Lifestyle
It’s pooch time! Creating un-paw-gettable memories with our paw-some furpals
And then I saw my dog. I noticed how big he has become; the once puppy who I can carry in my arms has grown up so much and too fast. (Photo: Joanna Belle Deala/Philippine Canadian Inquirer)
24 hours; 1,440 minutes; or 86,400 seconds — that is the amount of time we have in a day. These figures may sound huge to us that we think we really do have a lot of time in our hands, but little did we know, those numbers pass by so fast.
Some of us may not notice it because we are probably busy doing other stuff, not realizing that everything around us can change in the blink of an eye. I remember having a beautiful vase of rose at our window but then it withered long ago and now all I can see is the plain glass in a frame. Our living room used to be so messy with a lot of toys scattered around, but looking at it now, I find no trace of those things at all and I realized that no one in the house plays it anymore, not me nor my younger sibling.
And then I saw my dog. I noticed how big he has become; the once puppy who I can carry in my arms has grown up so much and too fast. Missing the early days, I have this thought in my mind that I want to turn the back the time, wishing I could have given more attention to my fur friend so I did not miss out so much of his growing up.
But nuff drama — this is not really the best time for that especially now that the world is celebrating one of the ‘greatest’ days in the calendar. Instead of being remorseful about what I was not able to do before, I looked at the bright side, thinking that I can use this day to start doing the things I wish I did sooner. As we celebrate International Puppies Day, here is a mutt-do list for our pooch so we can spend a lot of time to be together while they are still young. I believe that this list is not just for me though; paws and reflect too because you might as well need it or get something from it.
- More walks
Exercising with dogs by walking can kill not just two, but many birds with one stone: we could not only have a good keep-fit session but also our pets. We also get to walk with them more and keep them off from getting bored at home. Instead of doing some crunches inside our room or going to the gym alone, let us grow the bond we have with our dog by roaming around the neighborhood.
- More chit-chats
I’m one of those people that whenever they encounter problems, they prefer it to just keep it to themselves. As much as possible, I do not want my family to see how dramatic I can be so whenever I got to the point where I could not handle it anymore, I will hide at our terrace and let my emotions flow in silence. But moments later, I would notice a shadow at the door and there I see my dog sitting and staring at me. At first, I do not intend to open up my problems to him because somehow I find it funny telling my feelings to someone who does not respond to whatever I’m saying — but that’s what I thought. Dogs have their own unique way of responding to us whenever we talk to them. My dog may have this confused look on his face but then I realized that maybe he actually understands how I feel as he responds to me through snuggling his head on my lap, placing his paw over my arm, and wagging his tail. We may not get a clear advice from them like those of what our friends or family will tell us, but we feel so much better once we hear a simple woof woof, arf arf, or ruff ruff sound from them; it feels like their barking is everything we need to hear.
- More romp time
Admit it: every morning, the first thing that most of us do when we wake up is reach for our mobile phones. As soon as we turn off our alarm clock, we go straight to browsing Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, and check for any new messages on our email — even before we could entirely open our eyes, we have already bogged ourselves down with our smartphones. We spend so much time in a day just by scrolling through the internet that we forget to allot time for our dog’s romp time.
Why don’t we all do this? Let go of our phones and play more with our pets. Have fun throwing their favorite toys and watch them gracefully fetch it, teach them new tricks, play with a water hose, and a lot more. Doing such things will not only strengthen our bond but I also believe it will make them more emotionally and physically healthy. We do not want to see our dogs looking sad and unproductive all day and every day, right?
- Watch movies
Watching movies for me is one of the life’s greatest pleasures and enjoying it with my furpal makes everything better. Just imagine how perfect it is to watch a film while you snuggle with your pet as you eat some popcorn. Seeing a movie with your pet is indeed a cool idea because one, you get to enjoy it without getting annoyed by someone who talks non-stop while the film is ongoing; and two, you do not have to explain every single detail to your seatmate who keeps asking questions about what is exactly happening in the movie.
- Dress up
Almost every month there are various occasions that everyone around the world is celebrating. Aside from food and activities, some of us spice up the occasion (like Halloween or Christmas) by dressing ourselves and our pets up in a way that we will be comfortable. Not only do we get to dress up ourselves but we can also wear matching outfits with our pooch. Why bother looking for a partner to wear couple shirts or a friend who is willing to sport same clothes as you when you can slay #twinning outfits with your dog?
- Have a puppy party
Our family never forgets to throw a birthday party for our furbaby. Tons of food on the table? Party hats, balloons, banner, poppers, and a special cake? These are surely all present during that very special day. In fact, you get to see these at our dog’s natal day because no one in the family (I’m serious), except our furbaby, has this grand birthday celebration. For sure many other pet owners out there are throwing a party like this for our dog’s special day. Some of us, perhaps, would even call our fellow hoomans and their little furfriends and invite them over.
Better organize that party, your pup will not be a puppy forever!
- Go shopping
Women are often associated with malls and shopping bags because many of us would assume they love shopping and strolling around the mall. But what if not only most of them (and some men) have this hobby? What if our four-legged little buddies also aspire to be shopaholics? Curious to see? Then I guess it is time for you to ease up yourself from deciding what dog stuff to buy and let your doggo do the choosing. Just remember to follow the mall’s pet-friendly policies which may require you to put a leash and diaper on your pet. Also, prepare your bank account because checking the price tag is not included in the dog-shopper package.
- Join pup events
Apart from literally going outside the house and roaming around your neighborhood, I’m pretty sure we also like to do something different than our usual activities with our doggos. For example, a fun run or pet trade show where there is a picnic area for puppies, free drinks, souvenirs, tons of raffle prizes, and most importantly, we get to interact with other fur-las and their hoomans.
- Go on trips
Each of us needs to enjoy a little sun on the beach or the picturesque view of popular tourist destinations once in a while as we have a moment from our jobs. Going on a vacation, as we all know, is one of the best ways to have some enjoyment and to keep our minds off things that stresses us out. But everything will surely be a lot of fun if we bring a companion with us. Well, lucky for us because we do not have to look for a travel pal we can drag; even before we could plan this trip, there is always this second shadow that is constantly following us wherever we go, including the bathroom.
Instead of leaving our dogs at home, patiently waiting for us to return, why don’t we make them our travel companion as we discover out-of-the-way parts of the world. We just have to make sure that the places we are going to visit are pet-friendly ones where our beloved dogs are allowed and can have so much fun.
- Recording memories
It is a dream come true and major achievement unlocked for me to have a decent photo with my dog, because cross my heart, it is not and will never be an easy task for me to do so.
My pooch always gives me two choices whenever I attempt to take a photo with him: it is either I get a blurred photograph because he moves or walks away from me when I’m about to hit the capture button on my phone screen or not a blurred one but he flaunts his iconic do-this-again-and-I’ll-send-you-to-hell pose while I smile widely on the other side, hoping that my wish of having a decent photo can finally come true. Some pet owners may have also experienced this but we just cannot stop taking little moments of our dogs like the way they sit cutely on the floor, roll over on the couch wait for some belly rubs, lick their muzzle, do their mid-yawn, and many other amusing things our dogs do – like just breathing. Although we cannot help ourselves from taking shots of our dog’s quirks that bring joy in our lives, it is somehow challenging for some pet owners to capture the split-second actions of these precious goofy creatures.
We all know that our dear puppies won’t be forever young and small. Remember the saying for parents that “you will never have this day with your children again. Tomorrow they’ll be a little older than they were today?” This also applies to our dogs. So while they are still young and while we can easily bring them from one place to another, let us not throw away anymore an opportunity to build and cherish extraordinary moments with them.
