{"id":4862,"date":"2022-07-28T11:15:25","date_gmt":"2022-07-28T15:15:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/?p=4862"},"modified":"2022-07-29T12:21:44","modified_gmt":"2022-07-29T16:21:44","slug":"its-a-dogs-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/2022\/07\/28\/its-a-dogs-world\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s a Dog\u2019s World"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Rita Simonetta<\/em><\/p>

Visit any Italian-Canadian neighbourhood this summer and you\u2019ll find tons of four-legged companions. That\u2019s reflective of what\u2019s happening all across a country that\u2019s fallen in love with its furry friends. According to polling firm Abacus Data, 32% of Canadians own a dog. Mattea Settino is one of them. The Woodbridge, Ontario resident has a female Havanese Bichon with whom she shares a unique bond. \u201cI think that dogs can sense when something isn\u2019t right; when someone in the house is acting different, the dog\u2019s mood changes based on that individual,\u201d says Settino. Welcoming a dog into the family had the full backing of her father, but her mother was hesitant. \u201cHowever, after the first week and a half, my mom and my dog became best friends, and now my mom can\u2019t imagine life without her.\u201d But old-school attitudes run deep. \u201cWhen I was growing up, my mom never really liked animals in the house,\u201d says Montreal resident Michaela Di Cesare. \u201cThere\u2019s that mentality from older generation that animals are to be kept outdoors.<\/p>

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Three years ago, she and her husband Gabriel Di Genova adopted Giacomo, an Italian Greyhound and Chihuahua mix. Some of her family members were initially against the idea. Italian immigrants who settled in Canada after the Second World War were a pragmatic lot intent on carving out a new life for themselves and their children. Spending hard-earned money on chew toys and pooch outfits was not part of the equation. Times have changed. While Italian-Canadians might have once cringed at the very thought of a dog inside their house or (God forbid) lounging on the plastic-covered couches, they can now appreciate that a beloved dog is a member of la famiglia. Di Cesare\u2019s and Di Genova\u2019s parents dote on Giacomo and shower him with gifts. Nonna Lina is president of his fan club. \u201cShe adores him and offers to babysit him all the time. One time when she was babysitting him, I arrived home and saw that she had placed Giacomo at the kitchen table and had made zuppa di latte for him.\u201d<\/p>

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Three years ago, she and her husband Gabriel Di Genova adopted Giacomo, an Italian Greyhound and Chihuahua mix. Some of her family members were initially against the idea. Italian immigrants who settled in Canada after the Second World War were a pragmatic lot intent on carving out a new life for themselves and their children. Spending hard-earned money on chew toys and pooch outfits was not part of the equation. Times have changed. While Italian-Canadians might have once cringed at the very thought of a dog inside their house or (God forbid) lounging on the plastic-covered couches, they can now appreciate that a beloved dog is a member of la famiglia. Di Cesare\u2019s and Di Genova\u2019s parents dote on Giacomo and shower him with gifts. Nonna Lina is president of his fan club. \u201cShe adores him and offers to babysit him all the time. One time when she was babysitting him, I arrived home and saw that she had placed Giacomo at the kitchen table and had made zuppa di latte for him.\u201d<\/p>

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This care and attention are particularly meaningful because Giacomo is a rescue dog who suffered physical and psychological abuse from his former owners. \u201cWe wanted to give him a second chance at love and at life,\u201d Di Cesare says, crediting Sophie\u2019s Dog Adoption for connecting dogs with loving families like her own. And Giacomo, who was malnourished and mistreated in the past, is now living his best life. To help with the dog\u2019s digestive problems, Di Cesare cooks him organic farm-totable meals, and her husband devotes time to playing with him when he arrives from work\u2013and even tops it off with a massage. Beyond the custom cakes he devours and the brandname attire he struts in, Giacomo has travelled to Italy three times where he\u2019s enjoyed the sights and tastes of Rome, Naples, Calabria and Florence. \u201cAll of the big cities in Italy are dog-friendly,\u201d Di Cesare points out. \u201cWhenever we went out to restaurants, Giacomo was always welcomed.\u201d The love affair continues in Canada. \u201cMost of my clients are Italian,\u201d says Maria Campo, owner of K9-5 Dog Walking. Campo has run her dog-walking service for the past 11 years and serves clients in Woodbridge, Kleinburg and Toronto. Indeed, nowadays the Canadian cities and towns Italians helped pave and construct are lined with pet retailers and dog grooming salons. Dogs have become big business.<\/p>

Enterprising entrepreneurs offer up an array of services from training schools to pet-sitting to day camps and even wedding day dog attendants. For dog parents keen on spoiling their fur babies, the possibilities are endless: spa treatments, robots that play fetch, velvet-lined sofa beds. And there are more dogs to spend time with than ever before because the pandemic resulted in a puppy boom. \u201cI\u2019ve noticed a 50% increase of dog ownership,\u201d Campo says, who got a female Bichon poodle during the pandemic (she already had another one). People who suddenly found themselves confined to their homes decided that a four-legged pal was the best way to plug through the isolation. They\u2019re on the right track; dogs are a vital emotional support. For instance, a dog\u2019s loyalty and protecting nature can be life-saving for veterans and first responders with PTSD. A dog\u2019s ability to increase wellbeing has backing from medical research. According to a study released in March from the University of Saskatchewan, emergency room patients noted a reduction in pain, anxiety and depression after a brief visit with a therapy dog. This knack for improving mood is the cornerstone of the pet therapy program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. For more than 15 years, the centre has invited volunteer dog owners and their furry pals to visit and interact with clients. It\u2019s resulted in an upshot of good vibes. \u201cIt gives people a purpose,\u201d says Theresa Conforti, who oversees the program. \u201cThey have a reason to get up to visit with the dog; they feel responsible for it. Clients say a visit from the dogs brightens up their day and makes them less anxious.\u201d Conforti hopes to expand awareness, as well as the program, so that more clients can benefit from the soothing effects of dogs. \u201cEven when clients aren\u2019t feeling their best, dogs don\u2019t judge,\u201d says Conforti. \u201cThey\u2019re a source of inspiration and hope.\u201d <\/p>

Cover story, wardrobe by Canadian fashion designer Nadya Toto (www.nadyatoto.com<\/a>)<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Rita Simonetta Visit any Italian-Canadian neighbourhood this summer and you\u2019ll find tons of four-legged companions. That\u2019s reflective of what\u2019s happening all across a country that\u2019s fallen in love with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4843,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4862","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/PANORAM-MICHAELA-HAVEN-CREATIVE-6.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4862"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4871,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4862\/revisions\/4871"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}