Louise O'Neill: He's a handful... but Cooper is the most beautiful animal in the world
Louise O'Neill, author. Photograph Moya Nolan
Like many people across Ireland, I decided that a dog was exactly what I needed to get me through the interminable dreariness of lockdown. I wanted a dog that didn’t shed and was quiet so of course, I decided to adopt a collie-corgi mix. (The former is famous for its fluffy coat, the latter, a breed which is known to bark excessively. The perfect combination!)
On October 19, 2020, I drove to the CSPCA to pick Cooper up — or Hooper, as he was then called. My father still maintains that he knows we changed his name and resents us for it — and that first night, I couldn’t sleep for fear that Cooper would be whining or upset or scratching the door to get out. He’d recently been neutered and was still wearing his cone, and he looked absolutely miserable in it. I was miserable too. It had been years since we’d had a new puppy and I had forgotten how much work it could be. There was dog hair everywhere, he wouldn’t stop barking, he was constantly testing his boundaries. We nicknamed him Houdini because he seemed to be ever-watchful, waiting to see if and when he could make his great escape. His jumping skills were impressive; I would find him basking on the kitchen table, paws in the air, like he was sunbathing. The morning I discovered violent diarrhoea all over my new rug was the last straw. I wept as I attempted to scrub it clean “why couldn’t you have done this on the kitchen floor?” I wailed as Cooper looked at me sheepishly — and I couldn’t help but wonder why I had voluntarily signed up for this torture. I yearned for my old life, when I didn’t have to think about anyone but myself, not to mention my lovely, tidy house. What had I done?
I’m not sure when I realised that Cooper had tiptoed his way into my heart and made it his own. It didn’t take long; a few weeks, a month perhaps. When I came downstairs for breakfast and he would jump out of his bed with excitement, as if he had been waiting all night for my return and couldn’t believe his luck that I had finally arrived. How he would sit next to me on the couch, and curl his body into mine, his head resting on my knee. The way he looked up at me, his eyes soft, as he licked at my hand.
“Look at your little paws,” I whispered to him as he dozed on my lap. “Look at your little face and your little nose and your little tail.”
I have come to believe that he is the most beautiful animal in the world, so much so that when a woman stopped us on the street to comment, “what an odd-looking dog!”, I immediately looked around, sure she must have been referring to someone else’s pet and then turned back to her, eyes narrowing, plotting her demise.
Cooper can be a handful — “a character”, is how I like to refer to him — but he has brought me such joy over the last year. I’ve been surprised by how much I enjoy having someone to look after, someone who relies on me. It doesn’t matter if I’m feeling tired or anxious or demoralised and want to stay in bed all day, Cooper still needs to be fed. He still needs to be walked, and after a few minutes in Inchydoney, as he gallops around the dunes, tongue lolling out of his mouth, I can feel my own spirits lifting too. We might have rescued him but the truth is, I think he rescued me as well.
As I write this column, animal shelters are full to the brim with what are being called ‘pandemic puppies’. The recently reported that Cork Dog Action Welfare Group has been ‘overwhelmed’ by calls from owners who no longer want their pets, with a one-year-old Jack Russell being brought to a vet to be euthanised “ because he was annoying”. In September, a Wexford woman found 13 puppies dumped in a plastic bag in a terrible condition. Brigid Cullen of the WSPCA said: “I’d imagine this is a case where somebody was breeding the dogs to sell. There was a huge demand during lockdown with puppies being sold for hundreds of euros but now that people are back to school and work, the novelty has worn off… sadly, we were expecting this.”
There are too many dogs in shelters all over the country who are in search of their forever home, somewhere where they are safe and loved and cared for. While shelters are forced to turn away animals because they simply don’t have enough room to house them, I beg you — if you want a pet, adopt and don’t shop.
The best boy or girl is just waiting for you to find them and bring them home.
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