2021 Christmas Letter

 

Lucy in High Park

No way! Was my first and lasting response. No dog. First you get a job, then you get a home, then you get a dog. Easy eh? “Not so”, argued Hannah. In 2021 pandemic-land all the rules have changed. Work from home, dogs at work, doggie daycare, dog camp, hypo-allergenic dogs, etc. and 24-hour unconditional love can be yours. Moments later Carolyn quipped, “having a little dog around might be nice”. Splash. Hannah moved in with Cal and brought Lucy the puppy Cockapoo with her.

Maggie and David couldn’t move from their rented Etobicoke bungalow into a typical Toronto one bedroom apartment – there was Bandit to think of. Some dogs are bred for personality, others for utility (Dachshunds chase rodents down their holes). Bandit is a rescue from the streets of Mexico, flown to Toronto by a charity called Save Our Scruff. Bandit is perfectly genetically optimized for one thing…survival. Bandit is faster, smarter, stronger, more aggressive, and more independent than most dogs. That dog is a handful. They bought a house with a large, fenced yard on the mountain in Hamilton. Bandit is thrilled and she is happy that David still has boat parking in the driveway.

We love those two dogs but put them together for a week at the cottage that we rented just south of Algonquin park in August…pow! Like vinegar and baking soda at a grade four science fair. Forget “science is real”, dog drama is real. Toddlers that never grow up. We had a great time but there were a lot of canine capers.

Lucy is a city dog. She lives in a condo by the lake. Usually wears a harness not a collar. Hannah cannot regularly take her to her post-graduate job managing the early childhood psychology lab at U of T, so Lucy often spends a few days a week with my brother Bruno’s family. The “dogshare” is a big idea. It overcomes many of the challenges of having a dog and spreads the love across two households.

Bandit is a country dog, wears three collars, one of them electrified. She is fond of hikes with Maggie and Carolyn. She tears through the woods narrowly missing trees and shrubs, chomping on sticks and eating flora and fauna. She is thrilled that Hamilton is so close to trails and conservation areas. Bandit is very excited by David’s new job as Sales Rep with Techtronic Industries. She is panting heavily at the prospect of riding around in a pimped out F150 with Milwaukee Tools on the side – “look at me bitches!”

Bandit at the cottage

Sadly, Carolyn and I are dogless so we sold our house to a young family who can make proper use of the yard. We now live in an apartment overlooking what may be Toronto’s greatest park, High Park. Aside from the gardens, skating rinks, baseball diamonds, greenhouses, community gardens, zoo, pond, cherry trees and playgrounds there is an extensive linear off-leash dog park. When Bandit and Lucy visit (not together of course) the park is a must-do.

The main reason we don’t have a dog is that when weather permits we like to tour around on our bicycles. Sometimes for a week or more. Laden with camping equipment, a change of clothes and battery packs we can watch the world go by at 20 km/h. In August we did that for 2 weeks around the Gaspe Peninsula in Quebec. We missed the dogs but met so many new dogs in our travels. Some even running out to meet us, barking appreciation…or is that menace?

Dogs don’t get COVID, but they worry about us. That is the special deal we made with the domesticated wolf. They give us companionship and we feed and protect them. As I write this, the Omicron variant is on the surge and a lot of people need some companionship. Pick up the phone and call an old friend or make a new one. Ultimately, that kind of connection is the spirit of the holidays, and it cannot be wiped out by travel restrictions. If you are lucky enough to gather in person with friends and family, show your appreciation by licking their faces and stealing a slipper or two.