12 years ago a dog-lover named Colleen Paige founded National Dog Day to help raise awareness — and adoptions — of shelter dogs. (She's also the founder of National Puppy Day, National Mutt Day and even National Cat Day.) Ms. Paige chose August 26
th to celebrate man's best friend because when she was 10 years old she and her family adopted her first dog, Sheltie, on that date.
Since then, she's been in love with dogs and wants you to fall in love, too. Here are five ways to celebrate dogs on their special day:
- Take your dog somewhere they've never been before. Dogs love to explore. New sights and smells and new doggy friends are some of their favorite things. Take your dog to a new dog beach or park and let them have the run of the place. Not only will they love you for it, they'll be worn out afterwards. (And everyone knows that a tired dog is a good dog!)
- Give to a shelter. Even if you don't have a lot of spare cash lying around, you can still make a donation to your local shelter. They're always in need of blankets, towels, toys, cleaning supplies...the list goes on. Find out what they need, then clean out your closets!
- Buy your dog a new collar or toy. Or both. Dogs like gifts just as much as people. So treat your dog to something fun on their special day.
- Take lots of pictures. Take selfies with your dog. Or action shots. Or sleeping shots. Or any shot of your dog just being its cute and lovable self. Then enter your photos into the National Dog Day photo contest.
- Adopt a shelter dog. Last but definitely not least, the best way to celebrate National Dog Day is to rescue one from a shelter. And let your new pup rescue you...from a life of doglessness!
Those are just a few ways to celebrate our canine companions. I'm sure you can come up with lots more. So let's pass the word and join in the fun of National Dog Day.
Your "For the Love of a Dog" Gift Guru,
Linda
