness, even to the point where they may be doing damage to their hearing, in order to be close to us, so try to remember this when celebrating National Love Your Pet Day!