The ruff reality of a dog birthday ?
Clover’s 3rd birthday ?
I’d like to begin by saying that before I bought Clover I swore I would never be the exact type of dog owner that I am. My dog is not a child, I will not refer to myself as her ‘mummy’. I will not create an Instagram page for her, and I will not buy her birthday presents. Anyway, if you would like to see photos of the presents that mummy has bought for Clover over the last three years, you can find it on Clover’s Instagram page. (Yep, I hate me too!)
In my defence, I don’t go too overboard. But the guilt consumes me at the thought of her not having a birthday present. On her first birthday, I threw Clover a party down the park and invited all her friends (it was during Covid and I was lonely… ok?!). She had birthday presents and then wore a birthday bandana and a crown to the park… cruel really. Here’s some photos…
Birthday presents (a toy and a bandana)
Fun in the park in her new bandana and her crown
In hindsight, the crown was probably a bit much… but I don’t regret a thing. And anyway… LOOK HOW HAPPY SHE WAS!!
For Clover’s second birthday I would class myself as borderline neglectful parenting. She wore the same bandana that she got for her first birthday and she had cupcakes and that was it…
This year, for Clover’s third birthday, I feel as though I was somewhere in between (it would appear that there is no consistency with my dog parenting skills when it comes to birthdays). Was I excited to go to Pets At Home and buy Clover some birthday presents? Obviously. Was I excited to get home and wrap them? Absolutely. Did I wait until my fiancée was home from work so we could all sit and open the presents together as a family? You bet. Clover got a load of birthday themed treats to eat and a new cuddly toy lion which is now her new most favourite soft toy that we own (and let me tell you, we owned a stuffed zoo!).
Clover also enjoys ripping the wrapping paper to shreds, and I love nothing more than picking wet bits of paper out the carpet afterwards for hours so that’s a winner too. I would put up evidence of this but I only have a video of her opening the lion toy and quite honestly I don’t know how to upload videos to this thing so photos are as good as it gets!
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I do realise that Clover is a dog. A dog who has no concept of time, or days of the week or even what a birthday is… but nor do babies or children up until a certain age. I see plenty of parents throwing extravagant expensive birthday parties for a one year old that doesn’t even realise they’re born yet so if I want to buy my dog some treats and a soft toy on her birthday then I bloody well will! (I’m quite passionate about this, it would seem.)
So anyway, that’s what this week has been all about… Clover, as usual. But she deserves it this week because she is three years old. Maybe she’ll grow up now and stop zooming round the house and causing mayhem everywhere she goes… but I doubt it. And secretly I don’t want her too… because the longer she’s zooming around and full of beans, the longer she’s a puppy. I don’t want to see her starting to get old and to see her start slowing down, but I know I’ll have to. So, she’ll keep being a menace for a few years yet, and I’ll keep buying her presents for her birthday (and for Christmas, and Easter, and virtually every weekend….)
If you missed any of my previous diary updates, you can find them at ‘the diary of my ruff reality.’
Alternatively, head to ‘nobody warned me about…’ to read about the dog ownership topics that I wish someone had told me about before I got Clover.
Thinking of getting a dog? Visit my ‘top tips page’ for important things that I probably should have considered further before buying my floppy eared hound!
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*Disclaimer- I have no animal related qualifications whatsoever. Which begs the question as to exactly how much of my advice you should take. This isn’t really an advice blog- not properly. It’s more of a ‘these are my experiences- maybe we can all learn from them’ type of blog. You should probably seek actual qualified veterinary/animal behaviourist/dog dietician advice if you genuinely have any dog related concerns. I’m just here to share the things I’ve learnt in my three years of dog ownership. Some of which may be useful- some not.*
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