Love Your Pet Day - February 20th

On Pet Love Day, its an honor to give back to the pets who love us with acts as easy as taking your pet for their favorite activity, paying tribute to a past pet, or even sponsoring a shelter pet hoping for her very own home.

Whether its the purr of a cat, the licks of a dog, the soft whinny of a horse or the good chuckle you get from watching your hamster do laps in his ball, there's no denying the wealth of love, humor and good feelings a pet can bring. There are even many studies pointing to how a pet can lower our stress levels and lengthen our lives... not to mention the daily quality of life they bring.

So how do we pay these marvelous gifts back? Our pets don't ask for much and it takes so little to make them wag their tail, jump with joy or swing like a sugar glider into your chest pocket. So let's put our paws to the task and get ready to honor the pets we love!

When your bond has cemented with your pet, one of you biggest fears is that they might get lost. Love your Pet Day is a perfect annual opportunity to make sure your pet has a good collar and tag for emergencies.

When we first brought our Bingo home from the shelter, I knew he'd already been lost by at least one owner. In those first months before I could count on him coming home to us if he escaped our fence, these enameled pet tags gave me peace of mind that if he strayed, my contact info would be easy to see... and fashionably so! A pup this handsome certainly deserves a stylish medal on his collar don't you think?

There's nothing my rat terrier, Bingo, loves more than a good game of chase. Chase the frisbee, chase the ball... for hours. So, If I had to craft a day to his liking it would be a good hour walk off leash in the woods, a picnic that I would share with him (maybe some ham, some boiled eggs and cheese), then return home for some ball toss and then an long snuggle on the couch together. That is Bingo Heaven.

Thinking further though, I realize that my "Pet Love" is made possible by the kind folks at our local Humane Society who made our friendship possible. This made me realize that Pet Love day could be a bigger wider endeavor, and this gave me more ideas...

I thought I'd compile a list to get the Pet Love progress started. Please contribute your own ideas below!

Gifts for Your Pet

1) Bring home the bacon; or your pet's favorite treat.

2) Stuff a favorite toy with more goodies, or offer some playful interaction

3) Arrange a play date with other playful pets and their proud owners

4) Take your pet on their favorite adventure if they're the adventurous type

5) Lavish them with some grooming and other loving attention

6) Snuggle away

For Your Community

1) Pay a visit to a local shelter and give some love to pets still looking for a home, make a donation of cash or supplies

2) Share your pet, if friendly, at a senior assisted living facility for some visiting time

3) Offer to bring your pet to your child's classroom for show and tell

4) Send a donation or volunteer to a charitable group that helps animals (see a list below)

5) Encourage a friend who's thinking of getting a pet to visit a shelter and adopt from the pets in need of homes

6) If you don't currently have a pet of your own, commit to a yearly sponsorship of a zoo animal!

Put aside a half hour and pamper your pet... it will make both of your day!"

Make sure to spread the word about Love Your Pet Day on February 20th (My birthday no less!). Here's some fun trivia and talking points to get the conversation started!

- 62% of US households have pets; and over half have more than one! That's a lot of animal love going around.

- According to Wikipedia, the number of households that have dogs outnumber those that have cats but that there are more total pet cats than pet dogs... I guess those Cat Ladies with 25 cats are really messing with the bell curve!

- The record oldest dog was an Australian Cattle dog named Bluey at 29 years, the oldest recorded cat, Lucy, was 39 years old from South Wales (double the typical lifespan).

- Owning a pet can reduce the risk of a heart attack by 2%

- Out of 92 people with coronary ailments, within a year 11 of the 29 without pets had died, compared to only 3 of the 52 who had pets.

- Over ten million Americans suffer from some sort of a pet allergy.

- Twenty-one percent of owned dogs & cats were adopted from an animal shelter

- On average, cat owners have two cats (2.2) & dog owners have 1.69 dogs.

What better way to honor a pet than to donate to a charity that rescues pets and finds them new forever families? Make a donation in honor of your favorite pet and know it will go a long way to improving not just that pet's life but also the family that takes him home.

The Angels that brought us our Dog Babies...

February 20th is a great day to reach out and thank our local Humane Society. Their kind work has brought us both of our dog babies and we are forever grateful and amazed at the wonderful pets and self-less volunteers & staff found within its capable walls. Take the time to leave a message on their Facebook page or drop off a donation.

One of my favorites from childhood that still resonates and seems a great fit for Pet Love day is this lighthearted song by Steve Miller Band. A good one to remember when Fido's begging for more ball time is "driving you CRAAAZYYYYY."

As long as humans and animals have coexisted, they have formed deep connections. History and literature is full of references to this amazing connection between people and their pets. Here's a few famous pet quotes:

• "A horse gallops with his lungs,

  Perseveres with his heart,

  And wins with his character." ~ Tesio

• "I think I could turn and live with animals, they are

  so placid and self-contained,

  I stand and look at them long and long." ~ Walt Whitman

• "Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole." ~ Roger Caras
• "Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this." ~ Anonymous
• "Home is where the pets live." - Anonymous
• "If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans" ~ James Herriot
• "Old age means realizing you will never own all the dogs you wanted to." ~ Joe Gores
• "Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." ~ Anatole France
• "A Horse! A Horse! my kingdom for a horse!" ~ Shakespeare
• "A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song." ~ Chinese Proverb
• "Love the animals: God has given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled" ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky

In case you're inbetween pets, or can't have one of you own, you can still get plenty of smiles from pets - someone else's on Funniest Pets & People. Tune in to Animal Antics! This series has, dogs, cats, bunnies, ferrets, mice, horses & even chipmunks!