Hello, everyone. Mom turned on the TV this weekend and we saw a great show about the Constitution of the United States. It held my attention for a few minutes until I asked Mom if dogs and cats had a Constitution of the United States, too. I couldn’t believe when she said we don’t. I thought about it all weekend and decided on behalf of all the dogs, cats, ferrets, and other critters out there, it was time for someone to write our own constitution. I think this should be hung in every humane society and shelter in the United States to ensure the same promises to animals that Americans have with their constitution. I hope you agree. You may even have a few points to add.
• We have the right to be a full member of your family. We thrive on social interaction, praise and love. We have the right to seek it and return it.
• We have the right to stimulation. We need new games, new toys, new experiences, and new smells that make us happy.
• We have the right to regular exercise. Whether it’s a walk around the block or a frisbee in the back yard. Without it, we could become hyper, sluggish, or fat!
• We have the right to have fun. We enjoy acting like clowns now and then. Please don’t expect us to be predictable all the time. We have the right to surprise you and make you giggle.
• We have the right to quality health care. Please stay good friends with our doctor. Good communication is important and we have a right to the best doctor available.
• We have a right to a good diet. Like some humans, we don’t know what’s best for us. We have a right to depend on you to be responsible and not give in to our wants and feed us good, nutritional food and fresh water every day.
• We have the right not to be rejected because of your expectations that we be great dogs, watch dogs, hunters, or baby sitters. We have the right to be accepted for the good and bad in us, as we accept the same in you.
• We have the right to receive proper training. Our good relationship could be damaged by confusion and strife because of not understanding each other. This could become a danger to ourselves and to others.
• We have the right to guidance and correction based on understanding and compassion, rather than anger and abuse.
• We have a right to be taken to a shelter if we are no longer able to be taken care of properly, instead of left to wander the streets alone, hungry, and afraid.
• We have the right to live with dignity, and to die with dignity. We have a right for you to understand and know when that time comes and love us enough to do the right thing.
• We have the right to be loved unconditionally, forgiven easily when we mess up, and loved from the time we are a pup well into our golden years.
• We have a right not to be treated unworthy, useless or unloved simply because our age has slowed us down. We have the right to grow old with you.
 
Folks, what do you think? I think this could really catch on and if more and more people knew what to expect when they bring a pet into their family there would be less failures and less unhappy animals in the world.
Maybe you can think of some things to add to our constitution that I haven’t thought of. We deserve to be treated like family and we’re lucky to live in an area that loves its pets as much as it loves its people.
Have a great weekend, everyone.

Mango, a rescued pet, is the inspiration for this column by Debi Laibe. Send any questions or comments to
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