Nicolas, Nicolas & their menagerie
ph. Amedeo Abello
text by Séréna Evely
As children, Nicolas and Nicolas always had animals: dogs, cats, horses, farm animals but also exotic pets (snakes, parrots, monkeys, etc.). Nowadays, they live between Paris and Normandy, surrounded by animals - to whom they speak in French and Dutch.
Renowned
"There was a psychologist that used to say that you should never give a human name to an animal, so as not to anthropomorphise it... In our case, we completely failed! We live with Roger, Raymond and Norma (the dogs), Paulette, Poupée and Opium (the cats), Isabelle H, Isabelle A, Nathalie, Françoise, Charlotte, Fanny, Carole, Simone and Gérard (the hens are named after actresses), Michèle/Michel (the pigeon), Janette Joëlle (the goat) and fish that live in aquariums and ponds. But above all, they have very special behaviour: we consider them as people in their own right."
Becoming whole
"When we got together, we took chickens, dogs, fish, cats, a goat,... in addition to the three cats that one of us already had. So we became a family in this big house - originally a holiday home. Today, we form a group that is constantly evolving according to situations and challenges.
We travel as a pack (we bought a car in order to do this!), and we always have one or more of our animals with us, whether on building sites or in theatres. We have built our life with them (while considering them as our animals, not as our children), and defined our priorities concerning them: it is the DNA of our relationship."
Trial by fire
"The latest arrival is Norma; we adopted her via the Sauvade association, which rescues abandoned dogs on Reunion Island. She is a young dog, who had a complicated past, was a disruptive element and turned everything upside down: all the roles (of dominant and dominated) were redistributed. In this adventure - which has been the most complicated to date and has made us fragile at times - we have realised that we are a pack. We called in educators and behaviour specialists and changed our schedules to spend time with Norma: this is the first time we have experienced such a conscious adoption. Our animals move the lines: we keep them company, not the other way around!"
