Birthday Parties for Animals?

[that_someone_special]

Weird.. or not weird?

A friend of mine has a birthday party for her dogs, every year.
This year the dog actually has a birthday party dress...

 

[Nashville]

Personally it's a little self indulgent for me, but whatever makes them happy! Do they expect everyone to bring gifts?

 

[Jennifer W]

Whatever makes people happy, I guess. Have to admit though, I would be unlikely to attend.

Jen

 

[CJ2008]

To me, it's weird...especially the clothing...

 

[zoebartlett]

Well, whatever floats your boat...but yeah, I think it's weird.

 

[yssie]

Well, we do 'celebrate' with extra couple of treats and walks.. dressing the dog though? Sure doesn't sound like the dog's idea of a good time...

 

[JewelFreak]

A happy well-balanced dog is one who is allowed to be a D.O.G. Party makes the owner happy, not the dog. I feel like saying, "Gimme a break!" but I'd never be so rude!

--- Laurie

 

[that_someone_special]

I forgot to mention the extras: gifts are not expected but some people have brought gifts in the past.. wrapped even.
There are also invitations sent out, as well as thank you cards. The parties take place either at their home (and other dogs are welcomed) or at some puppy play place or something (never gone..)

This couple has no kids and probably will never have kids, but has a handful of dogs and cats.

I DO find it weird but then I feel bad and think that I should just let 'em be happy!

 

[bee*]

I think it's weird, especially dressing them up. My dog gets an extra treat on her birthday, no parties or dresses!

 

[ksinger]

All I can think of when I read about this, is the "All Creatures Great And Small" series by James Herriot, and the ongoing saga of Mrs Pumphrey and her peke Tricki Woo. Mrs. Pumphrey, an otherwise urbane, intelligent, and pithy society woman, just loses it about her dog, who throws parties, writes letters, and holds forth on politics and has opinions on everything. At one point Herriot (a British vet, for those who don't know about the series of books) has to take Tricki away from her because she's fed him nearly to death. Basically, he just takes the poor insanely coddled dog to the vet surgery and lets him run around with the other dogs there. In about 3 weeks the dog has dropped weight and is running and playing with the other dogs. Of course during that time, Mrs Pumphrey is nearly distraught, and begins sending brandy, and dozens of extra eggs, and other things to "strengthen his blood". Herriot says he and his partners are sorely tempted to milk it a bit longer since they are living large, but have to have pity on the poor woman, who, when presented with her healthy and restored dog, declared "Oh Mr Herriot, it's a triumph of surgery!!!"

I love those books....

But yeah, I think it's silly and weird.

 

[Autumnovember]

I forgot to mention the extras: gifts are not expected but some people have brought gifts in the past.. wrapped even.
There are also invitations sent out, as well as thank you cards. The parties take place either at their home (and other dogs are welcomed) or at some puppy play place or something (never gone..)

This couple has no kids and probably will never have kids, but has a handful of dogs and cats.

I DO find it weird but then I feel bad and think that I should just let 'em be happy!

Even weirder.

 

[davi_el_mejor]

We have small parties at home for the dogs and their come-home-day. They get special treats, extra snuggles and a facebook post. They have party dresses, but none reserved for birthdays only.

Next year I think I'm going to make them a cake from fresh veggies and meat.

But then again, I'm weird.

 

[Circe]

It's a little weird, but it's not hurting anybody.

I would, admittedly, find it that much more amusing if it were a people-party thrown in honor of the pet, a la, "Today we drink for Caturday!" If it's actually a party where you're expected to fete the pooch ... that's harder to understand. BTW, do they actually *know* the dog's b-day? I could celebrate my cats adoption days, but that's as close as I'd get ....

 

[ChloeTheGreat]

I had a birthday party for my dog last year. She turned 1 and my friend's dog turned 2. There were only three dogs, including my own. It was mostly just lunch for me and my friend while the dogs played. I did make a doggy birthday cake. There were no birthday outfits. And there were presents, which was funny because I had not mentioned presents to my friend, but we both ended up getting them anyway.

 

[VRBeauty]

No weirder than throwing a birthday party for a one-year old kid, IMHO. The kid doesn't know the difference, doesn't know why he or she is getting dressed up, and in all likelihood doesn't need the cake or the gifts. For some parents I suppose it's an excuse to have their friends and family over, while others do actually think it's somehow for the baby, or might even feel guilty if they didn't throw that first party. I don't know whether either of those applies to your friend, but it seems to me like much the same thing...

BTW one of my former co-workers and her hubby have an annual bash for their dogs. They invites mainly other dog -- and of course their dogs. Sounds pretty harmless to me.

 

[redfaerythinker]

All I can think of when I read about this, is the "All Creatures Great And Small" series by James Herriot, and the ongoing saga of Mrs Pumphrey and her peke Tricki Woo. Mrs. Pumphrey, an otherwise urbane, intelligent, and pithy society woman, just loses it about her dog, who throws parties, writes letters, and holds forth on politics and has opinions on everything. At one point Herriot (a British vet, for those who don't know about the series of books) has to take Tricki away from her because she's fed him nearly to death. Basically, he just takes the poor insanely coddled dog to the vet surgery and lets him run around with the other dogs there. In about 3 weeks the dog has dropped weight and is running and playing with the other dogs. Of course during that time, Mrs Pumphrey is nearly distraught, and begins sending brandy, and dozens of extra eggs, and other things to "strengthen his blood". Herriot says he and his partners are sorely tempted to milk it a bit longer since they are living large, but have to have pity on the poor woman, who, when presented with her healthy and restored dog, declared "Oh Mr Herriot, it's a triumph of surgery!!!"

I love those books....

I love Tricki! There seems to be so few James Herriot fans out there these days.

Anyways, within my family we usually will celebrate a pet's birthday... but i'm pretty sure it's only so that we can have cake! We don't have a party or anything, the most the cat actually gets is maybe some tuna or deli turkey as a treat.

 

[Imdanny]

We don't celebrate the cat's birthday (other than keeping track of it) but I say if you want to do that- great!

 

[MissMina]

My parents always had birthday parties complete with hats for their Pekingese
and my brother does the same for his Persian cat.
I have not followed suit
(Not that there is anything wrong with it)

 

[Jennifer W]

All I can think of when I read about this, is the "All Creatures Great And Small" series by James Herriot, and the ongoing saga of Mrs Pumphrey and her peke Tricki Woo. Mrs. Pumphrey, an otherwise urbane, intelligent, and pithy society woman, just loses it about her dog, who throws parties, writes letters, and holds forth on politics and has opinions on everything. At one point Herriot (a British vet, for those who don't know about the series of books) has to take Tricki away from her because she's fed him nearly to death. Basically, he just takes the poor insanely coddled dog to the vet surgery and lets him run around with the other dogs there. In about 3 weeks the dog has dropped weight and is running and playing with the other dogs. Of course during that time, Mrs Pumphrey is nearly distraught, and begins sending brandy, and dozens of extra eggs, and other things to "strengthen his blood". Herriot says he and his partners are sorely tempted to milk it a bit longer since they are living large, but have to have pity on the poor woman, who, when presented with her healthy and restored dog, declared "Oh Mr Herriot, it's a triumph of surgery!!!"

I love those books....

I love Tricki! There seems to be so few James Herriot fans out there these days.

Anyways, within my family we usually will celebrate a pet's birthday... but i'm pretty sure it's only so that we can have cake! We don't have a party or anything, the most the cat actually gets is maybe some tuna or deli turkey as a treat.

This was the first thing I thought of too, but I didn't think anyone else here would be a fan!

 

[ksinger]

All I can think of when I read about this, is the "All Creatures Great And Small" series by James Herriot, and the ongoing saga of Mrs Pumphrey and her peke Tricki Woo. Mrs. Pumphrey, an otherwise urbane, intelligent, and pithy society woman, just loses it about her dog, who throws parties, writes letters, and holds forth on politics and has opinions on everything. At one point Herriot (a British vet, for those who don't know about the series of books) has to take Tricki away from her because she's fed him nearly to death. Basically, he just takes the poor insanely coddled dog to the vet surgery and lets him run around with the other dogs there. In about 3 weeks the dog has dropped weight and is running and playing with the other dogs. Of course during that time, Mrs Pumphrey is nearly distraught, and begins sending brandy, and dozens of extra eggs, and other things to "strengthen his blood". Herriot says he and his partners are sorely tempted to milk it a bit longer since they are living large, but have to have pity on the poor woman, who, when presented with her healthy and restored dog, declared "Oh Mr Herriot, it's a triumph of surgery!!!"

I love those books....

I love Tricki! There seems to be so few James Herriot fans out there these days.

Anyways, within my family we usually will celebrate a pet's birthday... but i'm pretty sure it's only so that we can have cake! We don't have a party or anything, the most the cat actually gets is maybe some tuna or deli turkey as a treat.

Red, those were my mom's favorite books hands down. She kept all of them by her bedside, and read them often. It was like visiting old friends I think. I love them too. They are so respectful of both animal and human, and paint pictures of the colorful or eccentric with such a kind brush. I really need to pull them out and peruse them again.

Back in the late 70's early 80s (as I recall) they had a BBC series of the books. Extremely well done, and to this day I cannot see actor Robert Hardy in anything without having a flash of, "Oh look, it's Seigfried Farnon!"

(Ooo! I just googled, and I see the series is on DVD. I may have to get it. I remember that series with such fondness!)

 

[junebug17]

Oh, I think it's a little weird, but harmless. Sounds like they enjoy it, and have friends that indulge them by coming, so why not? It apparently makes them happy to do it and they're not hurting anyone.

 

[elrohwen]

It's a little weird, but whatever makes them happy I guess. We do remember our pets' birthdays and we'll tell them happy birthday, maybe give them some treats, but we would never hold a birthday party and expect others to attend. I think our friends would think we'd lost it.

 

[Nashville]

No weirder than throwing a birthday party for a one-year old kid, IMHO. The kid doesn't know the difference, doesn't know why he or she is getting dressed up, and in all likelihood doesn't need the cake or the gifts. For some parents I suppose it's an excuse to have their friends and family over, while others do actually think it's somehow for the baby, or might even feel guilty if they didn't throw that first party. I don't know whether either of those applies to your friend, but it seems to me like much the same thing...

BTW one of my former co-workers and her hubby have an annual bash for their dogs. They invites mainly other dog -- and of course their dogs. Sounds pretty harmless to me.

A one year old child is not a pet. A birthday party for a baby is time for the family to celebrate a new life coming into the family unit. If people want to include their dogs in that kind of thing that's their business, but I do think there is a BIG difference between a party for a pet and a party for a baby.

 

[katamari]

Using it as an excuse to have guests is one thing, but I would perceive the formalization of it a bit weird. Of course, weird is specific to the person, though. I imagine if I had a friend who did it, I wouldn't feel it was weird because it would be behavior I expected from them.


ETA: Thinking more about it. You said they have dogs and cats, Bean, and they only do this for the dogs? To me that seems very wrong.

 

[dragonfly411]

I once made carrot cake for my horse's birthday. When he didn't touch it, I gave up. He just get's an apple on his birthday now. My registered dog gets treats, adopted boy gets treats on his adoptie day. I feel like to some people, their dogs ARE their kids, and they do treat them as such. It doesn't hurt the dog, nor the people, so though it is a bit weird, to each their own.

 

[IdLikeToBuyAVal]

We absolutely have birthday parties and presents for our dogs (and we will for the new cat too). I'm not sure why people are getting upset about it - you certainly are under no obligation to attend any such party if you deem it silly. Sure, dogs aren't equivalent to babies to some people, but we've made the decision not to have kids and I'm not sure why anyone would begrudge us for spoiling our pets.

DH & I are mid twenties and have two dogs and a cat now, all three are rescues and all are amazing animals. Our Yorkie knows well over 100 words. He can identify specific people when we talk about them (Grandma X or Grandpa X for instance) even when those people are not present. He knows the difference between "ball" and "bowl" (which for something that doesn't speak English is quite subtle). He performs more than 20 tricks including complicated sequences and performs them on either voice command or hand signals.

Our dogs open their own presents - I wrap them in tissue paper and they tear into them and "get" the idea of opening. When I hang stockings a few weeks before Christmas, they check them daily to see if Santa has put anything in them yet.

Not to start a riot, but some of you might be surprised at the cognitive abilities of pets who have dedicated owners and training.

 

[princesss]

I'm pretty live and let live on this one. If somebody wants to throw a party, fine - I'd probably even attend. I just wouldn't throw one on my own. My kitties get extra affection around their "adoptaversary", but that's about it.

 

[that_someone_special]

Using it as an excuse to have guests is one thing, but I would perceive the formalization of it a bit weird. Of course, weird is specific to the person, though. I imagine if I had a friend who did it, I wouldn't feel it was weird because it would be behavior I expected from them.


ETA: Thinking more about it. You said they have dogs and cats, Bean, and they only do this for the dogs? To me that seems very wrong.

I've never actually thought about it but yeah the cats do not get parties. MOST of the dogs do or did but they have a "baby" of the dog family and now all of the Facebook postings, pictures and parties are about her. I knows this sounds strange but I feel like they play favorites with the animals.

 

[Yimmers]

My friend is unmarried and used to throw a birthday party for her dog, complete with cakes and treats for all the attending dogs. No presents were required. She stopped when she had some personal issues arise in her life. The party was more of an informal picnic in the park, with happy dogs playing around, and those without dogs feeding treats to happy mutts. Yea, I'm sure her mother wished that she was celebrating a grandkid's birthday instead, but to my friend, her dog is basically like her kid. Some people might think it was weird, but it was really just an occasion for people to have fun at the park.

 

[packrat]

Just wanted to jump in and say we used to watch the All Creatures.. show on TV and I have the books. I love them-haven't read them in forever tho. I have a couple books by Cleveland Amory-The Cat Who Came for Christmas and The Cat and the Curmudgeon, and I liked them too.

Pet parties..I don't really "get" it, but I don't get people who put their dogs in purses and carry them around either, but whatever floats your boat I guess!