One of the things I enjoy about living in Canada is that you get to learn the French-Canadian translations for everything. Food packages, governmental agency names, and all kinds of signage appear in both official languages: English and French. I love discovering vocabulary I never acquired in high school French (s’mores, for example, are called choco-guimauves).

I learned one of these terms this past weekend. Our little family (me, my husband, and our dog Sam) took a road trip to Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies. On the inside of every bathroom stall door in the park was a set of park rules—in French and English. One of the rules was “Keep pets on leash.” Thus I discovered the French term for “pets”: animaux favoris.

“Favorite animals,” if you try to translate it literally. Its a sweet phrase. It sounds a bit like your dog or cat lives with you because you get along pretty well and just kind of like each other. It captures a bit of what its like living with a dog. Its hard to describe that relationship. He’s kind of like an unemployed roommate. He’s our friend. But those words are borrowed from human relationships, and he is still essentially an animal. He’s not a person. He’s my favorite animal.