New Year’s resolutions to make with your pet

As the year that was 2016 draws to an end, our eyes turn to the year ahead. It’s a chance for some of us to make resolutions and commitments in 2017, aiming to change our lives for the better.

Sometimes these commitments involve other humans – they might focus on relationships or co-workers or any other assortment of human-to-human ties that make up society. Often forgotten from New Years resolutions, however, are our pets, which are often bound to us in equally significant ways as other humans are.

This New Year period, why not make a promise that you and your pet can achieve together? We’ve compiled a list of a few suggestions, but if you have a different resolution we’d love to hear about it.

1. Exercise more often 
   A mainstay resolution among humankind, this can be easily extended to include your pet. If you own a dog take them out on walks more often, maybe even a light jog if your pet’s fitness is up to it. With a cat, or indeed any small mammal, increase the time you spend playing with them. Rather than sitting still and moving a piece of string around, try moving your whole body around the room to supplement increased exercise elsewhere. With a bird you’re unlikely to be able to get more exercise together, but for its exercise let it out of its cage more frequently, to stretch its wings and fly around indoors. If you own a fish then this probably isn’t the resolution for them.

   This resolution can be paired with a weight loss resolution, as increased exercise will obviously help with that, but exercise even without necessarily losing a significant amount of weight can still have a number of benefits to the body, including better cardiovascular health and improved mood.

   2. Eat healthier
   We should all aim to eat healthy all the time, but thanks to an unfortunate combo of convenience and the fact that bad food just tastes so good, this is often pretty hard to do. Your pet on the other hand just eats what it is given, so it’s up to you to make the change here on their behalf.

   Pick any reasonably popular pet, and you can bet that among all the standard food there is a brand or two that markets itself specifically on its health values. Do some research and talk to your vet about switching to a healthier alternative. Chances are high that it might be more expensive and potentially less readily available at the supermarket, and you’ll also likely have to ween your pet off the old food and onto the new in small increments, but if you can see past this factors you might be on the way to a healthier pet.

   Healthy food doesn’t need to taste bad either, so try and find food that your pet likes, as well as finding healthier food for you that tastes great.

   3. Work on problem habits
   For us people there are a huge number of habits we might want to cut out in the new year, far too many to list here, but chances are you probably have something in mind for yourself. If your pet has a tendency to bark or dig or behave in some other disruptive way, then it’s a great chance for you both to try and kick a habit together. What action to take will depend on what behaviour you’re trying to help manage, but most pets can be trained on a rewards basis – scold the bad behaviour with your voice, and reward them when they stop. Still, it’s a case-by-case situation, and for any pet troubles that are having a serious impact on you or your furry friend always consult a vet.

So there are just a few to think about, but there are a plethora of other goals you and your pet can work on together.

A final tip on New Years resolutions – you’re much more likely to stick at and achieve your goals if they’re realistic. Set your expectations at an attainable result and you’ll get there in no time! After all, if you achieve a goal easily there’s no reason you can’t just set a further goal mid-year.