Dog Life

If you’re getting married and plan to include fur kids, make sure you are well groomed in wedding petiquette

Cape Town is a beautiful city. Ringed by a flat-topped rise called Table Mountain, Arcadian wine country, and a wide open sea that stretches to Antarctica, it’s a favourite of European vacationers and draws comparisons to San Francisco. The drive from the airport into town, however, isn’t pretty. The N2 highway runs along a length of one of the ugliest stretches of the city: the township or informal settlement called Khayelitsha.

As I finally pay bills and do laundry and all the other life chores that my passion for “the dog park fight” has kept me from for months, I ask myself, “Was this ‘doggie debit’ worth it?”

I really miss having my dogs available in the house and cuddling with me but it isn’t going to happen here. I am considering moving away from this man over my two dogs.

I'm a new dog owner. My Havanese puppy, Boing-Boing, is great, but I hope you understand my disgust with other dog owners.

Before my bags are unpacked, I have fallen in love with Jack. I’m not surprised, really. I knew as I was preparing for my trip to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, location of the National Geographic Channel’s DogTown, that I would want to scoop some new pals to add to my ever-expanding ark. Somewhat aloof, Jack only warms up to me after the second sweet potato snack. Admittedly larger than most animals I have approached in the “can-I-be-your-friend” crouch, he is nonetheless dainty as he takes the rumpled chew from my hand. The fact that people who eat with boorish abandon are called “pigs” strikes me as ironic when I look at Jack. For, though one of the sanctuary’s 21 pot-bellied residents, Jack’s polite manners exude all things gentleman. I quickly suspect similar epiphanies might end up being a theme over the next few days. After all, this place breathes transformative magic.

Sniffed out: the city’s best ideas for a full day of doggie nirvana.
Herewith, Toronto’s top dog-friendly hotels, restaurants, shops, and outdoor spots.

One soy latté and a dash of Honey

Young brings campy quick wit, a penchant for bursting into show tunes, and something even more heart-warming to his courtroom: a passion for animal rights.

American artist Paul McCarthy’s exhibition of a giant, inflatable pile of dog poo at a Swiss museum raised quite a stink in summer.