Photo by Neal Preston (November 10, 1995)

Leonard Cohen with canine companion

The popularity of recently posted Leonard Cohen With Pooch pix, A Very Young Leonard Cohen With Friend and What You Don’t Know About Leonard Cohen’s “Old Ideas” Album – The Original “Old Dog” Name & Art, has led to the reposting of this doggie shot.

The photo of Leonard Cohen & pooch at What You Don’t Know About Leonard Cohen’s “Old Ideas” Album – The Original “Old Dog” Name & Art led Dominique BOILE.to contribute this July 1935 shot of Leonard Cohen (10 mons) and his first dog, Kelef (age unknown). From Various Positions by Ira Nadel.

SL: And your dog?

LC: My dog? Oh, uh, I’m very happy these days because my daughter, who lives in the same house as I do, she has two dogs. And I love dogs and she’s brought two dogs into my life, it’s really wonderful, and I play with them every day and teach them tricks.

SL: What kind of dogs?

LC: Mutts. Just street dogs. She got them from the pound.

SL: Did you have a dog when you were little?

LC: Yes, I had a Scottie, Scottish terrier. His name was, my mother named him, Tovarich, “comrad”. We called him Tinky. And yes, a very - I guess the closest being to me during my childhood. The dog would sleep under my bed and follow me to school, and wait for me. So that was a great sense of companionship.

SL: Because you sometimes write about the dog.

LC: Well I have his picture on my dresser in Los Angeles. We loved that dog. My sister gave me his picture framed as a present.

SL: And what happened when he died?

LC: He died when he was about 13 years old, which is quite old for a dog. And he just asked to go out one night - you know how a dog will just go and stand beside the door? - so we opened the door, it was a winter night, and he walked out, and we never saw him again. And it was very distressing. I put ads in the newspaper, and people would say, “Yes, we have found a Scottie,” and you’d drive 50 miles and it wouldn’t be your Scottie. And we only found him in the springtime when the snow melted, and the smell came from under the neighbour’s porch. He’d just gone outside, and gone under the neighbour’s porch to die. It was some kind of charity to his owners.

Leonard Cohen on dogs he has loved.  From an interview with Stina Lundberg, 2001

  According to Leonard Cohen,

When Leanne saw the photo I took of Sharon and myself, she said, “That’s a picture of two people with one mind.” Given her stunning contribution to Ten New Songs, it was necessary, just, and appropriate that Sharon appear on the cover. Otherwise, Nova, my daughter’s dog, would have been featured; even though nobody really liked it but Kelley, Lorca and me. The people at Sony thought I ‘must be kidding.’ Nova will have her day.

Nova does later make the cover of Cohen’s “Boogie Street” single (see Cover Of Boogie Street Single Featuring Nova, Lorca Cohen’s Dog). From LeonardCohenFiles: Alternative covers for Ten New Songs

For story of Npva’s near miss as the cover art for Cohen’s “Ten New Songs,” see Original Cover For Leonard Cohen’s “Ten New Songs” Album Featuring Nova, Lorca Cohen’s Dog.  From LeonardCohenFiles: CD Singles 2001-2002