I think you can find just about anything for pets online. Out of curiosity, I recently searched for pet wine and found out you can buy wine for your cat. The kind I found is actually made “with Filtered water, organic catnip, salmon oil and organic food coloring,” so kitty would not have to worry about finding a designated driver.
Anyway, I also decided to search for books for dogs. And, as it turns out, although there is a limited market for literature that is meant to be consumed (that’s read, not eaten) by canines. Here are some options:
One is “Bedtime Stories for Dogs,” which is available on Amazon.
This bedtime story compilation by Leigh Anne Jasheway includes, among other tales (no pun intended), “Snow White and the Seven Chihuahuas.”
Next up is, “Three Stories You Can Read to Your Dog,” by Sara Swan Miller, who also penned “Three Stories You Can Read to Your Cat.”
Which begs (OK, pun intended) the question, “Do dogs actually need books?”
To find out, I did my own experiment with my dogs, Caramel (pit bull mix) and Scooby (we’re really not sure). I didn’t have a book, so I just made up a short story to tell them.
On the other hand, Scooby was immediately intrigued.
He moved up close to me as soon as I started to tell the story and seemed happy listening to the sound of my voice, not to mention my attention, directed completely toward him. I think he would really enjoy having a book read to him.
Apparently, other dogs feel the same way. I found this video of Bruce Littlefield, who wrote another book I found for dogs. This one is called, “The Bedtime Book for Dogs.” In the video, you can see him reading to a contented pup:
And, while I couldn’t really find any more titles of books written directly for dogs, I guess the takeaway is that, if your dog enjoys the activity, you can probably spend some time on a regular basis reading just about anything to them as a bonding experience.
Oh, and if you have a cat too, don’t forget to invite them to join in. If they look less than enthused, you can always try bribing them with a glass of kitty wine.
Featured photo by: 2Photo Pots on Unsplash