James Caughill and his dog Muck are walking across Canada to raise awareness about the lack of shelters for homeless people with pets.
“When I first lost the roof over my head, my [social] worker told me I had to go to a homeless shelter and I had to give up my dog,” Caughill told CBC News. “That’s when I discovered that in 2016, there was absolutely not one homeless shelter … that would take a pet.” That same year, Caughill started his odyssey across Canada, which may be the longest dog walk ever — from St. Catharines, Ontario to Vancouver, B.C.
Man’s Best Friend
Caughill says his dog keeps him going, “You can’t be selfish and give up on life…You’ve got a little furball that depends on you, so you got to suck it up.”
Muck is not Caughill’s first faithful companion. He started the cross-Canada walk with Muckwah, who passed away in 2019 from cancer. After Muckwah’s passing, Muck received the torch.
When his “baby girl Muckwah” died, Caughill almost gave up his quest. Fortuitously, a friend convinced him to visit a nearby dog shelter, where it was love at first sight. He adopted a second wolf-like companion to keep him walking. The Free Press says Caughill still travels with Muckwah’s ashes in his cart. He has made it to British Columbia.
Shelters for the Homeless and their Pets
Caughill has already generated support and funding for his cause. He has inspired others to fundraise to cover pet liability in homeless shelters. “I’ve got 35 across Canada, from Montreal to Vancouver, that are now taking pets that weren’t taking pets before,” Caughill told the Free Press.
A news station owner in Ontario is turning an old school into a homeless hostel in Muckwah’s name. And Caughill is funding a Muckwah foundation with the earnings from his novel. He has published four of six volumes of a book called “Walking to the Rockies with Muckwah.” He plans to put 90 percent of the royalties into a trust fund to construct three pet-friendly homeless shelters in Toronto, Winnipeg, and Victoria.
Caughill says his final goal is to get a Muckwah shelter in every major city in Canada, “If I can accomplish that, I can die happy.”
