Certainly, twenty years ago our furry friends were less spoiled than today. Programmes like “World’s Most Pampered Pets” have showed us how much money pet owners are willing to pay for the comfort and welfare of their ‘new kids’.

To put this in context, we have found this infographic based on a survey carried out by Multiyork that shows us some facts and figures of the luxuries of our pets throughout the country.

Courtesy of Multiyork

Britain is well-known for its long love affair with animals; from royalty to families with benefits, pets are considered part of the English family, 13 million of households are home of pets, and charities like the RSPCA and RSPB are at the top of Britain’s charities ranked by donations.

Nevertheless, is a fact that families are becoming smaller, busy young couples prefer pets than kids nowadays and relaxing at home next to your ‘best friend’ is the best therapy after a long day at work without breaking the bank.

Here are three easy ways of improving your pets’ quality of life and have a nice time together without disrupting your lifestyle.

A proper walk

Is not just about having a nice stroll in the park, a walk is also a great opportunity to practice obedience skills with your dog. For example when you bump into another dog, try to practise social skills and reward your dog for a good behaviour.

Also, bear in mind there is a ‘proper’ way to walk your dog; make your dog walk either beside you or behind you, never in front of you. You are the one walking the dog no the other way around.

Regarding how long a walk should be, it depends on how young your dog is and also how often you walk him, but in general half an hour per day is a good amount for both the dog and your own health benefits.

Quality time

We’re busier now more than ever, or it certainly feels that way. We’re working longer hours, and as a result of that, we’re tending to have much more active social lives. It’s easy to forget amidst our working hard and playing hard that we have a furry friend at home, patiently waiting to catch a glimpse of us between engagements.

Even if your pet isn’t tremendously touchy feely, you might have noticed that they tend to gravitate to wherever you are in the house, even if they don’t come thundering up to you, demanding attention.

Pets, for the most part, like being around humans, even if it’s just hearing their voices, or seeing their faces. While you’re out, why not give them the next best thing and leave the TV or radio on for them? One small appliance shouldn’t bump up your electricity bill, and it might make the silence a little less deafening in your absence.

Rewards and treats

You will no doubt already know that treats and rewards are key in the formative stages of your pet’s life. To briefly delve into Psychology, the theory behind treats is to form an association between behaviours and outcomes.

Continuing to provide treats after your young cat or dog successfully performs an act that you deem to be desirable, eventually results in that action being desirable to them too because they associate carrying out that action with a positive reward.

Now, once the training is complete, and your pets are doing what you want them to, or not doing what you don’t want them to do, we tend to become lax in dishing out rewards beyond the training stages.

This is not to say that you should be rewarding your pets every single time they do something good, but the odd treat here and there reinforces their training, ensuring that they don’t fall back into old habits or start to feel neglected.

*Post brought to you by Multiyork.