Why Celebrating Your Pet’s Birthday is So Important

My lovely dog Zoe celebrated her 8th birthday today (Tuesday).  I wanted to take her for a long hike in the mountains but the Santa Ana winds have been so strong today, kicking up dust.  Therefore I just gave her two long walks around the neighborhood with the promise we’d go hiking one day this week.  I felt the need to make this a very special day for her.  Why? Well because I adopted her about 7 years ago and she has been a huge force in pulling me through some tough times, including depression.  Why not give back to them, even though they won’t know why?  They just wanna be happy hanging out with you and this is the best gift you can give them.

Dogs/pets are so important to human beings’ well being and I love the fact that dogs/pets have climbed the social ladder so much in the last couple of decades, being more than just a dog, they are now revered as members of the family.  This is one reason why my photography services focus on Pet Photography, because I love animals and pets so much.  Notice I said Pets, because I know there are Cat people out there also *smile*.

So the question of my blog is why should we celebrate a pet’s birthday?  I mean they have no idea when they were born right?  Why should we go the extra mile other than our normal routine?  Well I think there’s more to it than from their perspective.  So here are my reasons why I like to celebrate their special day:

1. Pets get bored – I’ll be honest; I have no scientific proof of this but I see it in Zoe.  If I don’t play with her one morning or walk a decent distance she lays around and become lethargic and to me bored.  Why not change it up occasionally and take them on a hike or to the beach or to lunch at an outdoor cafe.  They love that stuff!!

   

   Don’t let them get bored

2. New News – Go on a road trip.  Nothing changes the status quo than going somewhere new to them that has new smells.  I’ve always liked to think of their smelling as “reading the latest pet news”.  Well if you take them to a new place they’ve never been, there’s a lot of news they never heard about i.e. sniffing galore.

   

   Zoe sniffing out the coastline of Ensenada, Mexico

3. Special Treat – Give them some human food in their normal routine.  I fried Zoe a burger today with the grease and poured into her food.  She LOVED it and scooped up her food in no time at all.  Does she know why?  No, but I do and I know she was satisfied walking away.  It’s the little things in life.

   

   Reaching for the treat!

4. Photographs – nothing will ever be more impactful than having special photographs of your pets.  We already know the unspoken truth that we will outlive our pets.  So Why not give them a special photography day of fun, be it outdoors running through the fields and mountains or indoors getting lots of treat for being a trooper.  Either way you won’t be disappointed.

   

   A quick shot of Zoe in my courtyard.  I love her expressions!

5. Below is one of my favorite pics of Zoe I had blown up to 30×40″ canvas print.  It hangs over my fireplace and reminds me every day of the amazing relationship I continue to have with her.

   

   Taken in Santa Barbara overlooking the dog beach

May is National Pet Month.  Why not treat your pet to a special photoshoot that you will remember for years to come.  Contact me at www.chadsuggsphoto.com if you’d like to schedule a photoshoot for your special loved one.  I am offering 20% off any “session fee” booked if you mention this blog post.  Thank you for your support and I look forward to more photographic adventures with you in the future.

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Feel free to contact me for further information.  Thank you all for your support!

Regards,

Chad