THE THANKSGIVING SYNDROME

Humans have a disease I refer to as the Thanksgiving Syndrome. It is not a medical condition per se but instead an outcome of a cultural bug that seems to infect the fortunate.

Hi, I’m Parker: a dog, an intellect, a blogger and a champion of teaching humans the lessons needed to become and/or sustain their best self.  This brings me back to my topic of the week: the Thanksgiving Syndrome. Every November, family pets gather around the holiday table to listen to humans pray and share details about what they are thankful for in their lives.  They wax poetic about the most endearing things: their health, their loved ones, and the splendid spread of food on the table… They do this and yet most of the days before Thanksgiving and most of the days thereafter, humans fail to remember any of these precious gifts. They will, in fact, spend an egregious amount of energy complaining about the coffee they drink being inferior to their favorite flavor at Starbuck’s, fussing because of the long line they had to wait in to buy their next iPhone, the cramped seating on a luxury airliner taking them to beautiful vacation spots, the pounds they put on from eating too much fresh food, the inconvenience of losing electricity after a storm. This is the Thanksgiving Syndrome: remembering, only one day a year to be thankful for what really matters and spending the rest of the time grousing about what doesn’t.

The animals that gather around that same holiday table and sit among the human feet (me included) are thankful for what matters – every single day of the year. Let me demonstrate my point by sharing some stories recently contributed from my four-legged friends.

We are thankful for foster parents and adoptive parents who safely transport us to better places

and give us a pleasant place to watch over you. 

We are thankful for the volunteers who rescue us from disaster areas like Super Storm Sandy.

We are thankful for play time..,                        And a regular meal.

Blessed is our play time.

We are thankful for a regular, healthy meal for ourselves and for our puppies.

We are thankful for the cleaning, trimming and medical treatment we receive after being pulled out of puppy mills.

We are thankful for a bath and medical attention.

                                                                                         

We are thankful when terrible puppy mills are shut down.

    

                                 ... And we are forever grateful for the warm embrace of a loving human.

                          

So here’s my lesson for the week: Sit down with your family and write down the things that matter the most to you, i.e., the heart-enriching, meaningful things. Pick a symbol and/or a word that represents the items on your list and place it around your home, in your teen’s dorm room or locker door; on your office desk.  Every time you see the symbol or word, remind yourself of what genuinely matters. Start this tradition over the dinner table this Thanksgiving so that next year when you gather at the same table, you have a history of thankfulness for the most precious gifts (good health; safety, a clean home; a loving family), - things we four-legged devoted animals NEVER take for granted.

LETTER FROM A FAN

Dear Parker: Smells, even those that humans call stinky, are something I find downright fascinating. Of course I’m a dog and we all feel that way. Humans seem upset by certain scents, which brings me to my question. I’ve got a canine pal with a chronic gas problem. I should mention my pal is also the fastest eater on the block. – Farts have a fascinating fragrance - to me but upset my friend’s human family. Is there anything that can be done to reduce the gas problem?                                                                             Curious Cruz

Dear Cruz:

First, make sure your ‘pal’ sees a vet to make certain there is nothing wrong with him that requires medication or some type of medical procedure. What I’ve learned by listening to my foster mom and her wise friends is that dogs eating too fast can cause canine bloat (and farts). There are feeders available that by the nature of their design require a dog to search for his/her food that forces the dog to eat slower. I’ve provided two examples below: the Green Interactive Feeder and the Durapet Slow-feed Pet Bowl.

Hope this helps! - Parker