Amy Castro (00:00.11)
Many of us have experienced firsthand the amazing benefits of having pets in our lives and know how positively we can affect their lives too. But did you know that there is a nonprofit organization dedicated entirely to researching and sharing the science behind these benefits? In today's episode, I'll introduce you to this amazing organization and discuss how their millions of dollars in research is improving the lives of people, pets, and communities around the world. Stay tuned.
You're listening to Starlight Pet Talk, a podcast for pet parents who want the best pet care advice from cat experts, dog trainers, veterinarians, and other top pet professionals who will help you live your very best life with your pets.
Amy Castro (00:47.854)
Welcome to Starlight Pet Talk. I'm your host, Amy Castro. And with me here today is Lindsay Braun. And Lindsay is the Vice President of Research and Operations for the Human -Animal Bond Research Institute, which is a mouthful, so we're just going to call it HABRI from here on out. Lindsay basically oversees HABRI's research grant program, which has funded more than $3 million in high quality research projects at research universities around the world.
These research grants investigate all aspects of the health benefits of human animal interaction for both people and the animals involved. Lindsay also works to raise awareness of the research and its practical application in human health care, veterinary medicine, and public policy through developing content, creating shareable science -based public educational programming and information, and fostering key partnerships with like -minded organizations. So,
Lindsay, thank you so much for being here on the show. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Now, I think I mentioned to you in our pre -recording call that I have kind of been following Habree for a while. I'm absorbing the information, but I've never really dug into what the organization was all about. And then I got to thinking about the fact that if I, you know, being somebody that's pretty involved in the animal world, both as a speaker and as a rescue person, if I kind of have barely scratched the surface,
Your average pet owner or pet parent out there probably has no idea the amazing things your organization does and how it benefits us and our pets. So could you just give us kind of an overview of the organization to get us started before we dig in deeper? Absolutely. So HABRE, the Human Animal Bond Research Institute, we're a nonprofit organization.
And our vision is for the human animal bond, that mutually beneficial relationship between people and companion animals that positively benefits the health and wellbeing of both is seen as an essential element of human health and wellness. And to that end, so we fund scientific research, as you mentioned, but we also work to educate the public about that research, the field of human animal interaction, which has actually been around since like the 70s. So there's a ton of scientific based evidence.
Amy Castro (03:04.782)
supporting this mutually beneficial relationship that we share, that we fund, and that we also work to advocate for policies that help keep people and pets together and help society become more pet friendly. So it's happy in a nutshell. Yeah, that's great. That last piece I want to talk about, obviously as we go along, because that was a big chunk that I didn't even think about as far as the impact. But what would be some of the standout research elements that you think would be beneficial?
for pet parents to know about. Absolutely. And I think it does help to have a little bit of an understanding of where the research is coming from. So essentially, a lot of it's based on some theories, a biophilia hypothesis, is essentially that humans have this natural tendency to be interested in the natural world. So we have this affinity towards nature and animals. And so it's really what drew us to animals.
of, you know, and then domestication happened like 40 ,000 years ago is kind of when our relationships with dogs started, so they think. So it's not a new phenomenon. We also know there's some physiological things happening when we interact with pets. The oxytocin system, oxytocin is the bonding hormone that happens between mothers and babies, is actually activated when we interact with pets. For example, a study found that basically when we interact with dogs, oxytocin increases in our brains, which causes
you know, quieting of blood pressure, a lower heart rate, a sense of calm and comfort and focus, as well as some, you know, endorphins and dopamines are released in the brain. And then that same thing is happening in the dog's end, we're both experiencing decreases in cortisol, which is the stress hormone. So physiologically, there's things happening, and then it's all rooted in like our biological processes as well. So from that, there's a whole host of research.
supporting pet ownership and human -animal interaction and things like animal system therapy, for example, for heart health, for mental health, for physical health. So there's research that shows that pet owners are less likely to die after a significant heart event, like a heart attack or stroke, including cat owners. There's research to show that, you know, pet owners might live longer lives. These are all associations, right? We see a lot of benefits to daily living as well. There's
Amy Castro (05:24.654)
research to support dog walking for reduced obesity. And that also we know is really beneficial for the dogs as well, their physical health. And so it extends to mental health. Pets are really, I have found to be important sources of emotional and social support for people that really benefits overall mental health. We know that especially people with a long -term mental health condition, the sense of purpose and routine that pet ownership brings, right, you have to
go out for that walk or feed that cat or groom, et cetera. All the little daily activities involved with caretaking really give us that sense of, they keep us mindful, they keep people grounded and away from overnation and really provide a sense of purpose and meaning that lends to benefits to mental health and helps them cope with their condition.
And that's not just people with a condition, it's everyone, right? Older adults living alone. Children can learn life skills like empathy and other social skills from having a pet. You know, it kind of runs the gamut of population, different age groups, different types of interventions too. You know, there's benefits to therapeutic coursework writing, but to also, you know, we know small animals can really help children in the classroom. So it really, the field is super multidisciplinary and diverse and there's tons of research and I can spend.
most of this conversation talking about it. But yeah, happy to dive into anything in particular. And I hadn't even thought about this before, but it kind of brings up the question, is this research where you have people at Habri that are saying, hey, this is something we want to investigate. Let's go out and find somebody to research this and we'll fund it. Or is it you're out there seeking people who are already researching things and then funding their research?
Just curious how that works. Sure, a little bit more about our process. So every year we issue a request for research proposals and researchers from all over the world apply for our grants and our RFP is pretty broad. You know, we want to study the positive benefits of interacting and owning pets. Basically, so our competitive process happens every year. Sometimes we have folks coming to us with research questions. We do a lot of market survey research too, but yes, it's
Amy Castro (07:39.214)
It's essentially what's really interesting about the field of HAI, human -animal interaction, is that because it's almost interdisciplinary, you'll find researchers that are housed in vet schools, but also in schools of social work, nursing, you know, it really, psychology, like it's all over, so it's not just like every researcher that's just an HAI researcher. They could also be a medical doctor or, you know, in human health or they're specialized in...
other types of therapies, you know, so it's really psychologists, et cetera. It really is, you know, truly diverse in that sense. Interesting. So as far as your average person living their lives, kind of unknowing that all this is going on, you know, you mentioned the benefits that have been found through the research as far as for our mental and physical health. And it's funny you mentioned about blood pressure, because every time I go to my doctor's office and she wants to take my blood pressure, I mentally picture myself petting a golden retriever puppy, like a real...
like a really fluffy little one that's just like sleeping and it just, you know, cause somewhere along the lines I read that, you know, petting, thinking about, even thinking about petting an animal lowers our blood pressure. I think when we have our pets, we kind of acknowledge on a day -to -day level that, you know, that they benefit us. But what are some of the other bigger picture things that we may not be aware of? And I know you mentioned something about even housing and working on restrictions at housing for pets, things like that.
Yeah, so just like a step back, you know, of course, I think, especially as a lot of your listeners are, I'm sure, really knowledgeable of the human -animal bond, right? They know how beneficial their pets are for them. So a lot of the scientists like very, you know, they're like, I knew that. That's very like confirmatory. But we actually, there's a need for the data and information of scientific research and the published papers. Those are all very important when it comes to actually influencing policies and...
influencing the larger swath of society. So where we kind of also focus the research, like a lot of our artnerships we're really proud of, is things like how can we better keep people and pets together and keep that human element strong, because we know how good it is for human health and pet health. So housing is a huge, we've discovered it's a very big barrier to pet ownership.
Amy Castro (09:54.094)
And so we have a partnership with Michelson Found Animals Foundation that we call the Pet Inclusive Housing Initiative. We fielded research, we did a large survey, a nationally represented survey of rental housing in the US and the experiences of pet owners and found, we surveyed both providers like landlords and renters and found that while a majority of rental housing in the US is pet friendly, there's specific.
restrictions related to pets like breed size, weight, that make pet -friendly housing truly difficult to find. And so we're working together through PIHIB, through the Pet Inclusive Housing Initiative to try and tackle that issue and create a more pet -inclusive space in rental housing for everyone. And because we also know that non -pet owners, if restrictions were lifted, would get a pet. But we can save pet -wads, we can find more homes for pets through
trying to make rental housing more pet friendly. Yeah, I mean, I think that's so important because as somebody that runs a rescue, part of our application process and part of our approval of application process is following up, you know, when people say that they live in, you know, in rental, a rental apartment or a rental home.
following up with the landlord, following up with the apartment complex, finding out what their policies are. And, you know, we don't want to say no to people, but what we also don't want, and I think I said this even on last week's episode when this topic sort of came up a little bit, is that I don't want to adopt out a puppy to somebody. And then, well, I don't want to ever have to have an animal returned if I don't have to, but it makes it really difficult on me when, you know, Tom decides he wants to adopt a small puppy from us and...
If we didn't check and find out what the restrictions are, now six months later, that puppy is an 80 pound puppy and Tom's landlord says, no way, have it. And then Tom wants to return it to me. And it's much, much harder for me to rehome that puppy now that it's big. And it's also heartbreaking for the, you know, for the person and the animal to, you know, we, I raised this puppy and now I have to get rid of it. And it's so, it's so interesting to me too, that the rules just seem to be.
Amy Castro (12:09.198)
somewhat arbitrary, you know, like certain weight cut off, you know, it's, it's just, you know, 30 pounds and under, or you can't have these certain breeds. And there's not really any particular reason behind it that that particular apartment complex has selected that parameter. What do you find, like, as far as what the landlords and such are saying? So I think it's interesting. I think a lot of times it's the fact that they haven't read it as a policy in years. And sometimes it's, you know, you're in a situation where it's, it's not like,
majority or I don't know all the percentages, but there's a lot of large apartment complexes that are managed by bigger companies that manage thousands if not more, you know, units. And identifying the person who's responsible for setting that policy, you know, and just connecting the dots here, I think is part of the issue is just having the conversations and sharing that there is and also just sharing that there is a benefit to them, right, you'll.
have a larger pool of potential renters as you reduce some of your restrictions, right? If you open things up a little bit more. So, because we know that pet owners especially are really searching for pet amenities or pet related factors or things that they really don't want to have to compromise on. Yeah, yeah. And they're looking, you know, they are becoming more like they will.
pay more and travel further if they have to when they've got a housing situation that is more amenable to their lifestyle with their pets. So I think you're right. I think there are definitely benefits. What beyond housing, anything else that we might not know about that's kind of working in our favor behind the scenes? So, you know, I guess we related to housing. There's a lot of things that break the human animal bond, right? So we're supportive of.
policies that help transitional and emergency housing become more pet friendly. So domestic violence shelters, homeless shelters, there's a few pieces of legislation we actually were with a coalition of others were successful in getting the Pet and Women's Safety Act passed back in the Farm Bill of 2018, where they established a grant program of $3 million a year towards helping more domestic violence shelters.
Amy Castro (14:18.926)
become pet friendly, whether it's partnering with a local shelter, actually having their own space, because we know that's a huge barrier to seeking help. And often animals are targeted in that abusive situation. And let me just let me just stop you for one second, because I want to make sure that people got that. What we're basically saying here is that not only, you know, if somebody is in an abusive situation and they want to leave, they, you know, they generally love and want to take their pet. But if there's no place that they can go and take their pet.
that they have to leave the pet behind. And one of two things can potentially happen or possibly both. The pet is being abused and that's another reason why they wanna leave or they're gonna continue to be abused. Cause you know, the research also backs up that people will literally stay behind, stay in the abusive situation because they don't wanna leave or abandon their pets. So let me ask, you know, one of the questions I had on the list was challenges or misconceptions you encounter when you're.
when you're out promoting the human animal bond, do you get resistance on that? Or is everybody pretty much in favor of everything that you're doing? I think, honestly, we don't necessarily get resistance. Maybe they find it to be, I mean, in terms of policy -wise, it's not front and center. Or at least, maybe people overlook the importance of pets and how, especially for certain populations, how critical that relationship can be.
But I think most of the reactions are usually like, pets are so wonderful. And they'll just jump into a story about their own experience with the bond. It's so fun in that regard, but it is difficult. It doesn't mean that there aren't challenges to presenting the general public, especially in human health. We're trying to expand beyond just talking to basically our community, which is like those that care, that provide the care and services related to
you know, owning pets, like we get a lot of support from like the pet care community. So, you know, those that create the nutrition and the animal health products and the veterinarians. But when it comes to talking to human health professionals, or leaders in that field, I think it's sometimes a little bit of a bigger hurdle. And so one of the ways we're trying to get out there more is through our human animal bond innovation awards program. We launched that in 2022, where we're highlighting the work.
Amy Castro (16:40.238)
that others are doing outside the pet space to honor and support the bond. We have four different categories, public service, which is our most popular, because there's so many wonderful programs. You know, like, HABRI is not, we fund the research, we don't have like paws on the ground programming, but, and we don't fund that, but we want to share and support that. So that's one way we're doing that. But then also pet friendly infrastructure. So what are, you know, are some cities doing great things to make sure there's dog parks?
store spaces for pets or something like that. And then media, so like who's talking about the bonds reaching consumers and others and pet inclusive culture. So looking at, you know, what companies and organizations maybe you have pet friendly policies and their work for their employees, things like that. So who's embodying the bond or supporting it in their work. And there's a lot of great examples, the American Heart Association, we awarded them in 2022, they
have a campaign called Best Friends Fridays and they really try to share the research supporting Pepsilohart Health but also ways to become pet -friendly in the workplace. And Tito's Handmade Vodka, they have their Vodka for Dog People program where they support rescues and shelters. Yes, we're well aware of that. Yes, there's tons of people, tons of others who are acknowledging how important the bond is for people and incorporating that into their own.
you know, they're bland in their identity. So we're trying to really share and highlight that to not only build relationships with others, but to just make sure people are aware and kind of gain that sort of acceptance, right? That the human animal bond is still important. You know, it's interesting, you said you were talking about the cities and accessibility and things like that. We did an episode in our first season last year on actual service dogs and how fake service dogs hurt everybody.
And it's interesting to think that if there were less boundaries to people bringing their pets places and more access, then maybe people wouldn't have to fake having a service dog and take it to an extreme. Have you seen any impact on your research from that perspective as far as service animals, fake service animals, things like that, or is that kind of outside the purview of what you're doing? Yeah, no, we, we fund research on the benefits of having a service dog for specific populations.
Amy Castro (19:01.422)
One of our, like one of the best studies that we funded was the pilot study we funded from Purdue University looking at the efficacy of service dogs for veterans with PTSD. And so that found overall reductions in symptomology, better sleep quality, better ability to be present at work, be out in the world, resulting from having a service dog. And that lends itself to, you know, unfortunately the VA did not provide service dogs for
those with a psychiatric disability. They only provide it for physical. And so there's tons and tons of veterans who can benefit especially from, you know, having access to a service dog. And so with that research, we are able to support another bill that was recently passed that created a like a grant program to, you know, essentially get to fund service dogs for veterans with PTSD. So we're getting there.
on that front and that's what we're really supportive of is greater access and widespread awareness that there are benefits not just to those with physical disabilities. And you know the other thing in that space that we generally do is try to educate people about the differences between pets, emotional support animals, service animals, and therapy animals. Some of our research we found actually one in five pet owners say they have an emotional support animal and it's like 20 % of
of people. So, you know, there's definitely a need to help with access and things like that. So, you know, that's kind of the role we play as being educational, but also supporting some research in that realm. Right. And you had mentioned the American Heart Association and their Friday program. Yeah. What's the research? Because people have asked me on a couple of occasions, do an episode about, you know, pets in the workplace or write a blog post about it. And it's like, personally,
I'm not sure I'm a hundred percent in favor of it, but what it comes down to is the fact that I see my own pets, just as an example, I'll pick on my own pets. They don't behave very well. They would be pretty disruptive at work, a couple of them. So it's like, now you have a bunch of disruptive animals in the workplace and now no work is getting done. Or you got a questionable animal that only likes certain kinds of people or certain ages, or they don't like people with hats. And the next thing you know, they're biting the delivery guy. So.
Amy Castro (21:21.198)
I mean, obviously there, you know, there has to be some parameters on it, but what are you finding as far as the pets in the workplace and how that actually works out in a positive way? Yeah. So I appreciate the question. We, we actually funded some survey research with nationwide on pet friendly workplaces. What we were really trying to uncover was like, what, how do you define a pet friendly workplace? And we actually were able to create different categories encompassing, you know, pet inclusivity. So it's not just, you know, I think a lot of people just, just.
associated with bringing pets into the workplace. That's not always appropriate, obviously, for safety reasons and other reasons. But there's many ways for employers to demonstrate that they care for their pet and owning employees. Because essentially, if 66 % of US households own at least one pet, that means 66 % of their employees likely owns at least one pet. So there's a lot, like majority of their employees have pets. So you can offer pet health insurance as a benefit. You can
offer time to work from home to accommodate a new pet or care for a pet that's ill or needs to go to the vet. You can offer pet sitting services. You can have days where pets are allowed in the office or an afternoon or something like that. Like the Best Friend Friday that American Heart Association supports. And so it's like a whole spectrum. It's not just, and of course you can allow pets in the office and there's,
A lot of model policies out there, a lot of things that folks can work off of that others are doing. We know a lot of our supporters, offices are pet friendly and they have all sorts of things in place, procedures, policies, requirements. It's not a one size fits all. Those are essentially the important things to take away from all of that. But that we also know from that research that those who were more pet friendly,
the relationships between bosses and supervisors were closer, the collaboration, the presenteeism, the retention of employees, that all was increased among those who had pet friendly workplaces. So there's definitely benefits to the employees and the entire, you know, the business too, when you acknowledge the bond and support it. Yeah, that's such a good point. I hadn't even thought that it's not necessarily just about bringing your pets to work every day kind of thing. It's all those other...
Amy Castro (23:41.966)
other benefits that could be made available that makes you, that would draw, and it's going to draw employees to your company and I think increase the loyalty of those employees because people's pets are incredibly important to them. 98 % of panelists consider their pets to be important members of the family. Yes. So that's a huge, that's a huge percentage. And so to be able to offer, you know,
benefits that benefit that pet and like you said, help maintain that bond is just as important to, you know, years ago when people, when employers first started offering, whether it was onsite daycare or whether it was maternity leave or whatever it might be, it's a very similar thing to, to many people. And so it's, like I said, it's going to increase loyalty to that organization, probably increase retention and a lot of.
a lot of positive benefits coming from that. And I like also that you said about, you know, that if somebody did want to create their, you know, do a program where animals could come to work, that you don't have to start that, those policies and procedures from scratch. And it's probably a good idea that you don't because you're going to make a lot of mistakes along the way. I can already see it happening. But if you have these models to follow that have been kind of tested and tried out,
then you can at least use those as a starting point. So that's great that you have that available. Are there anything, as far as the findings and the research that you've done, are there things that I could as an individual pet parent or pet owner incorporate into my life to improve the bond with my pet? Yeah, no, I think what we've actually found is that there's this link between knowledge of the science of the human animal bond, knowledge of all those benefits, and
pet care. So we know that pet owners who are highly engaged and who are who report really strong bonds with their pets are more likely to take better care of their pets. But we also know that those who become aware of the fact that no fluffier Fido can benefit their heart health, their emotional health, and their families are more likely to spend more time with their pet, take just better care of their pet overall, not give visits to the veterinarian, things like that. So we try and just
Amy Castro (25:56.206)
Check out our website, learn about the science, share it with others, talk about it with your friends, your family, your veterinarians, your doctors and therapists. And the more we discuss that and learn about it and share it, I think that, you know, the greater we'll all, it'll just be better for everyone. And there'll be more widespread acceptance and awareness of the fact that, you know, pets can be just part of a healthy lifestyle. And that's really what we want to get across. And that's what I think.
Really everyone can kind of be involved in that conversation. Even if you're not a pet owner, right? You can also foster pets. Yes. Sign up here. It's a wonderful way to experience pet ownership, experience the human animal bond and also be helping pets get adopted. You know that socialization is really important for them. Yeah. And without the commitment and the bills. So, you know, that's the benefit of being a foster. You don't have to pay the bills, at least with most organizations.
So any initiatives on the horizon for the future that we should be aware of that you're working on? We're super focused right now on mental health, May is mental health month. So we'll be sharing a lot of content this month around that. We have a partnership with Mental Health America, which is a national organization. We often share a lot of research with them around this time. We are supporting a lot of different research projects. We have a portfolio of 50 total that we funded and about half of those are active. So we expect. wow.
a strong pipeline of research in the coming months, years. One of my favorite pieces of research, speaking of fostering, that we just recently published late last year is from the University of Georgia. And they were looking at the impacts of fostering a shelter cat on mental health and emotional health of older adults living independently alone. And they really found a significant reduction in loneliness after six months with their foster cat. And then at the end of the study, which was a full year, 97 % of the participants
adopted their shelter cat permanently. So just really a lovely study like, you know, that's really getting at the mutual benefits of the bonds, right? You can not only help older adults who may be, may be fairly isolated with that connection, but also help the welfare and the cats too. So, and the socialization, everything like that. But it was just, it's such a wonderful piece of research. It was a pleasure working with the researchers throughout their journey. I know they were really committed to the project and hopefully we can kind of through that,
Amy Castro (28:21.23)
through those findings really help support programs all about fostering. We can really encourage others to consider, because when you can remove perceived barriers to pet ownership through fostering, you never know. You might be able to support the Humane Oval Fund in that way. Yeah, that's such a good point. And the trickle -down impact on rescue as well. I just had a puppy that came back today that was out on a foster to adopt. And I wasn't really sure it was going to be a fit. They weren't really sure it was going to be a fit.
but it got that puppy out of my kennel for now. It got the puppy in a home. It allowed this couple to determine, you know, are we at the phase in life where we want a puppy or not before they make a permanent commitment to it. It got me some free training on the puppy because the puppy's now house trained. So, a lot of benefits and, you know, because we do a lot of cats at our rescue as well. I mean, I know that cats do better in a home environment than they're going to do living in a kennel type environment.
And so, you know, whether that person does eventually adopt that pet, great. Although, you know, on a selfish, from a selfish standpoint, for those of us in rescue, we don't always love it when our fosters adopt because then they stop fostering. But, you know, if it's meant to be, it's meant to be. But, you know, it does really allow us to get to know that animal better. It's likes and dislikes, because it's living with somebody one -on -one and getting that attention that we can't give in a shelter type setting.
On that same note, where would we go, whether it's those of us in rescue and sheltering or individual pet owners that are interested in learning more, is it best to go to your website to find that information? Yeah, absolutely. Habri .org. We also are super active on Facebook, LinkedIn, on Instagram, where we post a lot of educational content. We've got graphics, infographics. We have a blog on our website. Just basically any updates on our research and just about our initiatives.
you can find on our site. Great. And how else can we support you and the further research of this human animal bond? Thank you for asking. I think just learning more about the research that we fund. Obviously, we're always accepting donations. That's pretty prominent on our website if you visit and very grateful. You can also sign up for our newsletter that's also on our website. Just go to Halbrie .org. Every week, our president, Steve Feldman, issues a nice little message. We have some relevant articles. Just
Amy Castro (30:47.694)
you know, sharing things, the goings on of Habri, but also just our greater universe and, you know, updates on the research anytime we have something published or anything like that. So that's a great way to stay connected to us as well. Great. Any final thoughts, points that you want to get in that we didn't cover? Cause I want to make sure that your, whatever messages you want to get out there that we get in. No, thank you. I know the questions were awesome. I think we covered our, our research initiatives, our programs.
Really appreciate it and grateful to our listeners for learning more about Habri. I appreciate it. Well, thank you so much for making the time. I'm sure you have other things to do today than be on the Starlight Pet Dog podcast, but I appreciate you being here and opening our eyes to Habri and all of the fantastic work that you're doing. And I highly encourage.
all of our listeners to get out to that website or follow their Facebook page if you're a Facebook person, because there's so much on that website that I discovered even beyond my conversation with Lindsay before we talked. There's so much research going on that's probably of interest to you that you're not gonna hear about if you don't go looking for it. So make sure you check it out. Thank you so much. and one other thing is I mentioned our Human Animal Bot Innovation Awards, the nominations this year close May 20th. So if you are aware of someone doing wonderful work, whether it's an organization or an individual or a company,
And for the human animal bond, please submit a nomination. Pretty simple, straightforward, also on our website. Okay, great. Yeah. And we'll grab some links and put those in the show notes so everybody has them. Okay. Well, thank you so much, Amy, for having me. Thanks everyone for listening. Thanks for being here. And thanks to everybody for listening to another episode of Starlight Pet Talk. Thanks for listening to Starlight Pet Talk.
Be sure to visit our website at www .starlightpettalk .com for more resources and be sure to follow this podcast on your favorite podcast app so you'll never miss a show. If you enjoyed and found value in today's episode, we'd appreciate a rating on Apple. Or if you'd simply tell a friend about the show, that would be great too. Don't forget to tune in next week and every week for a brand new episode of Starlight Pet Talk. And if you don't do anything else this week, give your pets a big hug from us.
