As we learn today that more money than ever before is being spent celebrating our pets birthdays, I stop to consider why is it that some people, admittedly just a small minority, seem to think it’s somehow ‘weird’ behaviour. Why?

The role of the dog has changed so much over the past 50 years.

There was a time when a much larger proportion of dog owners needed their animals to perform a job of work, be it guarding, ratting or hunting. Nowadays the majority of dogs still perform a variety of roles and fulfil many needs in the home such as that of companion, mate, pal, confidant, Wimbledon mixed doubles partner, garden FC goalkeeper, child’s best friend are just a few. The dog remains man’s best friend and that doesn’t look like changing in the near or distant future.

So surely there can be nothing wrong with treating them as a full fledged, officially approved and properly integrated family member? And on that basis, when their birthdays come round, why not make a deal of it?

Sure, the dog doesn’t care it’s his birthday. He won’t sit at the end of your bed on the big day tapping his paw excitedly waiting to be let loose on his new Playstation. He won’t spend the day trying on the new gear he’s going to look great in when he goes out on the lash in town that night. But he will LOVE every second of being the centre of attention and he WILL recognise that something special is being done JUST for him. He’ll love that!

If you were to suggest to members of a much older and long since departed generation that one day we’d have dogs leading the blind, dogs assisting disabled people, dogs capable of detecting cancer or spotting the onset of an epileptic seizure, they wouldn’t just laugh at you they’d petition to have installed in an institution.

So look at this way. Those people who laugh or snigger at the folks who make a big deal out of their dog’s birthday would be the same people who’d never be able to believe just how far our relationship with our canine friends has come over the past 50, 100 or 1000 years. Modern dogs living in modern times integrate and adapt to our lifestyles, it’s just one of the things that makes them so perfect as a companion animal – they can adapt to living with us whether they were sharing the Taj Mahal or sharing a cardboard box for a bed on Oxford street. They don’t care so long as they’ve got us for company. And on that basis don’t ever let anyone make you feel daft for wanting your dog to enjoy some of the things that make your life better. They won’t be sad if you don’t but they’ll equally be delighted if you do.

www.petbirthdays.com

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