Another thing I have always loved is animal art. It could be photographs, paintings, statues or even dog cartoons.

I don't really know why I like them, but I do. I've noticed there are a lot of other animal art lovers out there too. It seems to be a natural connection.

People with children often have a ton of pictures of thier children. People with pets are not that different. They see beauty in animals and want to have it to look at.

So how can we take this knowledge and turn it into a great gift idea? Well, there are a few different things that come to mind here.

One I like is getting a great picture of dog you love and converting it to a black and white picture, then framing it and putting an inscription on frame.

There are all kinds of uses for different types of toys.

First, starting as puppies, toys give your dog a distraction from other would-be toys like your couch or your favorite pair of shoes.

My dogs all love ropes. Every single one of them that has ever had one played with them until they were tiny pieces of thread.

Ropes serve a couple of great purposes, in addition to keeping your dog from chewing your house up like termites.

First, it's great bonding for you and dog if you engage in a good game of tug-og-war. It also helps them exercise. Our dog Sadie is one big mass of muscles. When we play with rope, she uses her entire body to try to get it away and you can just see all of her muscles flexing. She's a Black Lab and has most beautiful, sleek black coat.