By Leonie Corcoran
21st Jan 2025
21st Jan 2025
Love doesn't always look like what you think it might. When you're thinking of adopting an animal into your family, it's worthwhile keeping an open mind . . . it might just bring the biggest gift.
My family is expanding this year. I will welcome a little human. Until now there has been only one baby in the house. He has the sweetest eyes, a heart-shaped nose, an enviable glossy coat of hair and four legs. Well, to be fair, he has been joined by two other four-legged companions over the past 18 months, but technically they aren’t mine (long story). And there is the recent addition of four puppies . . . so he is one of many right now. But getting back on point, for a long time Mutti (aka Sparkles according to my niece – more below) has been the babe of the house and is still the only one to share my surname.
As my sister always said about her Goldie Lola, “Lola was the first born”. Mutti is my first born. He was also the first dog I adopted.
I didn’t plan to adopt him . . . It didn’t seem like the right time in life.
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He is lying on my feet (which are on the sofa) wearing his towelling robe right now after we all got soaked in the rain earlier. Flash (aka Bamboo) is beside him and Nancy (aka Elizabeth) is on their beanbag. The pups are sleeping. I am quietly typing, giggling to myself that I am doing it quietly so I don’t wake any of the canines because they seem so peaceful.
The right time
I didn’t plan to adopt Mutti. It didn’t seem like the right time in life, but after having him on foster for almost three months, my then partner claimed that Mutti was “the one” and I couldn’t disagree him. Mutti was starting to trust us, it felt like his trust in life was returning and no obvious new families were coming forward for him. So, it seemed like the right choice and, spoiler alert, it was! Though Shane, my then partner, welcomed the previous foster animals, it was Mutti who captured his heart.
When I started fostering dogs and cats from the DSPCA, I was still working with The Irish Times. Living on my own, I knew I could not commit to a full-time new family member but I was able to plan certain times when I knew my shifts or travel would suit having a temporary canine and feline in the house. I was usually tasked with pups. Some had lost their mum early and been abandoned. Others had been seized as part of breeding or cruelty cases and needed temporary homes while the cases were processed. Once they were old enough, I had the pure joy of socialising them, bringing them out and about to experience the bright side of the big bad world. I had lived in Dublin for years and I never spoke to as many people as when I had the dogs with me. When I moved to Cork and was working for myself, I credit having dogs with me for many of the great friends I made. It has been the same here in Portugal, where Mutti (who came from Cork-based charity DAWG) has introduced me to acquaintances, great friends and even a business partner.
Mature socialisers
I also had the privilege of fostering a number of more mature dogs. Rolo and Hercules were so small (a mini Yorkie and Chihuahua) that they fit into my handbag and were, ahem, smuggled into many an establishment – from five-star hotels to the local in Ranleagh.
Rescued from horrendous circumstances by the DSPCA, which is Ireland’s oldest and largest animal welfare charity, this duo started to trust life again and unsurprisingly their beautiful energy attracted attention as we explored Dublin and then Cork. Ultimately it was one a park walk we encountered their new owner.
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All of these dogs I fostered were re-homed with people who met them when they were out in parks, on walks, being held in a pushchair by my niece (pictured above giving the all-important cuddles, which she takes very seriously alongside her renaming skills) or sitting beside me as I enjoyed a weekend cocktail.
Their new owners, many of whom stay in touch, may have been thinking about welcoming an animal into their home but none has been thinking of the breed (or even the species) they ended up falling in love with. Because that’s the thing – most of the time, love hits us unexpectedly. It does not look like what we thought it might. It often looks very different. But when we keep an open mind, it comes in the most joyful way.
Visit the DSPCA
So, if you are thinking of welcoming a new personality into your family, I challenge you to keep an open mind. Step outside your comfort zone, visit the DSCPA (located outside the city on Mount Venus Road, Rathfarnham, there are plenty of great walking routes nearby so you can make a day of it) to see some of the animals that don’t have the opportunity to be out and about in parks, gaining the admiring looks they so deserve, and talk to the team of staff and volunteers about what a good match for your family might look like. Their advice might take you by surprise. They might just introduce you to the best type of surprise – a future new addition to your family.
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Tomorrow, I am visiting a friend who has recently adopted a macaw. Mutti will be coming too. I think it will be the closest he’ll have been to an exotic bird who we won’t be chasing (paws crossed). It could be the next instalment of the yet-to-be-written “Adventures of Former Foster Dog, Mutti”, which I have promised to write about for years. Maybe this will be the year . . . or maybe I’ll be busy trying to keep all the babes asleep.