Alanis: Today is my third birthday. Time flies when you are a dog. At least that is what humans tell us – we have no real concept of time.
Jeter: Three years old. Goldens tend to mature later than most dogs – you are essentially just now entering your “adult” years, whatever that means. I still feel like a puppy!
Josh: When I turned three, they didn’t have toys with squeakers that only dogs could hear…
Jeter: Here we go with your nostalgia.
Josh: Mommy once baked me a birthday cake! Neither of you have ever received such an honor.
Alanis: We get treats and toys for our birthdays! Yay!
Jeter: We get treats every day, and toys once a month or so.
Alanis: True. So, what is special about our birthdays, anyway?
Josh: Nothing. We don’t care one bit about our birthdays – humans just like to live vicariously through us. Back in my day, I was lucky if I got a bag of Beggin’ Strips – never mind all of this “all natural” crap they have out now.
Jeter: Cue the violins!
Alanis: Jeter and I went for a long walk for my birthday!
Jeter: We do that every day, Einstein.
Alanis: Right. So, what exactly did we do differently today than any other day?
Jeter: Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Though you did get a Facebook collage. Wonder how many likes it got?
Josh: I love the collages. Mommy knows what she is doing.
Jeter: Can you imagine if Daddy did them?
Josh: OMG. Don’t even. Everything he touches is already a disaster.
Alanis: One of the pictures in my collage is a perfect image of me with my “resting bitch face”.
Jeter: You have that down to a science…..
Josh: Back in my day….
Jeter: STOP! JUST STOP!
Josh & Jeter: Happy Birthday, Alanis! Here’s hoping for a lot of play, a lot of food, and less of your crazy barking.
Me: Indeed, time does not really compute in a dog’s brain. Like I said in the Christmas post, every day is a dog’s birthday in their eyes. They wake up and get to do whatever they want until they go back to sleep again. Treating your dogs well should be something you do every day & night, but there is nothing wrong with a birthday splurge. That can be a toy, a treat, a cake – or whatever your imagination can think of. For Alanis’ birthday, the dogs will be getting a special meatball treat later. As for a Golden Retriever’s maturity, it is indeed true that this breed tends to mature a bit later than most breeds. That may not really be all that meaningful in the long run, but dogs have their phases just like humans do. You should definitely see at least some change in your dogs as the years go by. Just like you see changes in your children, or your parents. It is all a part of the circle of life.