August has be en an important month for celebrating pets. It started out with Dogust 1st, a universal birth date for all rescues and shelters – because of course, we rarely know their actual birth dates. It’s fun to celebrate a special time for our pets, they celebrate all our holidays with us!  Friendship day on the 2nd reminded us that often our pets are our best friends, and Best Friends Day on the 15th reminded us again. International Cat Day, Black Cat Appreciation Day and Take Your Cat to the Vet Day gave us time to celebrate the fun and companionship that our cats and kittens add to our lives.  The Clear the Shelters programs this month were a great help in encouraging us to adopt a pet!

World Elephant Day and World Honey Bee Day were serious days, not celebration days. Elephants are in grave danger in Africa as poachers and hunters kill them for trophies or for their ivory tusks. How can we help? Tell all our friends about the problem, watch the videos and read up on elephants, some of the smartest animals in the jungle. In a way, they are very much like us, they recognize and remember each other (and us) their whole life, live in a community and stay together as families. Learn more at http://worldelephantday.org/news/press-room

The Honey Bees are also in danger, scientists can’t figure out what’s killing our bees and we seriously need bees to survive. They not only make honey they pollinate our food and flowers.  If the family hasn’t seen The BEE Movie, it’s worth a watch.

So what’s left this month – National Dog Day is coming up on Wednesday the 26th. How can we help celebrate it? Spend some time with our dogs, brush and pet them. We can give them a bath if they need it – dogs love feeling clean and pretty! We can make a special treat and play fetch with them or get them a new toy. We can take him/her to the dog park or on a hike – or to the lake or beach – most dogs love to swim! And of course, we should take some selfies of us with our dog!

Enjoy the last week of summer – with your pets!