My name is: Cooper
I came from: Cyprus
Now I live in: South Wales
My favourite things are: Snacks, snuggles, and sniffs

Cooper’s story

I grew up with a rescue dog at home and have followed Eve on Instagram for a long long time - so I just knew we’d (eventually) get a rescue pup from her.

It took a while to convince my other half, Dom, that we could do it, what with working full time and living in a city centre flat. However, even before the pandemic hit, I started a remote-working job, and once Dom also started working from home it was suddenly a ridiculously easy decision to make. We started the conversation with Eve and Underdog and applied without a dog in mind, knowing they’d find one that was right for us. 

We found out that we were getting little Cooper on 24th July 2020 which was coincidentally Dom’s birthday - it was just meant to be! He arrived just two weeks later and immediately settled in - he was home. 

We don’t know much about Cooper’s background except that he was rescued from a police base in Cyprus where they usually euthanise strays. To think that was even an option for our little guy is unthinkable - and thanks to Eve, impossible. 

We’ve now had Cooper in our lives for just over a year and we couldn’t imagine life without him. He’s the most resilient, care-free, friendly doggo. Earlier this year we moved from our city centre flat to our permanent home in the country and he took moving home (not once but twice, due to some unforeseen building problems with our new house) in his stride. He’s such a champ. Initially he wasn’t sure about how to ‘play’ with his toys we bought for him - but now he loves his little collection and will often get every single toy out of his box before deciding which to play with.

We also got married this May (finally) and of course had to have Cooper involved. He absolutely stole the show and everyone was cooing over what a good boy he is (they’re not wrong). 

He’s a very clever dog, so we’ve definitely had to work on ways to keep him engaged while home all day. Thanks to this training, his recall has come on leaps and bounds (pun intended) and we’re way more confident with him off the lead now (even if our pockets do smell of dog treats, sausage and cheese)! He is the most friendly little guy and absolutely has to meet every single dog we pass on a walk and he’s even started paddling in streams recently, which was a huge step forward having initially spent most of our walks dodging puddles and sulking if it was raining! 

He must have been a very hungry dog at one point because boy can this dog scavenge - he’s a lot better nowadays but we have had meals where we can’t even have a conversation because we’re either trying to keep him off the bench (or worse - table) or trying to ignore his singing (which can escalate to full-on operatic levels when he feels up to it). He must inspect every single piece of recycling that get’s thrown out (just in case) and we love hearing his mischievous little paws tip tapping as he trots away with something in his mouth! 

At the beginning he wasn’t sure of his crate, and would softly cry for about 10 minutes before settling. However, it’s now his safe space and sometimes he even takes himself off to chill out there. With things opening up again, we’ve been more and more confident leaving him in his crate for a few hours at a time to go out for dinner or to the shops. We often leave the radio on for him; to be honest, I have no idea whether this helps or not… but I like to think he enjoys a touch of Radio 2! 

He’s the most affectionate boy - he loves nothing more than to have a snooze on our laps, or to be cuddled up to us on the sofa, which is just the perfect way to start, and end, our day. 

I think he’s definitely changed a few of our friends and family’s perception of what a ‘rescue dog’ is - all dogs have their quirks but when you go through a process like Underdog have in place, you know you’ll get a dog that’s right for you and your lifestyle. 

Eve played matchmaker perfectly - I can’t think of a better dog for us, and we’re so so grateful to her and Underdog for bringing him into our lives. 

- Elin & Dom