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Pets can improve our health -- lowering our blood pressure, providing unconditional love and forcing us to get out and get moving. But turn about is fair play. How do we keep our pets fit and healthy? That's the question we posed to you in our April newsletter.

Many of you mentioned walking your pets, making sure they stay active. Kathy, for instance, hits the pavement with her dog twice a day.

Haley also includes walking on her pet-healthy agenda, but also goes to the dog park for some free play and includes backyard Frisbee in her dog's fun time. Jeanette, who says her dog is the love of her life and the beginning and end of her smile, says he is a certified therapy dog and a military working dog. He has allergies, so she makes sure he has grain-free foods to keep him in top shape.

Barrett reports, "My small dog [50 lbs.] is an avid disc golf dog. She is a Border Collie/ Lab mix (we think), and it is her job to find the discs we throw. She plays about a course a weekend, and gets catches with her disc for about 18 holes (usually about a mile)."

After a tornado struck Joplin, MO, where we live, we donated a portable kennel our dog had outgrown to our local shelter, which was taking care of many displaced pets. It started us thinking about cleaning out closets and basements -- spring cleaning, in fact -- to donate other items we no longer needed.

So in our March newsletter, we asked what you shared with your shelter or rescue group. The No. 1 answer was your time. We are always awed that so many of you give so many of your precious hours to help homeless pets.

Dee cleans kennels and donates lap time to kitties. She admits it's hard to get over wanting to take them all home but has resigned herself to the idea that her job "is to help each and every kitty over that hump of losing its home and helping it to feel loved again."

Carol, who says she's mostly a dog person, volunteers once a week at her shelter and says it's the best "job" she has ever had. She also helps out at adoption events and, like others of you, donates things the shelter needs.

Read more responses after the jump!

In our February newsletter we asked you to tell us if you were a cat person or a dog person. We received lots of responses, but some of you wouldn't be backed into a corner and forced to make a choice. Grace summed it up: "I'm a cat person and a dog person. How can one choose one over the other? They are both wonderful!"

Shay Faulkner, shelter coordinator at Sugar Land Animal Services in Texas, summarized some of your feelings with this comment: "I own two dogs and I serve two cats." (See a pic of Shay's dogs after the jump.)

Darla seems to agree with Shay: "I've always liked the old saying that a cat's approach to humans is, 'I'll get back to you when I'm darn good and ready.' Dogs, on the other hand, are ALWAYS ready."

Kathy says, "I am both a cat and dog person. Most of my life I have had cats. I finally was able to get a dog about three years ago. I have always loved and respected dogs, but my husband and I did not realize how wonderful a little dog buddy can be. We still love our three cats who tolerate our little rescue dog, Shadow. What I did not realize is that a little dog is cleaner and easier to care for than a cat. I also get more outside exercise with my dog. We will always be both cat and dog people now!"

Read more responses after the jump.

Last month we asked our newsletter readers and Facebook friends if your pets had brought you together with important people in your lives. One reader, who had been single for more than 18 years, met her husband-to-be when he came to her house to adopt a cat she was fostering. They've now been married for 10 years.

Karin writes that she'd had high hopes about meeting a significant other through her dog, "but I didn't think it through very well. I need a manlier dog, because my little Beagle mix attracts mostly kids and old people." Still, you never know when a Beagle-lover will come along!

John M. says Leo gets all the ladies, and Eden's pug always brings "cool new people" into her life. Maritza took her dog, Allie, to a groomer and now the groomer is one of Maritza's best friends.

Anna's dog, Dude, visited the dog park when they were new in town and met some great people there. "All of those friends came through in a crisis and have been there when I need people most," Anna writes.

In December we asked our newsletter readers and our Facebook fans what New Year's resolutions their pets would make if they could. Many of you answered on your pets' behalf.

Lille Pia Melane the cat meowed, "Convince mom to keep the Christmas tree up all year round!" Danny the parrotlet (pictured) proposed to "drive the humans in the house crazy by doing nutty, annoying things -- like falling in love with a can of soda pop, for instance!"

From Ronnan Dex the budgie: "Just hang out with mom and watch more TV." Reader Deborah reports, "All my babies probably wish they were the only one, as they love attention. I have Chico, a blue-front Amazon, Simon is a blue-and-gold macaw, Bailey and Eli are sun conures, Jessie and Bobby are cockatiels and Bella, Tiko, Abby and Levi are pocket parrots."

A pet popping out of a box under the Christmas tree is a nostalgic image, very Norman Rockwell-ish, so in our November newsletter we asked if you had ever received a pet as a gift.

Most of you, it turns out, chose your own pets, and there's a good reason to let your gift recipients do that.

As a person searches for the "right" pet, a special connection often springs up between a particular pet and his or her potential guardian. We hear over and over, "It was love at first sight." So if you "gift" a pet, you risk taking that special instant connection out of the equation.

After the jump: The RIGHT way to give pets as gifts.

In our October newsletter, we asked those of you who volunteer with shelters or rescue groups what's so special about helping adoptable pets.

Mary volunteers her grooming services at the city shelter and the humane society and also fosters dogs at her home. "It is a perfect way for me to give back to the community, to help the hardworking people who staff the clinics and kennels and to give love and care to homeless and needy shelter dogs."

Kathy began volunteering as a foster parent for kittens at her local shelter after her 11-year-old dog died. "I was seeking solace," she says. "If we give back by fostering or adopting, we have made the world a better place."

Marcia, who was herself adopted and much loved by her adoptive parents, has paid it forward by adopting pets. One relative commented that Marcia loved her pets more than her friends and family. She agreed, noting that her pets love her unconditionally and "have never given me cause for grief as my relatives and friends have."

October is Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog Month, so last month in our newsletter, we asked how your shelter or rescue mutt is smart, savvy and amazing. Here are excerpts from some of your emails.

Ali's two rescued dogs, Gidget and Gracie, participate with Ali in agility. "They are both so quick to pick up on new behaviors and love to work and have fun," Ali writes. "Gidget has been competing for a year. Gracie is still learning, but when she's ready, she's going to be awesome!"

Jeanne takes her dog Bailey to visit a senior citizen home once or twice a week. When Jeanne gets ready to go, she gives her other two dogs special treats. And even though Bailey loves the treats, she has figured out that no treat means she gets to go with Jeanne. "Is that smart or what? I love that dog!" Jeanne says. At home, Bailey is rambunctious, but "when we go to the senior home, she is very gentle with the older people, more so than she is with me and my other dogs -- like she knows she can't be rough with these older people."

This month we are spotlighting less-adoptable pets for Adopt-A-Less-Adoptable-Pet Week (Sept. 17-25), and in our August newsletter we asked you to let us know why your pet may not be perfect, but is perfect for you.

Alicia's dog, Luvbug (pictured), is blind, and that was enough to turn off many adopters. "It was the fact that she was blind that drew me to her," Alicia wrote. "I wish everyone could look past what is not perfect and see the love and devotion these pets have to give. To me they are not disabled, just differently abled."

Diana was looking for a guinea pig to keep her other one, Eric, company. She adopted Zeus reluctantly because he had lost an eye to an injury. Nevertheless, he was the only one Eric tolerated. It turned out to be a perfect match. He is "a very loving piggie," Diana says, "always whistling to get his treat in the morning."

In our July newsletter, we asked you where you like to travel with your pets. Hands down, water was the top destination, with the largest number of you heading to a pool, lake or ocean.

Ginger takes her dogs Chica and Princess (pictured) to Dauphin Island, AL, where "dogs are allowed on the beaches," she says. "They were very curious about the crabs they found, but were smart enough not to get too close to them."

Marisa and her family have five dogs, so they have to take turns going on trips. "Our favorite place is Islamorada in the Florida Keys," she says, although the two chocolate Labs enjoyed playing in the snow in North Carolina. The dogs who are left behind stay at a pet resort.

Nell says her family drives down to Florida every year, where they rent a home with a pool. Loretta, her Bulldog, loves the water but can't swim. "We got her a life jacket and raft, so now she can stay in the pool as long as she wants with my other dogs," Nell says.