In the early summer of 2020, the world was changing quickly… toilet paper shortages, shelter in place orders, social distancing, remote learning and work from home… understanding what a pandemic was and how to get through it was a struggle everyone was trying to work through.

Existing between a number of apartments in Emeryville California was a tiny, dedicated dog park. This dog park is where a small group of dog owners were doing the best they could to find balance between keeping their pets exercised and entertained, while respecting and following all of the new protective measures that were trying to prevent the spread of Covid-19. But when the gate to that dog park was locked as part of those expanding protective measures, everything changed. This group of owners, barely knowing each other, needed to find alternate ways to exercise their dogs. With the active shelter in place orders, most people were stuck in their homes, leaving the neighboring human park largely uninhabited. This is where our story begins…

At 5pm each day, in that human park adjacent to the closed dog park, these neighbors began to meet up to let the dogs play together while socially distancing from each other. Adult beverages may or may not have been involved, but this daily meetup was dubbed “Yappy Hour” by a few of the regulars, and quickly became a bright spot in their daily lives, not only for the humans, but the dogs as well. Friendships were forged, and a small “quaranteam” network was made between these neighbors. Group dinners and board game nights happened in various forms over the following months, which paved the path for Walter and Ashley to meet.

Ashley started having a regular pizza and wine night with some of her closest neighbors and their dogs. After some subtle flirting during a number of Yappy Hours where Murphy and Coco had been playing together, Ashley invited Walter to join them for their now semi-regular event. After an evening of pizza, wine, and some games with neighbors, the two took their dogs for a final potty walk of the evening where Walter asked “Is it ok to hold your hand?”. Ashley agreed, and from that night forward the two have spent nearly every day together, building and growing a relationship against all odds during some of the craziest times in both their lives, and in recent history.