YEAR OF THE DOG
Celebrate your four-legged friend during ‘their’ year with these activities,
Hopefully the Year of the Dog brings you luck in love, health and happiness. An actual dog in your life gives you that tenfold — a decade, or more, of companionship and cuddles, and the inevitable 900 photos on your phone.
So why not do something extra special with your dog? Whether your pup is a spunky go-getter or a gentle friend, you have at least two ideas below for the next 12 months. Sports stars You’ve been warned: Agility training with your dog is addictive. Danielle Bourgon, an actor in the TV drama Hard Rock Medical, got hooked.
“At first people talked about the sport being addictive, and I thought, ‘What are you talking about?’ ” she says. “But it’s crazy addictive . . . You work together as a team, and that’s what was so surprising to me — agility is actually team work.”
Bourgon’s dog, Zuzu, was a street dog she rescued from the Dominican Republic a few years ago. Zuzu now attends workshops and events across the province, has two skills certificates, volunteered twice at a canine cognition lab, and was featured in a short film — and she’s only about three years old.
“As a new dog owner, it can be quite overwhelming, especially with a high-energy dog,” Bourgon says. “But when you’re doing agility, it becomes this incredible relationship, this super amount of fun — and both of us are doing it together, side by side. The whole essence of a dog relationship happens in that class.”
Yet high energy isn’t a prerequisite, says Renée DeVilliers, owner and trainer at All About Dogs, the 15,000square-foot, west-end facility where Bourgon and Zuzu attend classes. Except for very large breeds, she says, pretty much any dog will find some benefits in the sport.
“It doesn’t mean they will necessarily be good candidates for the World Team,” she says with a laugh, “but there’s so much enjoyment that can happen for both the handler and the dog.
“(They build) a relationship where the dog actually wants to listen, is interested in them. People will often say the dog is more attentive in the park, and comes when called … It’s creating a stronger connection.”
The program costs $250 for six weeks; classes are one hour in a small group, and15 different classes, beginner to advanced, run throughout the week.
Dorothy Litwin, an animal behaviourist at AnimalBehaviour.ca, calls agility training an “enriching” sport for dogs. Litwin offers house calls in the GTA and phone consultations across the country for owners struggling with certain pet behaviours — she’s expertly familiar with dogs’ needs and how to meet them.
“I love the idea of agility for pretty much every dog,” she says. “A lot of our dogs don’t get to have very exciting lives — just hanging around the house, or going to the dog park. They love that, but having something new and extra fun to do — that’s a little challenging, but stimulating — it’s fun for them, it’s different.”
And, of course, there are benefits for you, too. “It’s an activity where you’ll probably smile a lot and laugh a lot, watching the other dogs,” Litwin says. “These activities definitely bring people and their animals together.” Support stars When an organization is 100-percent run by volunteers, clearly its work has meaningful impact and changes lives — for its volunteers, too. Therapeutic Paws of Canada (TPOC) provides animal companionship in visits to hospitals, residences, schools and other institutions. Irene Valmas, director of communications and public relations — and a passionate volunteer — had been struck by the poignancy of her first therapy visit. She had joined another TPOC member and their dog, Charlie, at a mental-health facility in Scarborough.
“We walked in, and it was a room full of people that were disconnected from one another, not communicating or interacting,” Valmas says. “As soon as one person noticed the dog, they said, ‘Hey, Charlie is here!’ And they all started connecting together — they all got up to greet him. Suddenly there was a room full of interaction.
“Even when we were leaving,” she adds, “they were still communicating with each other and interacting, and even starting some activities together. It was really amazing.”
TPOC has an exclusive evaluation process for potential therapy dogs and their handlers, Valmas says, which includes a phone interview, in-person evaluation, and some additional paperwork, including a police-record check. There is no obedience training required; dogs are evaluated on their temperament.
After two monitored visits with a TPOC team leader, Valmas says, a volunteer and their dog is ready to go. And after a year of visiting adults, a team can perform a second test to work with children.
“There’s no exaggeration; it truly changes someone’s entire day,” she says. “It lifts their mood, it lifts their spirit.
“Once you get involved, you’ll give everything that you have, because it’s just so moving.”