Every year, when Valentine’s Day is around the corner, pet parents get ready to splurge on their pets. Ami Shah loves her dog, Bouncer, “He is the child I always wanted,” she loving says of her bouncy Boxer. Last Valentine’s Day, Ami wanted to make Bouncer feel special and loved, so she chartered a plane and flew him to Goa to spend the day by a private beach, so that Bouncer could splash in the waves without being disturbed by tourists, an aromatherapy spa massage, with the masseur flown down from Kerala, and the day ended with a dinner date where Bouncer got to eat cheese flown in from Italy, steak from New Zealand and caviar from Russia! And Bouncer’s Valentine’s Day gift was a custom-made designer doggie four-poster bed.

Every pet parent has different ways to show their love to their pets, but some of them, like Ami, may be taking it too far. Are you guilty of over indulging your dog? Here’s a check list to go through. If you say ‘YES’ to more than 7, you may be overdoing it!

1.   Your dog gets to have more space on the bed than you.
2. When your husband snores at night, you nudge him quickly to stop as you don’t want to wake up your dog from her beauty sleep.
3. When you go shopping, you manage to remember to buy dog treats, dog toys and a completely useless dog perfume – only to come home and remember you forgot to buy food to feed the humans in the house.
4. If a guest comes over and tells you that he doesn’t like your dog and asks you to put him in another room, you quietly remove them from your guest list – permanently!
5. You judge people by the way your dog behaves with them. If your dog likes them, they can be your friend. If your dog dislikes them, then there is no scope for friendship in this lifetime… or the next.
6. Your wardrobe is filled with t-shirts that either have your dog’s name all over, paw print outfits and shoes with funny dog memes. Colours in your wardrobe will all include dog friendly ones like mud brown, olive green and boring beige.
7. Your dog’s bed costs more than your own.
8. Your dog’s shampoo costs 10 times more than your own.
9. You buy completely useless toys and gadgets every time you go to a pet store because your dog MUST have the latest dog toys.
10. You go late for an important meeting because your dog wanted to spend some more time playing with her best friend.
11. You call in sick to work because your dog sneezed more than 3 times in the day.
12. You haven’t gone on a vacation in 5 years because you cannot trust anyone to take care of your beloved dog as well as you can.
13. When you are walking in the rain, you hold the umbrella over your dog’s head instead of your own.
14. No one in the house can laugh at the dog – at least not in her presence as it will hurt her feelings.
15. You lay there and hold as long as you can so as not to disturb the dog lying across your lap.