Is your pet a constant companion? Like humans, pets need encouragement to bond with you. Building a strong relationship with your pet is essential for a fulfilling life together. Your pet cherishes your praises and cuddles, as much as they need your physical care through high quality food, water, shelter, and regular exercise.
Spending quality time and understanding your pet’s can strengthen your bond and bring joy to both you and your furry friend.
How do you know whether your pet loves you?
Understanding your pet’s love isn’t always easy. While some pets may simply cooperate because you’re all they know, others show their love through special interactions that make pet ownership a joy.
Building a loving relationship requires investing time and actions. But how can you tell if your pet is content? Look for these signs:
- Prompt response to commands
- Happy sounds like mews and moans
- Excitement with wagging tails when they see you
- Maintaining eye contact
- Leaning, cuddling, and napping with you
- Moving in sync with you indoors or outdoors
- Protectiveness toward you and your family
Unhappy pets often exhibit excessive sleeping, whining, avoid eye contact, have poor appetite, and are more susceptible to illness.
If you are experiencing this with your pet, here are 7 things you can do to win your pet’s heart and stomach.
1. Feed your pet healthy, high quality food
Pets thrive on optimal nutrition, just like human beings. The ideal pet food is made from natural ingredients.
Preservatives, flavors, and colors, can adversely affect your pet’s health and behavior.
Focus on natural pet food; it tastes better and contains the needed vitamins, proteins, starch and minerals.
You may also make feeding or snack time more interactive by hiding food in puzzles for your pet to find.
2. Exercise with your pet
Pets enjoy interactive play and regular exercise. Find interesting ways of exercising your pet.
Cats like interactive play with toys that bring out their natural instinct to hunt, stalk, and scratch at things. These include balls, toy mice, strings they can jump at, swat, or chase across a floor.
Cats also enjoy exploring the outdoors. So, if you live in a place where you are afraid to let out your cat, build them a cattery.
Dogs need regular walks to meet other dogs/humans, get a breath of fresh air, burn off excess energy, and play outdoors.
Set aside time every day for short walks with your dog. You may also play fetch or other fun games with your dog at your local park or backyard.
Pet your cat or dog often.Every pet is unique and has a spot they prefer you to touch gently. Avoid touching your dog/cat in places that make them feel vulnerable, such as their paws and faces. Many pats enjoy gentle scratches behind the ear and under the chin for a minute or two.
Pets need about 20 minutes of playing, petting, and cuddling each day.
3. Use positive reinforcement
Some animal experts advise pet owners to punish their pets for a change in behavior, but it’s often counterproductive.
According to experts, punishing pets can lead to aggression, trigger anxiety, and create long term stress.
In fact, experts say that dogs trained through aversive techniques such as leash jerking, look at their owners less frequently than those trained through softer methods such as positive reinforcement.
Use positive associations to bring you and your dog closer and teach them to behave well. For example, feed them treats such as tuna flakes or kibble, when they respond to instructions promptly.
Cats especially like catnip, a healing herb that relaxes their muscles and relieves anxiety.
However, be careful not to overfeed your pet while rewarding their behavior; otherwise, they will get overweight. Ensure their treats are part of their daily calorie rations.
Groomed your pet regularly to keep their skin healthy and free of pests. Turn grooming into a bonding moment. Grooming relieves tiredness and relaxes pets, making them more open to caring for you.
4. Invest in training
Pet training is essential if you want a disciplined companion. Animals that know how to respond to basic commands make the best pets.
While training your pet in basic manners and social skills, you create a lasting bond. Animals, especially dogs, have a pack hierarchy instinct and will follow you; their alpha. Training enhances this.
Consider hiring a pet trainer if your pet is highly strung or experienced a traumatic earlier life such as cruelty or abandonment.
Why do we need to train our pets?
You will have a better relationship with your pet if it can respond to basic instructions such as “stay,” “heel,” and “come” promptly. This makes it easier for you to spend time with them around other people, especially children and other pets.
Training also teaches pets to tolerate necessary experiences they may find awful/tiring, such as going to the vet, being still in restaurants, and listening to your commands when crossing roads.
Obedient pets also get more positive feedback from family and friends, which makes them feel like they are part of a loving circle.
However, always interact with your pet with a friendly facial expression, body language, and tone of voice when training them. This will encourage them to be affectionate with you and respond to commands.
During training, play games with your pet, such as hide, seek, and fetch, to relieve stress and improve their physical/mental well-being. This one-on-one interaction will encourage your pet to give you lots of love and devotion.
5. Put your pet on a routine
Pets flourish on a routine where they eat their food, play, and exercise at a specific time.
This also applies to their living space. Clean your pet’s litter box, kennel, and beds at regular intervals.
Additionally, be responsive to your pets needs.
Identify what your pet likes and include these activities in their daily routine and your list of special activities to do with your pet. Your dog may love playing fetch more than they like walking. Some cats may prefer to sit by a sunny spot on a window and relax. Respect their preferences.
Pets need socialization just as much as humans. So, they enjoy being in contact with other pets and human beings.
Therefore, include family/ friends in activities with your pet to create a larger circle of love for them and to give them a feeling of being part of a family. Take your pet on picnics, beaches, lakes, and campsites.
6. Create a personal space for your pet
While pets enjoy spending time with their owners, they also need some quiet time on their own. Therefore, create a space for your pet away from the chatter and activity in the house where they can relax.
A dog bed with some chew toys and a warm blanket is a great place for a dog to spend their downtime.
Cats like to claw on rough surfaces, jump, and climb. Therefore, get your cat a carpeted tower with hanging toys and tiers where they can do all three of these activities. These towers also provide a space for cats to nap or hide away from distractions in the house when they need peace and quiet.
If your dog likes to dig but you are afraid they will mess up your yard, create a sand pit for them in a kiddie pool or an old basin.
7. Think long term
What would happen to your pet if you passed on, were incapacitated or could no longer take care of them?
Consider including your pets in your estate planning and provide for them accordingly. If you live in the Garden State, reach out to a law firm in NJ to assist you in planning for your pet’s long term health and care.
Final thoughts on how to win your pet’s heart and stomach
Winning your pet’s heart and stomach is easy if you put your mind to it. All you need is to practice basic pet care tips consistently and give your animal friend lots of attention and love.
Embrace your pet’s unique personality, and find out what makes them happy. There is no other love like that of a pet. When they care for you, you have a friend for life.
