New Year Resolutions aren’t just for humans you know. Ok so it is a little dark out still and you may not be able to stick to a hiking resolution or no slobbing on the sofa days when it is pouring with rain (especially the amount of rain we are having at the moment!) But there are still things you can resolve to do with your pet to make him both healthier and happier. Here are our suggested Top 5 New Year’s Resolutions to make your pet happier in 2014…
1) Change your walk up. We can all get into lazy habits if we forget to focus on what really matters even when we walk our pets, we get stuck into doing the same slow bumble about the same park for the same amount of time. But variety is the spice of life, for your dog who relies on his sense of smell change it up a little. Even just one walk a week in a new location will bring about a change in most dogs (note, don’t force nervous dogs to walk in new areas without checking their thresholds.
2) Add some extra mental stimulation. Food toys, kongs, activity toys etc are all fabulous and not just for dogs. If you think of your pets day in increments of 30mins, how long does he spend eating? For most larger mammals it is probably 3 mins if you are lucky but did you know a well stuffed (or frozen) kong can take a dog up to an hour to eat. Or how about scatter feeding around the garden. A busy animal is a well-stimulated animal.
3) Learn something new. Agility, flyball, Cani x, Rally-O the list is endless. Even some hurdling over fallen trees or balance work on
nature’s own agility kit will increase your pets happiness. And think that stops at dogs? Think again, check out youtube for MOUSE AGILITY!
4) Change his diet. Do your research and check with your vet. Remember the highest an ingredient on a food list the more there is in it. Check your pet is eating as well as you can afford.
5) Most importantly PLAY TIME with you and with others of his own species. Play is bonding, and play is learning.
