Best Friends Pet Hotel's Tail-Wagging Quality of Life Tips

We all know the importance of ensuring our pets' good health, but what about their happiness? It's more important than you'd think. Unhappy pets can make for unhappy owners. A dog who is bored or anxious can partake in any number of destructive behaviors, like chewing your shoes, barking excessively, or digging in your garden, while cats may turn your carpet into their litter box or scratch your furniture to shreds. By improving your pet's quality of life, you can improve your quality of life too.

Here are tips on how to do just that:

· Mental Stimulation. In the wild, cats and dogs are normally engaged in mentally stimulating activities like hunting for food. At home, and often alone, there's usually little mental stimulation. You can change that by engaging your pets in activities and providing them with plenty of toys.

· Exercise and Playtime. Physical activity (30 minutes per day minimum) is very important to your pet. They need a chance to expend their energy, especially the many dog breeds that were bred for athletic purposes like hunting, retrieving and shepherding. Even if you have a small dog or an indoor cat, they still need to be engaged in active play.

· Companionship. Your pets need companionship, whether it's from you, another member of the family, or another pet. Dogs are not meant to be alone as they're pack animals by nature. And even though cats are a bit more solitary creatures, they still need your companionship.

· Choices. Give your pets some freedom of choice, they can decide things for themselves. It's more important than you'd think to let them choose between which bush to sniff or which litter box to use.

· Animal Behavior. Animals have certain instinctual behaviors. For instance, cats need to scratch and it's unreasonable to think that they won't. You can provide them with a positive outlet for this behavior by giving them a scratching post. For dogs, they like to chew so chew toys will do the trick.

In the Sudbury area, a trip to nearby Maynard Dog Park and the Mt. Misery Area Trails will provide plenty of outdoor, on-leash exercise and hiking opportunities with plenty of stimulation – ponds, wildlife and new smells galore (don’t forget to bring your own water!). The deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln also allows on-leash pets in the grounds outside the museum. After a day of play, visit pet-friendly outdoor patios (CJ’s Gourmet Pizza, Franco’s Trattoria).

As a responsible pet owner, the ball is in your court to ensure your pet's good health, both physically and mentally. Playtime and proper supervision is essential for a happy dog. For more information about pet day care or overnight boarding, visit or call your local Best Friends Pet Hotel or visit bestfriendspetcare.com.