What makes your pet happy? Throw a toy, and find out. Go for a run, sneak a snack, sit quietly with warm blanket and firm scratch, even watching TV can put a smile on Scruffy’s face because it’s all about being with you. But if you still need ideas, Do Unto Animals by Tracey Stewart has them for you.
If it’s possible, Tracey Stewart loved animals before she was even born; pictures exist of her heavily-pregnant mother with family pets. Animals always surrounded Stewart and when she was a child, she wondered if she could make a living through her love of them.
After a few life detours – including different jobs and men other than the one she’s married to now – she does. A dog was Stewart’s first love; he was a rescue bully-breed but she says she’s not sure who rescued who, in this situation. A dog has always been "my four-footed soother, my crutch … my confidant, my best friend."
"If guardian angels really exist, mine don’t have wings. They have wagging tails, soft pink bellies and terrible breath."
Though allergic, Stewart has loved a cat or four. She can’t live with them comfortably – she’s tried! – so instead, her children act as champions of cats needing homes. And that’s a good way to help animals: if you can’t have one, virtually adopt one. Just because an animal doesn’t sleep in your house doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do for it.
Your back yard is full of what Stewart calls "The Landscaping Team, Pest Control Team and Cleanup Crew." And if you live on or near a farm, she says you should visit a barn often. Cows and pigs are no dummies, and there’s a lot to learn on the back (or front) of a horse.
Other things you can do for animals: Learn animal massage. Visit a shelter and adopt a mutt. Don’t believe everything you’re told about pit bulls or black cats.
Remember that bugs and worms are friends. Know how to help an injured animal. And this year, change a tradition – your family’s holiday menu doesn’t have to have a turkey on it.
It’s a good thing animals can’t buy books. We should all be glad they can’t read, either, because if they could, they’d want to go live with author Tracey Stewart.
But here’s the thing: There really isn’t anything new inside Do Unto Animals – it’s just all framed differently. Lovers of the four-footed already know how to pet a dog well. We’re aware of spay-neuter programs, that bees are dying off and that livestock have personalities.
Here, though, Stewart reminds us of these things in a shoulder-bumping, almost affectionate way – and besides, it’s difficult not to be thoroughly smitten with an author who makes up dog breeds. A "White-Bibbed Snuggler," indeed.
For animal lovers, Do Unto Animals is an easy, enjoyable read – maybe twice. It might teach you something and if it doesn’t, well, so what?
This book about making contented critters will make you pretty happy, too.
Terri Schlichenmeyer has been reading since she was three years old and never goes anywhere without a book. She lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 11,000 books. Readers with questions or comments may write to Terri in care of this publication.
