CANMORE – The Canmore shops are going to the dogs, literally.
And now locals and visitors can figure out exactly which shops thanks to the release of Afton Brazzoni’s debut book, Shop Dogs of Canmore.
Showcasing about 20 pups (and cats) that go to work with their owners in stores around town, Brazzoni said she is excited to see what began with her love of dogs and writing become a reality.
“Canmore has a reputation for being a dog-loving town – I think the Outlook reported one time there are more dogs than kids in town,” she said with a laugh.
“So obviously it is an active community with a lot of great small businesses too and I think that enables [owners] to bring their dogs to work.”
From retail stores to cafés to insurance companies, Brazzoni tells the stories of pooches who have been in the shops for years, some since their early puppy years, becoming mini furry celebrities in the community.
“Really I just started talking to people,” she explained.
“I knew of a few dogs and I asked friends then as I asked around shop owners, asked who they knew and the list grew really fast.”
With a background in journalism and communications, the Bow Valley local said her inspiration came from travelling the Okanagan last summer when she noticed a similar book about dogs in vineyards. Having already known of a couple shop dogs in Canmore, Brazzoni said once she started the project she realized most dog owners have a similar trait – they love to talk about their dogs.
“One thing I definitely want to say is everyone I talked to was really welcoming and embraced the idea and was super accommodating, so that made it a lot easier,” she said with a smile, noting she has her own two French bulldogs at home.
“Everyone was really excited to talk about their dogs so it was an idea that everyone was really, ‘Absolutely, when do you want to come down?’ ”
And she heard some funny anecdotes along the way.
“One owner told me about the day his dog ran away from the café, over to the Mutt Hut and stole a bone and came back to the store,” she said with a laugh.
Speaking with the owner of Jasper, one of the shop famous pooches, Jay Balabas, owner and manager of the Bicycle Café, said the book has been a hit.
“It’s fun. It’s a great book. It’s super cute,” Balabas said.
“A lot of people who see it think it’s super great and a lot of people have been looking at it since it’s been in the shop.”
Telling the Outlook the background on Canmore’s beloved Shiba Inu, Balabas said he never planned on having Jasper be a furry mascot for the bicycle shop/café, he just knew he wanted to have a dog and it was easier to bring him to work.
“He’s got a pretty good personality ... lots of people come in and out and he’s a pretty well known a bit of a trouble maker – a bit of a big personality, we’ll put it that way,” he said, noting he even has customers from Calgary who stop in to see the four-year-old pup.
Now Jasper’s stories and 19 other furry friends, including the recently evicted Home Hardware cats Molly and Jazzy (who have both found fur-ever homes) is all in one book.
While the writer did admit there are a couple pooches that are not featured, due to finding out after the book was released, Brazzoni said she is open to the option of making a second edition or a potential re-release with additional dogs.
“I’m open to expanding – it’s just been really fresh to see what the reception is [but] I would love to do an expansion, honestly I’ve been told about more dogs as recently as this week,” she said.
Self-published, the new author explained how the new book was a labour of love as she did all the writing, took all the photographs and recruited a local designer Becky Hill to illustrate the cover.
When asked for advice for aspiring writers, Brazzoni said the biggest thing is to just start.
“There are many reasons we don’t start something – maybe we think we’re too busy or we don’t have the confidence to think it will become a thing out of an actual idea,” she said, crediting the first dog shop owner at Alberta’s Own Marketplace for being an astounding first interview.
“You know, if I walked in there and she wasn’t as enthusiastic as she was, as welcoming as she was, who knows? Maybe things could have gone differently.
“It takes only one person to believe in your idea to give you the confidence to say, hey, maybe I can share this with someone else and maybe they’d like it too.”
The ‘Shop Dogs of Canmore’ can be found in several stores around the town including Alberta’s Own Marketplace, the Mutt Hut, the Ammonite Factory, the Black Dog Café, the Bicycle Café and the local Bow Valley SPCA.
