How to be more dog
AMONG the good things to emerge from lockdown, two labradors ‘just being dogs’ tops everything. Olive and her younger yellow counterpart, Mabel, shot to fame when their owner, sports commentator Andrew Cotter, found himself with no work. He dithered for weeks over putting the first video online, of the pair having dinner with labrador zeal to his commentary, but, when he did, it defined ‘going viral’, garnering shares from the likes of Dara Ó Briain and Ryan Reynolds. It was ‘ridiculous, strange beyond imagining’.
Millions of people fell in love with Olive and Mabel: ‘Dogs are one of the Bones—shared by no less than Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill)—a tense drama concerning the ownership of an orange rubber bone, happens every day. ‘When it comes to possessions, Mabel’s the boss. Everything else, Olive’s the boss. The toys don’t belong to anyone, but if Olive has the bone, Mabel wants the bone.’
