Stories of how a pet can impact your life rarely come more extraordinary than this. In April 2013, Tracey, her husband Daniel and their two kids, Lachlan and Maddison, adopted a small Cavoodle by the name of Cooper from New Beginnings in Victoria. They saved Cooper’s life, however, it wasn’t long before things started to come full circle.

“In January 2013, my mother suffered a heart attack and passed away very suddenly. My son Lachlan was very close to his Nan and her passing really hit him hard. He just didn’t want to get up in the morning and was always crying. He was so upset.

“We thought we’d get another dog, which might help pick him up, give him something else to think about and get his confidence back.

“Both my husband and I work, so we didn’t want to go through the whole puppy-teething stage. We started looking for an older dog that was house-trained. We’d been looking for quite a while on PetRescue, then suddenly we discovered our wonderful Cooper.

“I took Lochie to meet him and he fell in love with Cooper on the spot. New Beginnings told us that, despite having a bad back, Cooper would live to a fantastic age with the proper care. That didn’t bother us one bit. He could have had two legs and painted purple and I still would have taken him home.

“The first day we brought Cooper home, he settled right in and sat watching the soccer with us. And at bedtime that night, he took one look at Lochie and went and jumped on his bed. That’s where he sleeps every night. He made himself at home right away.

“Cooper and Lochie play ball together, he’s house-trained and he doesn’t drop hair. If Cooper could cook and clean, he’d be the ideal pup for any woman! He’s that kind of dog, he’s absolutely beautiful. We just love him to bits.

“We’d had Cooper for just over a year when we started to notice that Cooper would often sit on my husbands left-hand side and nudge him. We thought ‘What is going on with him?’

“My husband wasn’t feeling too good, so I told him to go to the doctor’s. After a few tests he was diagnosed with kidney cancer on his left-side. Cooper had been nudging him right where his kidney was and had known he wasn’t well all along! It was absolutely amazing. It sounds so sad, but we saved Cooper’s life just as much as he saved ours.

“He brought Lachlan back to life, and now he has saved my husband’s life. He had the kidney cancer taken out two weeks ago now, and we’ve been advised that they’ve got it all, which is good. Daniel wouldn’t be alive now if it wasn’t for Cooper. We don’t go anywhere without him. I couldn’t ask for a better dog.

To anyone else out there who is looking for a pet, look on PetRescue first. You give a little and get so much more back. For what we’ve got, we are truly grateful. We would always go to PetRescue first before we go anywhere else, and that’s what we’ve been telling our friends. You’ll find the greatest gift of all, which is saving a life.”

If reading this Happy Tail gave you a warm and fuzzy feeling, you can instantly boost that natural high by making a donation to help PetRescue save the lives of more than 7,000 rescue pets every month!