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Pets a big part of Christmas
By Sue Manning |
December 16, 2011, Friday
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DEXTER'S social calendar this holiday season is chock-full of travel plans, party invites, new clothes, special meals and trips to see Santa Claus.
Highlights for the three-year-old cocker spaniel and his owner Carol Bryant, of Forty Fort, Pennsylvania, include a couple of car trips to look at light displays. A friend drives so Bryant can hold Dexter in the passenger seat as they drive by the lighted homes. "He especially likes the animation and wags his tail," she said.
Like many pet owners, Bryant makes her holiday plans around her dog.
Bryant, the editorial, social media and public relations director for Fido Friendly Magazine, takes photos galore of Dexter in his holiday finest and uses them on Facebook, Twitter, her blog, and in e-mails to friends and Christmas cards. Their shopping sprees have already begun. Dexter will host a party. His best friend, a golden cocker named Bailey, will host a party. There will be presents to and from Dexter under the Christmas tree. He knows which ones are his and does his own unwrapping.
Bryant hung Dexter's personalized stocking with care. He'll spend Christmas Eve in pajamas and a bathrobe with ducks on it. He will look his brown-and-white best because of a holiday trip to the groomer, and he will dine on lean boiled turkey on Christmas Day.
A recent AP-Petside.com poll found that just over half of American pet owners will buy gifts for their pets this holiday season, and they'll spend an average of US$46 on their animals, with toys and treats topping the list. Overall spending in the pet industry (including food, supplies, veterinary care, grooming, boarding and pet sitting) was just over US$48 billion in 2010, with over US$50 billion in spending projected for 2011, according to the American Pet Products Association.
"It seems many pet owners have accepted that their pets are like children and they enjoy indulging their pet more than ever. It is easier for pet owners to spend on their pets than other relationships in their lives because pets have no expectations," Bob Vetere, president of the American Pet Products Association, said earlier this year.
The Associated Press asked a couple of pet lifestyle experts to describe ways people might celebrate the holiday season with their pets. Some of the answers: Buy your parrot a pinata full of dried fruit. Put a tiny video camera around your cat's neck and let it record some Christmas memories. Or build a holiday dinner around your dog's gluten-free needs.
Some pet stores and shelters host photo fund-raisers where you can purchase a picture of your pet in Santa's lap. And photographers who specialize in pets can bring backdrops and lights to your home to take professional shots of your pet and family for keepsakes and cards, Bryant said.
Private chefs can teach you to create menus for human families based on a dog's diet needs, said Jessica Vogelsang, a San Diego veterinarian and author of pawcurious.com. Vogelsang ate ground chicken with cheese and stuffed squash at a recent demonstration by chef Tasha Ardalan from foxytreats.com. Or you can include goodies pets can eat - like peanut butter treats - in your holiday baking.
You might want to stock up on breath freshener for pets for this idea from Sandy Robins, an Irvine-based lifestyle consultant for Petco Animal Supplies Inc: "If you can kiss your two-legged family members under the mistletoe, you can kiss your four-legged family members."
Just don't let pets nibble on the mistletoe; it can cause gastrointestinal upsets.
Highlights for the three-year-old cocker spaniel and his owner Carol Bryant, of Forty Fort, Pennsylvania, include a couple of car trips to look at light displays. A friend drives so Bryant can hold Dexter in the passenger seat as they drive by the lighted homes. "He especially likes the animation and wags his tail," she said.
Like many pet owners, Bryant makes her holiday plans around her dog.
Bryant, the editorial, social media and public relations director for Fido Friendly Magazine, takes photos galore of Dexter in his holiday finest and uses them on Facebook, Twitter, her blog, and in e-mails to friends and Christmas cards. Their shopping sprees have already begun. Dexter will host a party. His best friend, a golden cocker named Bailey, will host a party. There will be presents to and from Dexter under the Christmas tree. He knows which ones are his and does his own unwrapping.
Bryant hung Dexter's personalized stocking with care. He'll spend Christmas Eve in pajamas and a bathrobe with ducks on it. He will look his brown-and-white best because of a holiday trip to the groomer, and he will dine on lean boiled turkey on Christmas Day.
A recent AP-Petside.com poll found that just over half of American pet owners will buy gifts for their pets this holiday season, and they'll spend an average of US$46 on their animals, with toys and treats topping the list. Overall spending in the pet industry (including food, supplies, veterinary care, grooming, boarding and pet sitting) was just over US$48 billion in 2010, with over US$50 billion in spending projected for 2011, according to the American Pet Products Association.
"It seems many pet owners have accepted that their pets are like children and they enjoy indulging their pet more than ever. It is easier for pet owners to spend on their pets than other relationships in their lives because pets have no expectations," Bob Vetere, president of the American Pet Products Association, said earlier this year.
The Associated Press asked a couple of pet lifestyle experts to describe ways people might celebrate the holiday season with their pets. Some of the answers: Buy your parrot a pinata full of dried fruit. Put a tiny video camera around your cat's neck and let it record some Christmas memories. Or build a holiday dinner around your dog's gluten-free needs.
Some pet stores and shelters host photo fund-raisers where you can purchase a picture of your pet in Santa's lap. And photographers who specialize in pets can bring backdrops and lights to your home to take professional shots of your pet and family for keepsakes and cards, Bryant said.
Private chefs can teach you to create menus for human families based on a dog's diet needs, said Jessica Vogelsang, a San Diego veterinarian and author of pawcurious.com. Vogelsang ate ground chicken with cheese and stuffed squash at a recent demonstration by chef Tasha Ardalan from foxytreats.com. Or you can include goodies pets can eat - like peanut butter treats - in your holiday baking.
You might want to stock up on breath freshener for pets for this idea from Sandy Robins, an Irvine-based lifestyle consultant for Petco Animal Supplies Inc: "If you can kiss your two-legged family members under the mistletoe, you can kiss your four-legged family members."
Just don't let pets nibble on the mistletoe; it can cause gastrointestinal upsets.
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