If you’re a dog owner and a pet lover, you may be guilty of taking care of your pet better than you take care of yourself. It happens all the time. If you do take great care of yourself, you probably take great care of your dog as well, which is wonderful. The world needs more people who will take excellent care of their dogs, as so many are mistreated and neglected.
Here are 8 ways we take better care of our dogs than ourselves:
1. We feed and water them regularly.
Most dog owners feed their dogs a healthy kind of food that will nourish their bodies and give them ample water to drink. This is sometimes more than we do for ourselves. Do you eat healthy consistently? Do you snack between meals? Do you drink plenty of water? We care about our health, but we don’t always do what we need to do in order to have optimal health. We also care about our dog’s health and we usually do a pretty good job at providing them with a healthy diet.
2. We nurture them abundantly.
We spend a lot of time nurturing and adoring our cute dogs, as they do love attention and love. When they wake up in the morning they are right in your face seeking that love and attention and we follow suit. We praise them when they do good things. We talk to them like they are our little babies. (Well, they sort of are our babies) We play with them on the floor and out in the yard. We let them sleep on the couch and in the bed. We try to soothe them when they are not feeling well. We certainly do nurture our dogs well.
3. We take them to the vet to get shots
Not every dog owner gets their dogs to the vet regularly, but many of us do. We take them to get their required shots and checkups because we want them to be healthy. We might not always go to our doctor for checkups or vaccinations, but we will certainly take our dogs. This is actually a very good thing because you don’t want your dog getting sick and you always want to be on guard against things like heart worms and abnormal growths.
4. We exercise them
We will get out there and walk the dog once or twice a day, but when it comes to us getting out there to exercise we may have ten excuses as to why we can’t. Sure, we get some exercise when we walk the dog, but our bodies may require a bit more than a stroll with the dog for 5 or 10 minutes.
5. We groom our dogs well
Many dog owners have no problem taking their dogs to the groomer to get a beautiful haircut and nail clipping, but many of us won’t go spend the same amount of money to get our hair done or get a manicure or pedicure. Sure, dogs need some pampering and for long haired dogs, grooming in the summer helps them out a lot, but sometimes we need some pampering as well.
6. We provide wonderful care and safety for our dogs
How many pet beds do you have for your dog? Is the yard fenced in so your dog can run at his leisure? How many dog sweaters does your dog own? We tend to provide wonderful care for our dogs, which is great, but we may not feel so happy providing the same care for ourselves. It is often said that it is more blessed to give than to receive and perhaps this goes for our dogs, too. We love giving them things and making sure they are happy and safe. It just feels great! It might not feel quite as good when we do these things for ourselves.
7. We are honest with them.
We don’t hold back when we talk to our dogs. If they’ve made a mess in the yard, we plain out tell them. If their hair looks funny, we tell them. If their breath is bad, we tell them. Sure, they can’t understand us, but we feel free to be completely honest with them. We tend to be less honest with ourselves and others at times, perhaps due to sensitivity issues. After all, you don’t want to go around telling others they have bad breath or getting down on yourself for having a bad hair day.
8. We spoil them abundantly.
Yes, we tend to spoil our dogs abundantly and it is such a good feeling. We take them to the store with us, let them ride in the truck, buy them plenty of toys, sweaters, beds, treats, and more. If feels great to spoil our babies, as they bring so much joy to our lives. Researchers state that pet owners receive a lot of unconditional love from their dogs and this helps them feel happier in life. They also make one feel less lonely. I’m sure you’ve felt lonely a time or two and your dog was right there beside you trying to give you kisses because he loves you so much. We don’t tend to spoil ourselves so much. Of course, we need a balance, but dogs are much like grandchildren: easy to spoil.
It is a wonderful thing that we take care of our dogs. They need an abundance of love and care and it does them and us good when we oblige. At the same time, we need to be taking care of ourselves too. Remember to keep a good balance with your dog and yourself. Take some time to think about whether you’ve been taking care of your needs and desires in life and if you are lacking in an area or two, commit to doing better in those areas. Enjoy your dog and enjoy yourself. You are both worthy of abundant happiness and love.