February truly is the month of love and pets have their own special day of love on February 20th with International Love Your Pet Day. We love our pets but with our increasingly hectic lifestyles, we sometimes forget to show them just how much they mean to us and what a difference they make to our lives. Today is the day to do just that.
It’s been scientifically proven that pets make us happier. According to WebMD, stroking your dog can lower your blood pressure and reduces stress hormones. Scientists have also confirmed that human-dog interaction releases the hormone oxytocin known as “the bonding hormone” in humans.
So today, let’s return the favour and do something to make our pets happier, even if it’s just a simple thing to make today a special day:
- Make time to take your dog for an extra long walk or on a different walk. Dogs love to be stimulated so always going to the same place can become boring for them. You’ll enjoy the change in scenery too!
- Break the rules! If you don’t normally let your dog sleep on the sofa or on the bed, let them just for today.
- Spoil them with some extra special treats. Check out the Canine Pantry or Crazy Crumb for some yummy home-made dog treat recipes.
- Make an extra big fuss of them or take the time to groom them. They will love the attention.
Finally, spare a thought for the pets that don’t have someone special to love them on Love Your Pet Day. Many rescues have an online wish list for things they need that you can then buy from their website or Amazon and that will get delivered straight to them. Here are some wish lists from London-based rescues:
- All Dogs Matter Amazon Wish list
- Battersea Cats and Dogs Home Gifts List
- Mayhew Animal Home Amazon Wish list
- Dogs Trust Amazon Wish list
Those are some great ideas for making your dog feel special. I love going out for an extra long walk with my bipeds.
Author
Long walks are the best, preferably with a few squirrels to chase along the way! Sometimes our humans need a little reminding about that 🙂
For us, it is EVERY DAY! I think the message we would like to convey is that pets are for a LIFETIME, not SOMETIMES!
Have a great day!
Barks and licks and love,
Dakota http://www.dakotasden.net
Author
We agree Dakota, pets are a lifetime commitment and we should spoil our pets every day. It’s nice there’s a day we can all celebrate spoiling our pets together! Wags and Love from The Dogvine Crew
What great ideas. We try to make every day “love your pet” day, but it is easy to get busy with other things. We made some special treats last weekend though, something I don’t get to do as often as I’d like.
Author
It’s true we should all treat every day as love your pet day”. Hope the home-made treats turned out well…I need to do more of that too!