Calling all four-legged mutts; we want to celebrate you and the amazing contribution you make to our lives!
It’s National Dog Day on 26 August and dog-damn it, it’s time to say thanks! Dogs deserve it for many reasons. They make wonderful companion animals, offering their humans unconditional love and many benefits to their physical and mental health.
National Dog Day celebrates all breeds, pure and mixed, and recognises the number of dogs that need to be rescued each year from public shelters, rescues and pure breed rescues. This special day also honours family dogs and service dogs that work selflessly to save lives, keep us safe and bring comfort.
‘On National Dog Day, we celebrate the many ways that dogs enrich the lives of people and make enormous contributions to society,’ says Lynette Brown, President of Dogs New South Wales.
‘Individual health benefits of dog ownership are widely known, and now we know that pet owners save the public health care system in Australia more than $2 billion annually in reducing the number of visits to healthcare providers,’ says Lynette.
Dogs also serve in a variety of working roles – from guiding the visually impaired, disabled or suffering from mental illness, to detecting bombs and drugs and locating those lost. Pet dogs also put their lives on the line to protect their families from disasters such as fires, earthquakes, drownings or even intruder attacks.
On National Dog Day, Dogs NSW wants to highlight to the public the serious problem of dogs being surrendered to shelters, pounds, rescues and purebred clubs every year. ‘We need to keep dogs in their homes, where they belong,’ says Lynette. She says people can do that by choosing a dog that fits into one’s personal lifestyle and interest and by educating themselves about the breed.
If you want a purebred dog, Lynette advises to choose from an Australian National Kennel Council registered breeder. If you don’t care about the breed and want to save a dog, make sure you choose carefully from a registered shelter or rescue organisation.
Celebrated annually on August 26th, National Dog Day was founded in 2004 by Pet & Family Lifestyle Expert and Animal Advocate, Colleen Paige.
For more information, www.nationaldogday.com.
Photo: MintImages
