An animal rescue center worked tirelessly to take care of a dog surrendered by his family, only to learn that he wasn’t really a dog at all.
The Dog’s Refuge Home in Western Australia has been in operation for almost 90 years, rescuing and rehoming a whopping 1,500 dogs every year. When Cooee came into their care, they quickly realized they were dealing with something very different—as what had been thought to be a Kelpie cross, ended up just being a dingo.
Staff member Jasmin Suter told Newsweek: “We’ve definitely had dogs with dingo in them before, but we were shocked to find out Cooee is in fact 100% dingo.”
Dingos are a type of wild canine found throughout Australia, as well as in Southeast Asia, and they are known to interbreed with domesticated dogs to produce hybrids, according to National Geographic. But in the case of Cooee, who was surrendered by his family at four years old as they struggled to care for him, there was no other breed in him—he is purely a dingo, and he acts like one.
“During his time in our care he has been adopted and returned for typical dingo behavior,” Suter told Newsweek.
But they’re not giving up on him, with Suter revealing: “As he is fairly domesticated we are unable to release him to the wild, so our goal is for him to be adopted like the rest of the dogs in our care.”
Cooee’s story has now gone viral, as the rescue organization shared a clip of him to its TikTok account, @dogsrefugehome, on September 22, which has been viewed close to a million times.
It shows the dingo relaxing with his eyes closed, getting scratched behind his ears, alongside words on the screen declaring: “Us before we did a DNA test on the ‘dog’ surrendered to us that turned out to be 100% Dingo.”
TikTok users responded in a big way, with the video racking up over 160,000 likes and hundreds of comments, with one suggesting: “I think this is exactly how the domestication process happened.”
Others shared their own stories, with one revealing they had a pet dingo as a child, which “dug a tunnel under our house”.
“My uncle won over the stray dog at the golf course that was there forever. Turns out to be 100% dingo and it’s spoiled beyond belief now,” another shared.
Speaking about Cooee, who they still hope will be adopted by a family who knows how to care for him, Suter said: “He is a gorgeous boy who acts similar to a cat—winning his trust makes you feel extra special and our team are completely in love with him.
“The perfect home for Cooee would be a nice and quiet home where he is the only pet, with people who have some sort of dingo experience or are willing to learn about his behaviors.
“A secure yard and plenty of areas where he feels safe, like dog crates or areas he can be nice and high and watch the world go by.”
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