Four years after their first meeting, Keiba finally managed to rescue Dovah from her negligent owner and welcome her into the family

Dovah inspires me to live every day to its fullest. When she was six, I was asked to foster her for one month by her current owner who was going out of the country to study. I met Dovah once and her absolute love for life and instant desire to sit on my lap made me happily agree to help out.

One month quickly turned into six with little to no contact from her owner. By this point, myself and the cats living in the house had bonded deeply with Dovah. We were offered the chance to adopt her by the uninterested owner and, after we ecstatically agreed, the owner went back on her word and came and collected our sweet Dovah. She lived in a flat and Dovah was left for long hours daily, or sent to different dog sitters.

Dovah inspires me to live every day to its fullest

Eventually, after two years, I got the message I had always hoped for – Dovah was finally being rehomed. Right away I went to get her. By this time, we also had a second dog called Kleo. Although the cats came running to Dovah as soon as they saw her, she had returned to us with a whole host of behavioural issues. Adding to that, Kleo was in pain while waiting for surgery on her cruciate ligaments. Unfortunately, the girls would fight and we all had to work very hard to make things work out.

Fast forward to just days before Dovah’s 10th birthday and, after several surgeries for mammary cancer, she is fully bonded with Kleo in her forever home.

Despite this journey, every day Dovah gets up full of life. She loves harder, making you dedicate time in your day to cuddles and opening your heart to her. She runs out on the hill with more love for the outdoors than any dog or person I have ever met. She inspires me to live in the moment and keep my chin up.

After years of living as a stray in Cyprus, Zola has finally found her forever home with Annabel, and now she’s blossoming into the dog she was always meant to be

I adopted Zola, a German Shorthaired Pointer, on 2nd May this year. She was found as a stray in Cyprus, rescued and looked after in a shelter for about two months until she was well enough to travel to the UK.

She has settled really well in the time she has been here, and I have just started very basic training with her as she was completely untrained. She has definitely come out of her shy, anxious shell and is showing her cheeky, funny, very affectionate character. She is a puppy in a 9-year-old body as she's probably never enjoyed a puppyhood before.

Adopting a neglected, abandoned dog is one of the most rewarding things I’ve done

She loves anything fluffy, especially if she's not supposed to have it, like my slippers and the dog coats I’m knitting for rescue shelters, for example. She pokes her nose in any open drawer or cupboard and loves to grab and run – she is particularly drawn to silicone baking containers for some bizarre reason.

Zola is starting to bond with our other two adopted German Shorthaired Pointers, 9-year-old Baxter and 12-year-old Danny, who’s also a Cyprus rescue. She loves food, food and more food, playing with toys, stealing Danny's tennis balls and doing anything naughty.

She makes me laugh every day and drives me demented from running around saving items from being chewed, but gives me so much love in return. Adopting a neglected, abandoned dog and giving them a loving forever home is one of the most rewarding things I’ve done, and seeing them blossom into the dogs they should have always been is priceless.

Emma’s quality of life is significantly better with Sam by her side

I have owned Sam (or rather he has owned me) since he was a 12-week-old puppy. As I’ve been housebound for the last ten years, he’s been my constant companion while my husband’s at work

I love him, but he’s probably the most demanding dog in the world. He yaps and whines until he gets his own way and won’t leave me alone until I rearrange his bed for him!

He’s been my constant companion

Sam is particularly fond of cats and is friends with the three that live in the local area. He also loves walks at the beach with my husband. I treasure every single day I have with my dog, and I’m so grateful he cameinto our lives all those years ago.

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.

When Peter first brought him home, Ace was a little uncertain about life with his new family – but he soon settled right in.

We rescued Ace from a British-run dog home out in Cyprus. He was a street dog and had been found by a lovely Cypriot family, after being shot and left for dead by an unknown person. They took him to a vet who had to remove multiple pellets, and it was touch and go for a while. Luckily, he recovered well and they cared for him until he was fit and healthy. Then, they took him to the dog home so that he could find his forever family.

When Ace finally arrived in the UK, he was hungry, tired and scared after his long journey, but bribing him with some cooked chicken helped me to win him over! I brought him home and in the morning he met our two young children for the first time – and he was terrified. It took him a few days to venture out of his dog crate.

He now adores the children and his new home

After a month of being loved and treated like the prince that he is, Ace became braver and started going on walks with my wife and I when the kids were in bed. Almost two years on and he now adores the children and his new home with our family. We take him on lots of walks around the village, as well as further afield. He is a very loving and devoted dog, who likes nothing more than to snuggle on the sofa where he falls asleep instantly, snoring like a freight train!

He was named Ace by our eldest, who’s a six-year-old superhero fan. Apparently, in the original comics, Batman had a rescue dog named Ace! A perfect name for our perfect dog.

Barna’s natural instinct was to protect Emily, and now he is a fully trained medical assistance dog, helping to giving her back her independence

Nearly three years ago, we brought Barna, a Hungarian Vizsla puppy, into our lives to be a loving pet and companion, yet he has proven to be so much more than that. I live with a serious and complex neurological condition that causes me to collapse regularly. I myself have no awareness of these onsets, and would often be injured or be admitted into hospital, but all that changed when Barna was six months old.

Changed my life for the better

We discovered that Barna could detect the minute changes in the pheromones my body released in the lead-up to a collapse. He would ‘alert’ me via a series of behaviours, including intense staring, refusal to do as asked and a single bark. These are my five-minute warnings, which gives me a chance to make myself safe. Realising Barna’s potential to detect an oncoming episode, we contacted the charity Medical Detection Dogs.

Nearly a year and a half later, we were given the amazing news that Barna is now a fully accredited Medical Alert Assistance dog. As a family, we can’t put into words how much both the charity and Barna have changed my life for the better. He is the first Hungarian Vizsla to be accredited as a medical alert assistance dog (as far as the charity is aware) in the UK, so he is flying the flag for all other breeds that may not be conventionally thought of as great assistance dogs.