Make It Routine
09/11/06

The first of the month is pet overhaul time at my house. It’s when the dogs’ heartworm preventative is due and so we use this time to check for fleas, check their ears, and go over our mental inventory of lumps, bad teeth, and other previously diagnosed maladies, check for new ones and check our supply of medications such as preventatives and arthritis medications. We may give the dogs and cats a good brushing if needed and completely replace the cat litter and clean the cat box.  It’s a good time to re-focus on these family members who give us such dedicated loving companionship. Many of us operate in such a dizzying whirlwind of duties and minor crises that having little cues to regularly remind us of what’s important in this world not only enriches us, but in this case, enriches our pets as well.

With the weather beginning to cool off a bit you may want to re-institute regular evening walks with the dogs. Get the kids involved too. It would be a great time to do some training with the dogs and their young keepers; it provides a great opportunity to exercise and is good family time. Earmark certain times that at least occasionally work with your schedule. Our dogs generally want to do what we want them to do. They simply need training to teach them what those things are. You may also want to occasionally substitute dog washing for dog walking or check the yard and make sure it’s “dog friendly”, i.e., check the fence, wash the food and water bowls and wash bedding.

We recommend including the pets’ care on the family calendar (or keep a separate pet care calendar) especially if your pets are on regular medications other than heartworm preventative. Make your pets’ care a routine part of your family’s time together. Making it routine will reduce stress, improve your relationship with both your pets and your family, and result in healthy, happy pets who live up to their enormous potential to be loving companions and family members.