How to be more dog

The sports commentator and labrador owner on a startling rise to fame

- Octavia Pollock

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 things that unite us all.' The two are very different, Olive steadier and more relaxed, Mabel baffled by everything. She's not as bright as Olive, there's no getting away from it. The second video, Game of 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.'

The third video shows Mabel standing in a pond, an expectant look on her beautiful face, others the pair on a Zoom call or online dating. They were just dogs being dogs. I'd never dress them up,' says Mr. Cotter. 'Even in the more contrived ones, they're happy, that's the main thing.' A brilliant, black-and-white perfume-ad parody, Canine, Pour Chiens, transforms beach scenes with a breathy voiceover: 'What do you really want... to dig, to roll in something unpleasant..."