By NANNETTE DRAKE OLDENBOURG
If you are looking for a gift for a pet lover, you are in luck.
Exchanging gifts is always an opportunity to express affection, humor or respect. Since pets allow their owners and admirers to express those same positive emotions with abandon, there are loads of animal-related gifts to choose from. Finding them is easy and giving them is fun.
The person receiving your gift doesn’t even need to be a pet owner, just an animal lover, to appreciate a shirt bedecked with paw prints and the words “All You Need Is Love” available from Uptown Dog stores in West Falmouth and Plymouth.
Others may love shirts showing “Happy Together” with pet and person footprints or “Lucky Dog Grandfather.” Perhaps it’s not just about positive emotions. What about a shirt that says “I Love Dogs! —It’s People Who Annoy Me!”?
Other gifts for humans who love cats and dogs include subscriptions to magazines such as The Bark or Dog Fancy, said Kailey Cullin of Cape Cod Dog Center on Jan Sebastian Drive in Sandwich. She suggests a basket for a human could contain a magazine subscription and a few “breed specific items…such as …a husky keychain or oven mitt.” Cape Cod Dog Center offers gift baskets for dogs and dog lovers “at any price point.” Ms. Cullin suggests ordering early.
photograph courtesy of the Falmouth Dog Park
The Falmouth Dog Park also offers merchandise that proclaims the owners love for their pet and support for the park.
Uptown Dog Cape Cod also has breed-specific gifts for people with cats or dogs and available framed prints of various breeds adorn a wall in their West Falmouth shop. The same bright images appear on boxed note cards. Uptown Dog also offers magnets and many other items expressing enthusiasm for a pet via its breed.
What about getting something from an organization that helps animals? Barb Schneider, president of The Falmouth Dog Park, Inc., says the organization sells baseball caps, cotton knit ski hats, fleece hats, all for $15 a piece; plus children’s tie-dye T-shirts with a big dog paw on them for $10, and adult T-shirts in long or short sleeves in an assortment of colors as well as tie dye for $20.” The merchandise is available by calling 508-331-2929, ordering from falmouthdogpark.com or visiting Uptown Dog Cape Cod, Signature Spa, and Deer Run Veterinary Services.” She said, “All the money from the merchandise goes to help maintain the park and provide the bags to help keep the park clean.” Located at 257 Brick Kiln Road in Falmouth it is only one of two dogs park on the Upper Cape. The other recently opened in Mashpee at 155 Ashumet Avenue.
Among the most long-lasting pet-related gifts are the customized tiles installed in a wall in a designated shady area outside the fence at the Falmouth Dog Park. Tessa Morgan of Flying Pig Pottery in Woods Hole makes each tile with a requested whimsical image of a beloved pet to commemorate a special occasion or to honor a pet or a pet lover.
A similar offer exists to support People for Cats shelter in Falmouth.
For $50 or $60, depending on the design, you can have a brick laid in the patio at the entrance to the shelter on Beagle Lane. A brick purchase “commemorates your pet and also helps cats at our shelter and supports People for Cats programs.” Their website is peopleforcats.wildapricot.org
The lists of gifts available for dogs and cats, and therefore their humans, are nearly endless.
Ideas for owners of other animals can be found at the Falmouth Pet Center and Petco and by asking pet owners about their specific breed of bird or other animal. If your friend has a guinea pig, hamster, rat or rabbit, there are specific wooden chewing pieces for each kind of animal available at Falmouth Pet Center on Davis Straits. Litter box-trained rabbits prompt the purchase of a new variety of shapes and sizes of litter boxes. The store also has items on display that can be custom made. An artist paints rocks and shirts with animal portraits. You might do some snooping to find out what special food item the pet enjoys. Upgrading the animals’ options for shelter and exercise, whether by offering a larger cage or by buying or collecting suitable chewable materials presents many possibilities.
In terms of gifts for dogs, Ms. Cullin explains that “people always consider the need for their dog to get enough physical exercise but forget they also require mental exercise, as most were bred for working specific jobs.” She says interactive puzzle toys are great gifts to keep a dog’s brain busy, and Outward Hound is a good brand. Ms. Cullin recommends Zogoflex toys by West Paw, “great indestructible toys for big chewers made in the USA.”
Annie Speroni at Uptown Dog Cape Cod in West Falmouth also says the West Paw toys were particularly good. They come in a great variety. Some are waterproof and float and are made from plastic that is recycled, phthalate- and BPA-free and holds up in the dishwasher. Others invite activity. You can put a treat inside to offer your pet a challenge. Still other toys are soft, either stuffed or specifically not stuffed (for animals who love to tear holes and spew stuffing around your living room).
Ms. Speroni explained that at Uptown Dog they have special baked treats for dogs and cats on display during the holidays. Most are wheat, corn and soy free, and made with just a few ingredients, including pumpernickel, rye, potato, sweet potato, apples and cranberries. Uptown Dog sells only pet food made in the USA and Canada.
Uptown’s year-round best-selling pet food item is a cranberry bone-shaped cookie, made of rye and pumpernickel flours with cranberries, canola oil and a little molasses. People buy them by the pound and take them off Cape or mail them as gifts.
Bigger items suitable as gifts worth hinting about include beds and bed bags, car seats and restraints and pet carriers, including slings. One fancy pet carrier can be used several ways: as a backpack, as a bed and crate and as a roller that looks like a mesh-enhanced small suitcase on four wheels.
Smaller items used for daily maintenance, such as pet dishes, might seem too mundane to be a gift but you might find a clever or attractive design or feature your friend or loved one might appreciate, such as more attractive bowl or a collar that will not absorb smell. Ah, but will you offend your friend whose dog’s collar is odorous?
You might also ask that question when considering the gift of dog training classes to the owner of an unruly creature.
Kailey Cullin, a trainer herself, recommends people “do your research and only hire a professional trainer with an education and credentials.” She says “methodology is also important” and suggests seeking trainers who use positive reinforcement, science-based methods
Pet-related gifts offer many options and probable fun at gift giving time.
Safety First!
A good gift for pets and humans is a safe and comfortable holiday.
General safety tips include:
• Keep dangerous foods and plants well out of reach from your
pet, including chocolate, alcohol, bones, onions, garlic, grapes,
raisins, candy, poinsettias, holly, mistletoe and lilies.
• Keep safety tips in mind when holiday hubbub can be
distracting.
• If it can be moved, assume it will be moved.
• Ahead of celebrations:
• Tape down electric cords;
• Tie Christmas trees to the ceiling;
• Secure tree ornaments with both string and metal hooks;
• Cover the tree water pan;
• Don’t use tinsel.
• During the celebrations, remember to put out candles
whenever you leave the room.
Holiday Tips
from Kailey Cullin, dog trainer and co-owner of Cape Cod Dog Center with her husband, Adam Cullin:
Keep in mind dogs are sensitive to change in their environment or routine. Here are some tips to keep your dog stress free this holiday
1. Stick to your dog’s daily routine as much as possible regarding
feedings, walks et cetera.
2. Provide a safe quiet room with a frozen Kong for your dog to
relax in during busy holiday times at home.
3. If your dog is easily overwhelmed, does not feel comfortable
with guests, or you do not have time to supervise them around
young guests, consider boarding your dog somewhere it would
be comfortable.
4. If you know you will be busy around the holidays and your dog
is social with other dogs, consider using a dog daycare on busy
days so your dog still gets the exercise and attention they
deserve, giving you time to get your holiday shopping and
cooking done!
5. If you would like to have your dog at a holiday gathering, be
sure to train them basic manners so they are polite to guests.
Examples include training your dog to politely greet without
jumping up on guests, teaching them the command “go to
your bed,” meaning your dog goes to a specific place and
waits for further instruction, and teaching them “Leave it,
or drop it.”