Man’s Best Friend –

Good for Your Health

Well last week we learned that owning a dog was the best medicine for you if you have been ill and that walks and cuddles with man’s best friend was the cat’s pyjamas as far as getting better is concerned. The research is startling. Heart attack survivors in the study who were living alone, but owned a dog, had a 33% lower risk of death, while stroke survivors who lived alone and had a dog had a 27% reduced risk of a nasty end, compared to people who did not own a dog and lived in a single household group. It was heart warming stuff. But me, I don’t own a dog, although the first thing everyone said when they found out I was going to live on the beach was ,’”Are you going to buy a dog?” Well no, was the answer. And on a day like today when the dreich gets to the bones  and we are forever caught between heavy and blustery showers the lonely dog walkers cut a sad figure as they pass before our view on the beach, sodden to the marrow. It’s not a decision I regret. Even my bird feeding station is pretty desolate and without our avian friends, the weather is too bad to fly much it seems.

Barking Mad for Doggy Donuts

But in other climes dog ownership is more upscale as they call it. Now Seattle in Washington state is somewhere I used to know well and its climate is not far removed from Scotland, except they have rather better summers, but locals have the reputation of forever being rained on. Sleepless in Seattle might well have been so named because the hammering of rain on the roof keeping the inhabitants awake at night, well without Tom Hanks it would.  But now some perky people in the city have set up  “The Seattle Barkery” which is a challenge if you rush read like me. No it’s not a human bakery it is an up market dog food company which brings dog treats to your door in a mobile food truck. Now I’m not a dog nutrition expert, but their best sellers are very like human food. They do stuff like cheesy donuts with grain free flour and peanut butter apple bites and the dogs go barking mad for them. The food van is so well tricked out that many people think the food is for human consumption, but when pointed to the chicken feet most punters get the message and realise it’s a dog’s life after all.

Complete with Sub Woofer

Now here at James Pirie we do like the odd doughnut and have been known to indulge in the odd peanut butter sandwich, mostly when the wife is away, but it hasn’t stopped us working night and day, well late evening anyway, to bring you the very best in gifts for all seasons and occasions. There is a whole section called ‘gifts for him and her’ for example. And after my last pun-full posting on sausages can I ask you to take a butcher’s at the terrific Royal Scot Crystal - Flower of Scotland Thistle set of 6 Large Crystal Wine Glasses in a great presentation box and all at half price saving you well over a hundred smackers? A real tail wagger!

https://www.jamespirie.com/gifts/for-him-her/gifts-for-her.html#page=1