Cynthia Whiteside holding Samantha
By Shelley Cooke
February 14th isn’t just about romantic love, it also includes the love we have for our pets and the love they have for us! A dog’s love, in particular, is unconditional. They don’t care what we look like, what kind of car we drive, how much money we have, or who our friends are. They just love us for who we are, and all they want in return is for us to love them back.
Maybe science can explain why many people love their dogs as much (or more) as their human family. According to recent studies, when dogs and their owners look at eachother, both of their oxytocin levels go up. This kind of mutual oxytocin-based love can explain why dogs have become domesticated. Compared to wolves, dogs have higher levels of serotonin (the happiness hormone), and as they became bred for pets, the human-dog bond became stronger bringing both parties more happiness.
To mark Valentine’s Day with our loving companions in mind, I reached out to a local dog owners facebook group called “Cool Dogs of Port Union”. It was created seven years ago by Cynthia Whiteside, a local resident and mother of “Samantha”, a ten year old shihtzu. I asked members of the group if they would be willing to share ways in which their dogs are the love of their lives. Here are some of the heartwarming testimonies I received of ways that dog Valentines played a role in their humans’ lives:
Cynthia, mother of “Samantha”: “It’s so hard to put into words a feeling that is so big and deep…The love Samantha has taught me over the past ten years is the purest, sweetest and strongest kind of love that I could ever imagine. She is in my heart all the time and in my thoughts all day long. She makes me a better person everyday just by taking care of her. I love her following me around everywhere and looking at me with those beautiful eyes. I cherish every moment we walk, we play or even every belly rub I give her. I think I love her more than she loves me (she will choose a liver treat over me, for sure!). She is my one and only, my gorgeous girl, my Samantha!”
One pattern I noticed when reading through these canine love stories is that many of them are rescue dogs. They come from various backgrounds, including strays, abandoned pets or surrendered animals. Adopting a rescue dog provides them with a second chance in life by giving them a loving home. Here are a few sentimental stories of how these dogs and their new owners have mutually ‘rescued’ eachother in the name of love, and how they are eachothers’ Valentine.
Before starting the facebook group “Cool Dogs of Port Union” which currently has over a thousand members, Cynthia Whiteside did a lot of research on how to keep her dog happy and healthy. “Sam was my 1st dog. I didn’t know a lot about dogs so I did some research to learn about them. I also didn’t know that I could love something so furry, cute and cuddly that much. I didn’t know that that type of love existed”, says Cynthia.
Cool Dogs of Port Union
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 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 eachother 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