Provided by Kari Ekenstedt via Reuters Connect

Thanks to Jimothy the Raccoon, Cooper the Fox Hound Finally Got the Attention That Kept Him Unadopted for Years

Updated 3 weeks ago, July 31, 2026

Animals with short spine syndrome are rare, and until recently they were nearly invisible, the kind of pets that sat overlooked in rescues because prospective adopters had never seen a body shaped quite like theirs. Now that’s changing.

A raccoon spotted in Seattle, Washington, in a screengrab from a social media video — A viral raccoon spotted in Seattle, Washington, captured in a social media video screengrab on July 13, 2026. Photo by Kiana Hall / Reuters.

Cooper sat up for adoption for years and nobody wanted him, because almost nobody had heard of a dog with a spine as short as his. His foster family ended up keeping him because they couldn’t let him go.

A raccoon in Seattle is the reason a 9-year-old fox hound in Minnesota is finally getting noticed.

Cooper has short spine syndrome, a rare congenital condition where an animal’s vertebrae never fully develop into bone, leaving the spine unusually short. It’s the same condition behind Jimothy, the viral raccoon who’s inspired murals, bobbleheads and video game characters over the past few weeks.

Cooper was found as a stray in Virginia and transferred to Minnesota to be near another short-spine dog, Quasi the Great. His owner, Elly Keegan, was fostering him through a rescue when she realized no one was going to adopt him.

A German shepherd dog with short spine syndrome, known as Quasimodo or Quasi the Great — Quasimodo — “Quasi the Great” — a 13-year-old German shepherd living with short spine syndrome in Minnesota. Photo by Teri Woolard / Reuters Connect.

“We actually had him up for adoption for a very, very long time and nobody was interested,” Keegan said. “There was not enough awareness about short spine syndrome at that time. We ended up keeping him because we just couldn’t let him go.”

Home life takes some adjusting. Cooper can’t bend down to eat, so his food and water sit on raised surfaces, and he twists his back feet when he walks, which rules out sidewalks in favor of the family’s grassy yard. He also can’t right himself after lying on his side, and his time around unfamiliar dogs is limited because, as Keegan puts it, he “doesn’t socialize with his body language in ways other animals do.”

Since Keegan started posting about him, Cooper has hit 94,000 followers on Facebook and helped rehome four other animals with the condition, including a dog from Poland now living in Florida.

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