Don't know why, but I've been thinking a lot about The Dogs by Allan Stratton a lot for the past few days. I even reread the book (I have a copy of it). It's just as good as I remembered it to be. I also find that the book often pops up in my head now whenever I listen to the Country Teasers. It turns out they made a movie adaptation of it, but based on the trailer, it looks like crap. It seems like they were trying to lean more on the horror side, even though the book felt more like a psychological thriller/mystery with paranormal elements. Along with that, the trailer made the movie seem like the dogs are the antagonists, even though the main antagonists are Cameron's father and, maybe, Frank McTavish.
The main appeal of the book was getting to read about Cameron trying to grapple with his mental health, past trauma, complicated relationship, and views of his abusive father, straining relationship with his mother, and the constant loneliness he feels. He's had to move 5 times, due to his mother's paranoia over his father finding them, resulting in him not being able to make proper long-lasting friendships, and having to constantly lie to those around him (e.g., pretending to be happy during their weekly phone calls with his grandparents, having to lie about what about his current situation to curious classmates, etc). Along with that, he also grapples with regular nightmares, flashbacks to traumatic memories from early childhood, paranoia, etc. He witnessed his mother and father fighting a lot when he was younger and his father used to abuse her. You also get to see how he relates his memories and experiences to those of Jacky McTavish, the 10-year-old ghost who used to live in the farmhouse they moved into back in the 1960s, experiences. The book largely revolves around Cameron trying to find out what happened to both Jacky and his mother, with him suspecting that they may have been murdered by Frank McTavish, Jacky's father.
Anyways, that is enough of me blabbing on about this book I rediscovered my love for. I loved it back when I first read in middle school (enough to buy a copy for myself) and I still love it now.