Introduction
The rising use of social media puts a spotlight on pets and how they can impact the world around, some even have their own social media channels and have gained millions of followers. No doubt, being fur parents are much different now than it was twenty years ago.
National Pet Day
I found out about National Pet Day from this post ---> National Pets' Day by 
Reasons and Responsibilities
As a pet owner, I think that it's fun to have dogs. They are a source of joy and contribute to the health and wellness of owners. Here in the Philippines, Bantay is a common name given to dogs, and also a word describing the main reason for getting the dog: to guard the house. Traditionally, dogs are usually placed near the gate or main doorway of the Filipino home. They are usually in a small dog house or cage and on a leash or just allowed to roam around the neighborhood. These days, fur parents bring their dogs everywhere. There are even cafe's that cater specifically to our furry friends.
Some of of our responsibilities as fur parents include: regularly feeding them healthy dog food, completing vaccinations and deworming, providing a safe and adequate dog house, bringing them to the vet for regular check ups. It's a lot. I can say that from experience. It can also be quite expensive to own dogs, especially if your dog catches diseases and illnesses on a regular basis.
Below are some photos from our "senior" dogs' birthday celebration. We bought a cake and some plant-based whoopers from Burger King.
Conclusion
It's fun to have pets around. Kids learn how to take care of them. And we adults enjoy the interaction with these animals. We provide them food and shelter and they give us entertainment and protection. There are also the societal level discussions that need to be addressed, such as the exploding number of stray animals, over capacity of the government-run shelters, rabies infections, dog meat trade, and buying from dog breeders versus adopting from a shelter, etc. For sure, there's no easy answer to all of these issues that are slowly surfacing but it's important to note that conversations are now taking place that will decide the fate of these furry friends in the future. So, that's my blog for today. It's another hot and humid summer day. I hope that you are in the best of health.
I own all the photos in this blog post except those already part of the template I used from Canva ---> image 1 and this for image 2.