By Shelley Cooke
As she would meet other dog owners at the park each day, Cynthia found that she was sharing a lot of the research she’d done about caring for dogs, such as grooming, feeding, and training, with them. This sparked the idea to create a facebook group called ‘Cool Dog Group of Port Union Waterfront‘ where people can share useful information and resources about being a dog parent. It is a way for a community of dog lovers to help each other with advice, knowledge and experience. It’s also a place where members can have a laugh at a dog joke or share a video or photos of their cool doggo! Some members of the group have become good friends and meet up for dog walks or puppy playtime.
“Cool Dogs of Port Union” is also used to create awareness on the need to foster or adopt dogs from shelters instead of buying them from breeders or puppy mills. This is how I met Debra, mother of Mia and Maya, sibling rescue dogs whom she adopted a few years ago. “They are the love of my life, and they got me through Covid”, explains Debra.
One of the important things that Debra feels people need to understand about rescue dogs is that their past trauma has caused them to be fearful and anxious, especially in new environments. She stresses that while many rescue dogs might appear aggressive, they are actually afraid. They may lunge, bark or growl when they are triggered by a sound or the presence of another person or animal, which often people perceive as aggression.
Luckily, here in Toronto, we have non-profit or charitable organizations, like Toronto Humane Society, Save Our Scruff or Dog Tales, run by loving staff who provide abused and neglected dogs the care they need before finding their forever home. To learn more on how to foster or adopt a rescue dog from one of these organizations, refer to the contacts below:
Toronto Humane Society:
foster@torontohumanesociety.com or adoption@torontohumanesociety.com
Save Our Scruff:
foster@saveourscruff.org or adoption@saveourscruff.org
Dog Tales:
dogtales.ca