On Holidays and Stress and Playing

Wolf Dog Sexton thinks:

Holidays are pretty hard on dogs and even on our hated cat enemies. Our humans run around putting up strange things and fussing if we try to smell the things or taste them. Cats even climb the indoor trees and the humans get mad if the tree falls over. (We dogs would never put our feet on the trunks and sort of push them a little bit.) Then the humans put really cool-looking boxes on the floor and expect us to never, ever chew on them or lick them, even if we can smell good things inside. And cats get cat toys on the boxes, but are expected to never play with their toys.

Some of this leads to stress for our humans. In addition, they seem to get stressed if there are not enough boxes or too many boxes. If we offend one of the sacred rules made by our people, then we get yelled at, too. (My Mom doesn't yell at me, but then I try to be a very good dog and not chew on things except my toys and antlers.) What makes me sad is that some humans exile their dogs and cats to outside when they get tired of their furkids. Sometimes I hear dogs crying on a balcony; sometimes I see cats skulking in the bushes or under cars. True, I bark at the cats, but that is because they belong inside with their people. I feel sorry for them when it gets really cold; I start shivering and they probably are, too. All we really want is to be with our humans.

Playing makes me feel better. It gets me tired and then I sleep. But while we are playing, I am happy. When I play, my Mom laughs and that makes me even happier and I play harder. Maybe, if we all played (people with their cats and people with their dogs and people with their people), we would all be happier during the holidays. So I challenge you to play. Play hard. Laugh hard. Enjoy and love the pets (and humans) in your life. If you do, maybe you will be less stressed.

So why are you still reading this? Go and play!!