Dogs and COVID-19?

In the Town of Oakville (where we live), there is a lady who a publishes a book of photographs every year titled “Dogs of Oakville”. All proceeds go to our local Humane Society and she is, probably not surprisingly, very preferential to dogs that have been adopted from that shelter. Ray featured in one of her books a few years ago. We bump into this lady periodically as we take Ray out for his walks so she knows him quite well and (I suspect) loves him almost as much as we do!

Just recently, she sent out a “mass mailing” inviting pics for a 2020 “Dogs of Oakville” book. In a brief email dialogue that followed, it became apparent that she generally looks for dogs that have not been featured before however, she might consider a section of COVID-19 related pics if she has the space available.

Being always willing to support her good cause, I sent her the pic below …. just in case she had space for a topical one!

If viewing on a small screen, the text says “I don’t understand my humans. They spend 3 years getting me used to other people and now, for the past 6 months, we go out of our way to avoid everybody. Go figure!”

My book, “Who Said I was up for Adoption?”, recounts the first 18 months of Ray living with us, and covers such events as his testing positive for heart-worm and subsequent treatment program; his fear aggression; startle  response; severe separation anxiety; also when he jumped off a viewing platform over a ravine, and many other challenging moments. He was an education to us and we consulted trainers and a dog psychologist to get guidance on how to deal with our almost 80lbs of Shepherd/Rotti with an attitude and a lot of issues!

Everything we learned allowed me to include, in the book, what I believe would be quite reasonable assessments of various situations if seen from Ray’s perspective. This not only allowed for some humour, because Ray really does have quite the personality, but working with a dog is so much easier if you can see the world from his perspective. It is hoped that “Who Said I was up for Adoption?” is not only entertaining, but will offer insights for existing and new dog owners.

The book is available from all the usual on-line retailers, and today’s price sampling (below) is in eBook, paperback and hardcover formats respectively:

FriesenPress Bookstore     $4.99     $11.99     $19.99

Amazon.com     $4.76     $17.99     $27.99

Barnes & Noble     $4.99     $17.99     $27.99

Google Play     $6.99 eBook only

iTunes Bookstore     $4.99 eBook only

25 thoughts on “Dogs and COVID-19?”

  1. It’s interesting to read your perspective. Here in Japan lockdown was ‘advised’ so long as you maintained distance and wore a mask when going into a store or closed environment. This is still the case however the advisement was eased back in June and I can honestly say that aside from being home for 6 weeks, my dog never really noticed a difference other than instead of getting fatter – he actually lost weight.
    Also. he is the grumpy person in the corner – he doesn’t like to socialize with other people let alone other dogs so greetings aren’t really an issue (facepalm).

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    • Thank you for your comment. It is always interesting to hear how other countries are handling COVID. With the exception of people coming into Canada (where 14 day isolation is expected), we are also being “advised” to distance ourselves etc. In reality, that is probably all a government can do. Imagine if a government made it law, and imagine if a few million people chose to ignore it. The government would have great difficulty enforcing compliance. In fact the resulting spread of COVID would no doubt have a greater impact.

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  5. As you suggest, our pups were probably A little confused in changes in routine, walk patterns, no visitors, etc. On the other hand they are so adaptable after a day or two of sheltering in place they adjusted; must quicker than we two legged creatures did. The good news for Ray and so many rescues is that they are not sheltering in a shelter but instead in a loving safe furever home.

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    • Hi Michael. Yes they are so adaptable, but I think Ray is slow to accept this change. This is simply because his original fear of people was countered with the concept that people = treats. He became Mister Social and wanted to greet everybody! We are having to be creative and find other ways where he can earn treats. Other than that, he spends pretty much all his time close to us and just chilling out in air-conditioned comfort. 🙂

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