December is a month of holidays - that means a month of memories.  Looking back, I have childhood memories of taking Lady, my little beagle-mix with us to cut down the Christmas tree. I remember the year that she and the cat opened most of our presents during the night. (My mom was NOT happy.)  In recent years, I remember a very patient Collie (dressed as Santa)  waiting for the cat (dressed as an elf) to sit still for 2 seconds so that we could take their picture for our Christmas card.  And I remember wrapping a whole “fence” of cardboard cartons so that Tucker couldn’t hurt the tree or get hurt by it.  Such special memories!



As I talked about last month, dogs give us so much.  What can we give them in return?



1-    The gift of touch. Petting a dog can lower your  blood pressure.  In return, it may also help lower the blood pressure of the dog. And petting  your dog on a regular basis can teach you what “normal” is. Knowing normal,  you can more quickly identify when something changes -  lumps or bumps,  discomfort shown by your dog, or a difference in the texture of his coat. You can then more quickly  determine if something is really wrong. Some current theories suggest the touches that feel most normal to a dog are short ones - about one stroke per second in just a small area of their body.  (Think about a mother dog licking her puppies.)  The time spent this way is also great for strengthening the bond between you. 

2-    The gift of music.  Studies are showing that certain music can be as relaxing to pets as it is to people.  Each of us has a natural rhythm in our breathing and our heartbeat.  How closely the  music matches (or doesn’t) that rhythm can cause us - and dogs and cats - to feel relaxed or energized or annoyed.  What kind of music relaxes pets?  Probably not loud with heavy drum beats.  Soft, slow songs, played at background volume,  seem to be the most calming.  One study seems to indicate that cats prefer male voice choirs and oboes.   It might be interesting  to determine if some music would indeed help prevent separation anxiety when your pet is left alone.

3-    The gift of a smoke free environment.  There is a lot of research evidence that suggests secondhand smoke is dangerous for our pets.  They not only inhale it, but they also end up ingesting the particles that are trapped on their coats.  Long nosed breeds like collies are two times more likely to develop nasal cancer if they live in a smoking household.  Flat faced breed like pugs are more likely to develop lung cancer. 

4-    The gift of an irregular feeding schedule.  This may sound odd.  It is well demonstrated that  dogs do get accustomed to eating the same food at the same time.  A sudden change in that pattern- maybe because of holiday events or because your dog is being boarded -  may lead to physical as well as emotional upset. Let your dog become used to a varied schedule.  Then they should know that dinner doesn’t always happen at the same time - but it always happens.  (It may be less stressful for you as well. You don’t always have to be home at 5 to feed the dog.)



Maybe you give your dogs gifts.  Maybe you even wrap the gifts up so that the dog can have fun unwrapping them. (Nothing wrong with that!!)  Remember that the best things that you can give to anyone - person or pet - aren’t “things” at all.