You may have missed it, but last Monday was the day known as Blue Monday. Marked on the third Monday in January, Blue Monday is a 2005 calculation of a number of factors which supposedly make it the most depressing day of the year.
The Association of Professional Dog Trainers has declared January to be National Train Your Dog Month – a month dedicated to sharing information about the importance of dog training. Of course, for dog trainers, every month is dog training month – training hardly ends after one month – but the more opportunities to contribute to these important conversations the better.
I don’t think any of us thought we would be returning to Stage 2 this year, and it’s a bit dishearteningly familiar. At the OHS, we have had to put our plans for the relaunch of our in-person programming on hold for now, but of course we’re maintaining services for the animals who really need us.
On the first day of 1942, in the midst of another tremendous global struggle, on a train speeding between Ottawa and Washington, Winston Churchill called his staff and reporters into the dining car to make a toast:
In 1897, Francis Pharcellus Church, an editorial writer for the New York Sun, wrote an iconic response to a letter from eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon. Virginia wanted to know if there is a Santa Claus. I hope Mr. Church will forgive me for taking liberties with his work.
I’ve been at the office since the onset of the pandemic. I’m just not a work-from-home guy. I’m an extrovert, and so I get energy from the people around me. I have to tell you, there is no stronger energy than that which comes from the people I work with at the Ottawa Humane Society.
This time of the year, I often think about Christmases when I was a kid. When I was very young, my parents would put up the tree after we went to bed, so Christmas morning was the first time we would see it. We had to wait until everyone was up and had to have breakfast before even going into the room. The anticipation of waiting to see the presents and the Christmas tree appear in the morning was excruciating.
I am sad to write that last weekend, we made the painful decision to put down our sweet little Siamese cat, Gracie. She was almost seventeen. She had kidney problems that we knew about from when we adopted her from the OHS seven years ago, but in the end, it was a relatively rare condition in her salivary glands that made the decision to put her out of her pain clear to us. It was time. But that didn’t make it easy.
Though the OHS is always here for animals in need, we would rather that the vast majority stay in their homes with families that love them. That is why our focus for canines over the last five years has been on behaviour — both for dogs with issues in our care and for dogs in homes in our community. I think this issue has become more important than ever.
Know what you are getting. Puppies and kittens change as they grow up. They get bigger and their personalities can become completely different. With an older pet, you know they aren’t growing and you will already have a good idea of what their personality is like. Adopting a senior takes away the guesswork, and helps ensure a good adoption match.
This website uses cookies to enhance usability and provide you with a more personal experience. By using this website, you agree to our use of cookies as explained in our Privacy Policy.
