Doug the Springer Spaniel hasn’t had an easy year, but Bernadette is in awe of how well he’s handled it

When Doug broke his leg on the Isle of Mull last July, there were no vets on the island to help him. We begged our way onto a ferry to Oban where the vet sedated and x-rayed him. The next day, we travelled to the West Midlands for him to have surgery.

Through it all, he still wagged his tail

Now, after a year of rehab, hydrotherapy and lead walks (which he hates), Doug is near enough back to his old crazy Springer self.

He’s amazing and through it all, he still wagged his tail!

Princess Peggy’s been in a few unfortunate accidents since joining Kathleen’s family, but she always manages to get away without a scratch

I bought Princess Peg Peg, or Peggy, for my son Michael who has Asperger’s, and he named her. Straight away, we knew she was special. It was easy to teach her commands and there’s not a bad bone in her body.

One day, she was looking out of the upstairs window, and could see Michael in the garden below. She leaned out too much and fell! Miraculously, she was uninjured. How? We don’t know. Maybe she had a guardian angel!

There’s not a bad bone in her body

Another time, Michael was across the road when Princess Peggy ran out of the house to be with him. A car hit her, and again, she was uninjured! So, she learnt the hard way NOT to lean out of windows, and NOT to run across the road.

Her wonderful nature has brought her many friends, young and old, over the years. Two years ago she was diagnosed with cancer, but after having the lumps removed, she’s made a full recovery.

Princess Peggy will be 14 next month, but we hope that she’ll be around for a few more years, greeting all who may come her way.

As laidback and low maintenance as they come, Lulu the Maltese has fitted perfectly into Caroline and her partner’s busy lives

Our Maltese, Lulu, brings us such joy every day. We both work long hours as a chef and housekeeper, and Lulu is happy to wait for us in our flat, sleeping during the day or quietly entertaining herself with all her toys.

She loves to lie at the top of our staircase, waiting for us to climb to the top to and rub her stomach before she stretches awake. She even has her own mini staircase to climb onto our sofa and our bed at night. She insists on sleeping right at the top of the bed in between the two of us, and never wakes up before we do.

She just likes being with us

We both suffer from allergies and don’t have always have time to take her for very long walks, but we chose her breed as she’s hypoallergenic and very happy with just a short walk and play. She doesn’t often need to be entertained and never really demands attention. She just likes being with us, and we love having her to cuddle and laugh with. She’s always in a good mood!

We always plan our day off around her and she always comes with us on car journeys around the UK during our holidays. She loves an adventure, but also loves to lie down and do nothing sometimes, too.

Chloe went to the pub one night and came home with a dog – all because she couldn’t stand watching Bailey suffer at the hands of her former owner

I met Bailey in the local pub when she was brought in by her previous owner. She was a five-month-old purebred Labrador, but she looked about 12 weeks old. She was skin and bone and she looked exhausted. I offered her some chips from my plate and a drink of my water, but her owner told me not to feed her. He said she’d had her weekly feed as she poops in the house otherwise.

She has made me a dog person

Bailey kept coming back to me while we were in the pub. I think she saw me as her safety net. The owner kept grabbing her by her scruff and dragging her back to him, but she kept wanting to cuddle up to me.

I offered to buy her from him as he had mentioned he works 12-hour days and leaves her all day. I bought her then and there, and she came home with me that evening. She’s been mine ever since and she’s made mine and my partner’s lives wonderful.

She’s got such a wicked personality in comparison to the exhausted, malnourished puppy we met in the pub. She’s insanely clever and LOVES eating squares of cheese! She has made me a dog person and I would never be without her. I’m so thankful I went for a drink that night.

Even though Toby sometimes creates a bit of mess, he makes it up to Andrew and his family in so many ways

Toby’s a rescue dog and he makes us laugh every day. We got him a year before lockdown, and he helped us get through it.

He leads a walking group at our local community kitchen where my wife works. He meets and greets everyone, and they all love him.

He makes us laugh every day

He loves to ‘remake’ our bed and waits for us to laugh when we see it in a mess. And he loves doing zoomies at his granny's, where he destroys the lawn – but she loves him so much, it doesn't matter. He also has amazing, gorgeous ears that we call his angel wings.

Harley has helped Rachel enormously with her mental health struggles, but he has also caused plenty of mischief with his escape tactics

Harley is a Giant Schnauzer crossed with a German Shorthaired Pointer. My husband got him when we found out I was pregnant with my third child, as I already had a six-month-old baby and I was suffering from both pre-natal and post-natal depression. Harley was my distraction and my positive ten minutes of training a day.

Our walks always get me out of the house. And on the days I don’t want to go out, he’s with me in the house with the babies! He keeps me grounded and gives me a break when I take him walking. We’ve even started mountain climbing as a family with Harley and the children.

He can flip his cage and squeeze out of the bottom!

He’s also a Houdini! I’ve never known a dog like him. I padlock his cage in two places overnight because he’s obsessed with licking the butter dish, and he can flip his cage and squeeze out of the bottom!

He’s obsessed with food, especially burgers and sausages, and he’s amazing with the children. My one-year-old will pass him DVDs off our stand one by one, and he brings them to me in his mouth and then goes back for more to play with her! He’s changed our lives so much.