For most of us the beginning for a new year is a time of regrouping. Regular schedules return, sometimes complicated by having to play catch-up on tasks we let go over the holidays. Then there’s atonement for all we ate–Christmas cookies for breakfast even!–and how little we exercised. Unwrapping presents does not count as exercise any more than moving briskly through buffet lines while filling a plate does.
But while most of us are aware of post-holiday let-down and its causes in our lives, that our pets might experience something similar doesn’t occur to us. And because the very nature of the human-companion animal bond makes us expect them to serve as a source of comfort when we’re having a rough time, adding a pet with post-holiday problems can make us feel worse. Yet another one of those human-animal interactions that are better prevented.
One of the things I’m doing post-holiday is digging out from a New Year’s Eve through January 3rd snow. There wasn’t a lot of snow, but it was constant. And it was the perfect snow to stick to certain dogs’ fur and give rise to thoughtful expressions:
The cat, on the other hand, preferred to observe from somewhere where he could keep himself sleek and tidy.
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