Your dog is good feng shui

In feng shui a pet is good news for a house. Animals are moving energy, and the tradition says they keep the chi in a home flowing. Your dog has been doing your feng shui for free all year.

A pet can benefit from good feng shui as much as you can, and summer is when it is easiest to give it to them. A few simple ideas for a balanced, happy summer. Most of them work for cats too, although the cat will decide.

• Get them outside. Animals live in harmony with the energy around them outdoors. Most of them spend the winter cooped up indoors with stale energy, the same as we do. Give them as much time outside as the summer allows.
• Let them run. No big yard? Find a dog park where they can come off the leash and run to their heart's content. An exercised dog full of yang energy is a happy dog.
• Give them a lazy afternoon. Your dog may not be ready for the hammock. A few hours in the shade of a tree, listening to the sounds of summer, is a holiday all the same.
• Keep the water fresh. Pets are busier in summer, just like their owners. Put fresh water out inside and outside. If you are thirsty, chances are they are too.
• Bring them along. Going to a cottage or a resort? Look for one that welcomes pets. Who does not like rolling around on a sandy beach? If they have to stay behind, choose a kennel that gives them plenty of time outdoors during the day, and pack a blanket from home.

Then go for a walk together, wherever you are. It is about the easiest feng shui there is, and nobody in the house will argue with it.

From the archive. First written for my journal years ago, and rewritten for life after 50.