Guide dog life

Dear Diary, I Think I’m Getting a New Name. Love, Cooper

The dog’s views on shopping at the mall, and people asking for his name

Patricia Timmermans
3 min readMay 11, 2023

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Photo of Cooper — by Author

Dear Diary,

Today Pat decided to change my name, but seriously, I’m used to the name Cooper. What would I do with these diary entries if I got a new name?

You might be wondering why she’d decide to do this.

She usually only takes drastic measures when she’s fed up with people — not all of you who are reading my diary entries. Just the masses out there who seem to be getting less smart rather than smarter with time.

So, here’s the story. We had to take the car in for a checkup and that meant a courtesy van took us to the mall to wait it out.

We hopped into the van and no sooner did we get settled in than the driver started asking Pat questions, like, What’s your dog’s name? or How old is your dog? and What’s his favorite food? And my favorite — Why are you using an eye-phone when you have a dog?

I saw Pat’s ears start to turn red, and then she said, I use an iPhone because the dog’s paws are too big to do the texting.

I was laughing to myself and hoped I wouldn’t start coughing from laughing so…

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Patricia Timmermans

With my guide dog, Cooper, I volunteer at the CNIB and visit schools to raise awareness for sight loss. Dogs and kids’ questions make the best stories. 🇨🇦