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I guess Valentine’s Day is a good day for humans. From now on, it’s going to be a good day for all of us as well. I’m not sure why it’s celebrated, but now it includes us.

Mom says it’s a day that you show people you love them by giving them a gift of some kind, i.e., candy, flowers, bones. Well, we got new kinds of flavored bones, and they are great. I guess Milk Bones decided to give us furry people a little variety in our lives. Anyway, that’s what Kasha, Wooly, Hilde, and I got for Valentine’s Day. Oh, yeah, we shared them with Misty, Samantha, and Candy. Pretty soon, you will get to see pictures of them.

Dad gave mom a really big box of chocolates, and she shared them with me. I know I’m not supposed to have chocolate, but a little milk chocolate never hurt anyone, especially on special days. Mom also got chocolates from Jason and Richel plus a fuzzy little bear. I found it on mom’s computer table and took it to her; she was really surprised. I wanted to keep it, but mom wouldn’t let me. Oh, well, maybe next year.

Exactly what are gifts? What are they for? Why are they wrapped up? Why give them? What are they designed to do?

I don’t know any of these answers for sure, but I have some guesses.

Gifts are for people, dogs, cats, horses, whoever, who need to be shown that they are special. I think I just answered the first two questions.

They are wrapped up because you don’t want that special someone to see what it is until you are ready for them to see it. Kinda selfish, if you ask me. If a human wants to give someone else a gift, present, surprise, whatever, why don’t they just give it to them? That’s what mom does when she gives me something like a new red ball or a Greenies bone. I inherently know she thinks I am special or else she would have given it to someone else.

The next question of “Why give them?” is not so hard to answer, at least not in mom’s case. Mom gives them because she wants to. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t. Makes sense, doesn’t it? Mom is not very complicated; what you see is what you get.

As to what they are designed to do is a philosophical question. I guess it depends on how you see the giver. Givers are supposed to give because they want to; not because they expect something in return. I know that is not always the case, but that is the way I see it. And being a dog, I don’t have a lot of experience at giving unless you count loyalty and unconditional love. I once heard my dad say that you should treat others the way you want them to treat you–I don’t think he meant Wooly though.

At any rate, these are just my thoughts; you don’t have to agree with them.