By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
With the love of an extraordinary golden retriever named Hattie Pattie, and a brother named Jay in Cobourg who also ranks right up there, Alberta nurse Jennifer Knuth has written a children’s book that she describes as a healing experience.
Hattie Pattie Finds A Home is also her way of supporting a cause so dear to her heart – animal welfare.
Jennifer’s brother Jay has arranged to have the book sold at the Cobourg Foodland, where they sit in a basket near the checkouts, and each sale will see $1 donated to the Northumberland Humane Society and $1 to the Fort McMurray Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
“We were able to donate $240 recently to the FMSPCA from our pre-sales,” Jennifer reported.
Hattie Pattie has also raised $1,500 for the SPCA prior to this by participating in a firefighters calendar. And the SPCA has accepted her as a Pawsitive Partner.
She’s been a golden light for Jennifer, who found her way to Fort McMurray through a trip to Alberta. She fell in love with the city and began working at the Northern Lights Regional Health Centre. Then COVID-19 hit.
“Horrible” is how she described the experience.
“I work on a surgical unit that got changed to a COVID unit. It’s now a surgical-COVID unit,” she said.
Jennifer puts her heart into her job, but has found there is only so much she can do.
“COVID is the one disease we can’t help you with. We can only hope your meds work.
“On surgery, we can always give you something for the pain. With COVID, we give you the meds and pray something happens.”
Fort McMurray was one of the hardest-hit communities in Alberta during the third wave. But by then, Jay had passed along an idea he had.
“He messaged me one day to say, ‘I think you’d be good at writing a children’s book. Do you want to do it?'”
It didn’t take long for her to find the perfect subject.
Hattie Pattie became the third member of Jennifer’s menagerie, joining Max the cairn terrier and Ginger Rose the husky shepherd – both rescue dogs from the SPCA. Hattie is a golden retriever she got from a breeder. It’s her first golden retriever.
“Our chocolate lab passed away, and I just wanted a breed that acted like a lab but was different. I was hoping to get the same mannerisms of my past dog, Molly.
“She’s her own little dog, but she and Molly are so, so similar.”
The story of an adventurous puppy looking for a home is based on Hattie Pattie’s life, Jennifer said.
“We call her the People’s Puppy. She’s always around town, goes to events. Sometimes she gets out and wanders off, but wherever she goes, she gets so excited. She’s a good girl and loves to meet everybody.”
While Hattie is definitely the star of the book, the two children are named after her other dogs, Max and Ginger Rose.
Working on the book has provided a much-needed release from the cares of these difficult COVID months – not to mention just having Hattie around. While she shares custody of Max and Ginger Rose with her ex, Hattie has been her full-time puppy.
As well, she said, “to have this opportunity to work with my brother helped me in more ways than one.”
Jay arranged for the illustrator, Aneeza Ashraf, and put the book on Amazon at www.amazon.ca/Hattie-Pattie-Finds-Jennifer-Knuth/dp/1778052908/ref=zg_bs_937376_7/144-7391826-5167601?pd_rd_i=1778052908&psc=1
And as a friend of Foodland owner John Foley, Jay was grateful to have the book placed in Foodland – just another example of the many ways Foley supports the community, Jennifer said.
“My hometown raised me, and I am constantly grappling with moving back. To know that we are able to give back to the place that shaped me is just so heartwarming,” she said.
Jennifer and Jay are close in age, and share so many memories of playing sports locally, attending St. Mary Secondary School, even going off to university in St. Catharines. This latest collaboration is another chapter for them, and Jennifer calls Jay “the brother behind the book.”
The Knuths invite you to pick up a copy when you do your shopping at Foodland, and to visit Hattie Pattie’s Instagram account at hattiepattiethegoldenchild.
The author’s notes in the back of the book are bound to provoke discussion, with their mention of the AAC board Hattie is mastering. AAC stands for Augmentative and Alternative Communications, and she’s part of a study to find out how completely animals understand the mechanics of language (the study includes dogs, cats and even a lizard). Hattie has mastered 54 words to date.
You can learn more about this project at www.theycantalk.org
