Cupid

HEBRON, NOVA SCOTIA

Cupid, who dons a white heart on the top of his head earning him his name, is an eight-year-old Golden Retriever Lab mix with a special story. Born to a retired search and rescue dog in Nova Scotia, Cupid was stuck in the birth canal and suffered a lack of oxygen. This traumatic birth experience caused severe brain damage - Cupid was born with Swimmers Syndrome and has the intellectual capacity of a 12 week-old puppy. Despite his challenges, Cupid is a playful boy with a heart of gold.

Cupid fits perfectly into Ann Harrington’s family which includes herself and her partner, her two children, two cats and two other dogs. Although Cupid is differently-abled, a term coined for him by Ann’s son who does charity work to end the stigma around autism, he is anything but unintelligent. One night on March 10th, 2020, after the family had been asleep for a number of hours, Cupid began barking and growling oddly at the ceiling of the familys’ mobile home.

Although this behaviour wasn’t unusual for Cupid because of his playful and youthful nature, he was very persistent that night. Once Ann realized something was wrong she got up to look at what had him behaving so strangely, only to discover sparks coming out from the ceiling. It appeared to be coming from the light fixture, so Ann’s partner immediately shut off the  main switch to the power, but Cupid was still uncomfortable, that’s when they saw the flames. The electrical fire that was sparked was still burning and growing behind the walls and ceiling, so the smoke detectors had yet to pick up on the fire. Cupid’s alert saved everyone in the house that night.

Luckily the family was able to put the fire out and called an electrician right away. The Harringtons’ situation brought back memories for the electrician who experienced a similar electrical fire in his family home when he was younger. But, instead of catching the faulty wiring early enough, his family lost everything. Ann is forever grateful for giving Cupid a chance at life when she was told to put him down at birth. Against all odds, Cupid has thrived and Ann truly believes her family would not be here now if it wasn’t for his smarts, persistence and big heart, ultimately saving their lives. For this, Cupid is now an official inductee in the Purina Animal Hall of Fame.