There was an interesting article in the Seattle Intelligencer the other day. It was all about how you can make our lives better for your pets in 2008.

GET ID YOUR PET: Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald of Animal Planet’s “Emergency Vets” and “E-Vet Interns” says pet ID is how you can keep your pets safe. Fitzgerald says that only 30 percent of the strays that they see at his Denver practice have a chip or a collar tag. If they had this chip they could have been returned home.

PREPARE FOR PROBLEMS: Put together a first-aid kit for your pets. Dr. Fitzgerald recommends that you keep gauze, sponges, cotton balls, triple antibiotic ointment, penlight and a thermometer on hand in case anything happens. If you do not want to put a kit together you can buy one at pet suppliers. You should also put your pet’s phone number on your speed dial for good measure.

EXERCISE YOUR PET’S BODY: Make sure that your dog or cat is getting the running, walking and playing they need. Like humans there is an epidemic of obesity among our pets. For dogs a walk around the park doesn’t do it. Your dog needs to be running hard so that it is panting or at least fifteen minutes a day to stay trim and slim.

EXERCISE YOUR PET’S BRAIN: Dogs and cats can end up being couch potatoes too. They need a feeling that hey has a job or purpose. Play with your cat or dog often. Buy him or her toys they can play with on their home. Above all talk to your pet often and see if you can teach them tricks. Remember too that more than half the time the pet thinks he is taking care of you and not vice versa so remembers to thank him or her for it.

KEEP ANIMALS CLEAN: Don’t let your dog or cat walks around mucky or with knotted or matted fur. Clip your pet’s nails regularly to prevent discomfort and the need for the animal to short their claws on doorposts and furniture. Clean the litter box regularly to avoid diseases and dirty litter to be tracked all over the house.

BUY BETTER QUALITY FOOD: Have you been feeding your dog or cat whatever is the cheapest food or the same old food that he likes. Make an attempt to feed them ore healthy food at least now and then. Yes it is more expensive but it will keep them in good health and also spare you future trips to the vet for health problems.

MAKE YOUR PET PART OF THE FAMILY – Dogs and cats know when they are not wanted. The sad trend is for people to start ignoring pets once they are no longer puppies or kittens. Resolve this year that you will make your pet feel as if he or she belongs and spend more attention with him or her.

If you think of all of the above like New Year’s Resolutions that improve your pet’s life you are on the right track.

The Hawaiian Humane Society recently put about an excellent advisory reminding us that New Year’s Eve can be frightening or traumatic for pets. It is because the celebrations can be noisy, include fireworks and also expose the pet to a lot of strangers or strange food if you are having party.

To keep your pet safe so he or she does not get sick or run away the Hawaiian Humane society recommended that you cage your pet if you are having a party. At the very least keep the pet safe somewhere where he or she feels safe and familiar like your bedroom and make sure he or she is off limits to party guests. Make sure that hewn you sequester the pet that he or she also has plenty of water and food.

Ensure that your pets have identification. In Hawaii more than 400 animals were reported lost during last year’s holiday season. Animals found running at-large should be taken to your local Humane Society’s 24-hour animal intake center,

Having current photos of your pet is also helpful. For dogs, a license is proof of ownership and should be attached to his collar.

Resist taking your pet to fireworks displays. Most animals don’t enjoy the holiday’s noisy spectacles and will run off.

Some animals can become destructive when frightened, so be sure that you’ve removed any items that your pet could destroy or that would be harmful to your pet if chewed on. Leave a radio or television on at normal volume to provide him or her with some companionship while you’re attending the picnics and parades. If you can’t keep your pet indoors, consider keeping him in an enclosed garage.

If possible, do not leave pets outside and unattended, even in a fenced yard or on a chain. Animals may panic, escape and get lost, or become injured by becoming entangled in their chain at the sound of party noises or explosions.

Don’t leave your pet in the car. In addition to the danger posed by pet thieves, cars can heat up to a deadly temperature in minutes, even with windows partially opened if you live in a hot climate.

You should also avoid exposing your pet to abusive or drunk individuals. Some people are not that nice when inebriated and can easily hurt a pet by picking it up wrongly or by simply jabbing it or kicking it. A pet can be seriously hurt if it is tripped over by a drunken person who is not even aware that it is there.

You should also not let your dog wander near any tables of food and particularly tables that might have chocolate on them as eating chocolate is fatal for dogs. It can also give a cat a heart attack.

A therapy pet, or therapy dog is usually classified as “AAA”. Sometimes they are just called Visiting Pets.

In order to benefit from pet therapy, the patient has to connect to the dog. Sometimes the handler or the hospital staff has no control at all over whether this happens at all. Sometimes the pet is used to lift the spirits and motivate an ailing or depressed person to move on with other activities. Grooming a dog is a very common suggested activity because it raises the self-esteem of the sick person as well as bonds him or her with the pet.

Sometimes a visit from a pet is it is merely something that breaks the routine. For others it is so deeply meaningful, they may talk about the visit for days afterward. Emotionally ill or mentally ill individuals may have withdrawn from human interaction, but will talk to the pet. This can give others insight into what a person who is deeply depressed is really thinking. It can also help a person who has had a stroke, as petting an animal is a very tactile activity.

Children have been known to use pets to express their feelings by projecting their own emotions and desires onto the dog. Even without the overview of a therapeutic program visiting pets can offer both physical and mental benefits. Residents are motivated to leave their rooms, become more physically active, and interact with others (usually because they are excited to tell others about their visit with the dog.)

There are numerous studies that show positive benefits in the animal-human interaction. Those studies are available through a variety of academic institutions, universities, colleges, and research organizations, Many studies are available on-line to individuals who have access to academic databases The best way to locate these studies is through university data bases.

Would your dog make a good therapy pet? It really does depend on your animal’s overall character. For some pets, as for some people, it is a welcome break in routine. Some love meeting lots of different people. Some enjoy the attention.

Other pets find visiting stressful because of the need to “behave” Or they find it stressful because the people they visit are unpredictable. Or they find the constant shifting from one person to another to be frustrating. Good things can be stressful and tiring, and that is often true with visiting dogs. They get home, they are tired and they sleep after they have performed a long day of service helping humans feel better. However some dogs are absolutely unreal in their ability to be friendly, loyal, gentle and faithful every minute a day and without tiring at all. These types of dogs, which are often in the herding breed category are incredible natural healers.

When it comes to therapy dogs you may have noticed that there is a lot of terminology. Here is a bit of a key as to how to demystify all of those acronyms that are used to describe dogs with various functions.

ATT stands for “Animal Assisted Therapy”. And AFT stands for “Animal Facilitated Therapy”. They are essentially the same thing.

However the Delta Society defines ATT as referring only to dogs that are assigned to a particular therapeutic protocol under the supervision of a professional. Unfortunately this has blurred the meaning of ATTT.

For example, in physical therapy (for a stroke) a treatment protocol would be written up with specific goals along the way such as the patient picking up a brush and stroking the dog five times. Eventually this leads up to the patient being able to attach the leash to the collar, pet the dog and walk the dog.

If the patient has social or mental problems it might be that the patient might simply be required focus on the dog for a certain number of time seconds - which increases over times eventually evolving into interaction. During all this records are kept as to the progress of the therapeutic treatment. That is “Animal Assisted Therapy” or AAT or AFT.

AAA stands for “animal assisted activities and it refers to animals that make generalized visits. Dogs making generalized visits to convalescent homes, hospitals, youth facilities etc. are called “animal assisted activities dogs.” People visited often receive a therapeutic effect but there is no treatment prescribed for how this can be achieved.

AAA dogs are people’s pets. The volunteers receive little or no training in therapeutic technique but the owner may have gotten into this as philanthropy after noticing that his or her pet gets along with others or that the pet has a calming presence.

In order to do well at AAA both you and your dog must be polite, social and well behaved but other than that no special training is required. Their role is to simply make life a little more pleasant for those in various treatment or residential facilities. People visited often receive a therapeutic effect but there is no treatment protocol for an individual patient.

In many cases the benefits offered by visiting pets are the same as those offered by Animal Assisted Therapy, the difference being that the there is no prescribed course of treatment and no recording of the effects on the individual. However these programs exist because they really do have benefits for all kinds of people including the infirm, the elderly and the mentally ill. Pets