Jilly Cooper believed you’re reunited with your dogs in heaven – I can see her there now

The bestselling author was known for her love of animals and has been a lifetime inspiration for TV dog expert and author Louise Glazebrook. But it was her vision of seeing her beloved dogs in the afterlife that really struck a chord...

I’d done the usual school run, got home, made coffee and was just writing a resource on playing with your dog when my husband called. It started with “I’ve got some sad news for you”, and he told me Jilly Cooper had died. I can imagine how JC (how she’s known in our house) would describe my husband – blue eyes, freckles, the kindness in how he operates – and she would be right. That is why I fell in love with her all those decades ago.

Jilly painted a picture. She made observations that allowed her readers to visualise every single element of any storyline, character, home or dog. I can smell the horse stables in LA visited in Riders, I can picture the rooms Helen redecorated at Penscombe, and Badger, the beloved labrador that greets Rupert Campbell-Black every time he returns home.

Jilly built her world around animals – in real life and in her books. It feels especially cruel to have lost Jilly and Jane Goodall within a week of each other. Two women who cared deeply about animals and who stood up to be counted when it mattered. Jane Goodall once said: “The least I can do is speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves.” I believe Jilly did the same, just in a very different way.

‘Rivals’ actor Alex Hassell with the late author Jilly Cooper (Instagram/@alexanderhassell)

Through her sharp observations around the tiniest of details in her books – how a dog was pushed away, how someone enters a sawdust-filled stable – she tells us everything we need to know. We understand that Jake, the hero in Riders, is a good man because of how he looks after his horses and how he is continually thinking of them and his dog, Wolf.

Jilly Cooper's novels are stacked by my side of the bed and I am always reading at least one of them. They are instant bringers of joy and I can lose myself in a world of dogs, countryside and Land Rovers. Having been obsessed with animals from a young age, I’m used to this kind of passion being dismissed. I had a lot of it when I was a teenager, when all the other girls wanted to do “proper jobs” and all I wanted was to work with dogs.

But Jilly knew how important it was, and why the relationships with our four-legged friends mattered. She made it okay and understood how you treat them tells us so much about us and the world we live in and all will one day leave.

In an interview with Saga magazine, Jilly once said: “My best thing is that when you arrive in heaven, all your dogs come rushing across a green lawn to meet you, with your favourite dog leading the pack. That will do for me. That would be heaven.”

Jilly Cooper’s love of animals inspired Louise Glazebrook (Supplied)

Jilly had ponies since she was eight years old, first Rufus and then a mare called Willow; she was brought up with dogs and cats and once recalled the only time she remembered her mother crying was when she was a little girl and Jamie, their Scottish terrier, had to be put down. Last year, she spoke about her continuing heartbreak over her beloved rescue greyhound, Bluebell, who had died three years before. “I do miss Bluebell, she was heavenly,” she told the interviewer. “She was just a lovely dog, and she always took up nine-tenths of my bed. When Leo was gone, Bluebell used to sleep on one side, and I would sleep on the other.”

Dame Jilly Cooper was chiefly known for her Rutshire Chronicles (PA)

For any dog lover, or anyone who has poured hours of love into their animals, the sentiment of being reunited with them again after you die is what you live by. It is why my dogs' ashes in their boxes are in the drawer underneath my side of the bed; when I die, they will go in with me. Our dogs are our best friends, at our feet, by our side, under our desk every day, all day. They know us inside out, in ways that some of our own family don't know us. How can you love an animal deeply and not wonder where they have gone when they leave this earth from you?

I often think about how when my day comes, my dogs and animals will also be awaiting me. I even think our budgies will be waiting, ready to sit on my shoulder as we cross the bridge together, led of course by my beautiful dogs whose fur I will be able to feel the velvet touch of once again.

Jilly Cooper with the cast of ‘Rivals’ at the 2025 Bafta Awards (PA)

Of course, many will disagree, and that's fine. They may even mock. That’s fine too. I believe that if you were a Jilly person, then you were in a certain kind of club, and I am honoured to be in that. I cannot imagine how upset Jilly’s family are at losing such a wonder of a woman. But I can see her now: she has already poured herself a cold, crisp glass of champagne, is surrounded by her dog and horse gang and is sitting on some glorious flower-covered sofa bathing in the golden sunlight she so deserves.

Thank you, Jilly, from the bottom of my heart.

Louise Glazebrook is a dog behaviourist and author of ‘The Book Your Dog Wishes You Would Read’