Myles is modelling his Christmas Elf Hat and ‘Santa’s Lil Helper’ Christmas T Shirt purchased from Pet Zympatico Pet Boutique. He looks like he’s been very busy all night helping Santa and is now in need of a rest!

Thank you so much for sending this pic in, Allison – perhaps the $20.00 gift voucher you receive will come in handy for a new toy for Myles this Christmas.

Bessie at 9 weeks

Trying to choose a pet of the month is not easy but this time around I just could not resist the sweet charm of Jessie who at just nine weeks of age is absolutely adorable.

Her lucky ‘mum’ now has $20.00 to help spoil her with something nice from Pet Zympatico Pet Boutique.

Congratulations Mum!

The puppies are their stock-in-trade, sold via classified advertisements and to unscrupulous pet shops that presumably also make a handsome profit from their sale to consumers wanting ‘designer’ dogs.

The sad and awful truth is that many of these puppies later end up in shelters, neglected and abused by their owners once their puppy cuteness has worn off and the reality of looking after a dog properly sets in.

In a perfect world the human detritus that misuses and abuses animals of any kind would not exist but the world is far from perfect and not likely to be so any time soon.

Surely there should be an enforceable law to quickly close down puppy farms as soon as they are uncovered and put a stop to this miserable trade. Surely pet shops should be held accountable as to where their puppies come from, e.g. responsible registered breeders. And surely it is not too much to ask for responsible people to not buy their pets from pet shops unless their origin can be substantiated.

It makes sense that if the public don’t buy ‘puppy farm’ puppies, the pet shops  will stop selling them and in turn will not purchase them from puppy farms. Without a ready market puppy farms will go out of business.

Grouchy and Simba

What did I let myself in for! Being inundated with pictures of adorable pets (all dogs incidentally) and being expected to choose a winner is NOT EASY. I know it was all my idea but…. .

Anyway, congratulations this month go to Tamara W who sent me a couple of pictures of her cute pair of canines Grouchy and Simba. Can you pick which is which? Neither one of them looks grouchy to me.

Tamara wins a $20.00 Gift Voucher to spend on her pooches at Pet Zympatico and her dogs are famous for a day

Photos for next month’s competition are welcome now (cats included!) – just email to ros@petzympatico.com.au

The first winner is one of my regular customers, Ruth of Canberra, for this photo of her two cute dogs Bubby and Monkey – congratulations Ruth.

There are no specific requirements for your pet photos but NO HUGE FILES PLEASE and photos of pets wearing or using items from the online store will be most favourably considered (hint, hint)