Rescue pup Holly has come a long way since meeting owner Jill – and the best is yet to come

We were devastated by the loss of our previous dog last December, but in February we spotted Holly on a RSPCA website.

At seven months old she had never lived in a home and was very nervous. She was challenging at first, but very loving.

Holly has won over plenty of new friends

Holly has changed our lives, giving us a reason to get up in the morning and exercise regularly.

She’s energetic and fun-loving, but still a little shy when it comes to meeting new people and is occasionally spooked by new experiences.

Holly has won over plenty of new friends in the village, as they’ve witnessed her grow from a timid pup to a lovely, confident dog. We are looking forward to sharing many happy years with her!

Sully is the most loyal of dogs and likes to accompany Paul everywhere – he won’t even eat a biscuit without him!

Deep down Sully is a big softie at heart, very loyal to my wife and I. He gets nervous when out and likes to cuddle his teddy – in fact, he is so attached to it that he’s been known to carry it around with him on his walks!

He loves to go fishing with me

We do walk together a lot, but he loves to go fishing with me. He goes mad when I catch a fish, watching my line until I bring it in. He sits there for hours with me. We also go to watch my daughter play football, and he’ll sit on my lap while the game is going on.

If my wife gives him a biscuit in the morning before going out, he won’t eat it until he has shown it to me when I come home in the afternoon. All it takes for us is to say to him ‘where’s the cat?’ and he’ll go up the garden barking like mad, even though there is no cat!

Victoria gave Ozzy a new home last year, and he’s making each and every day count

Ozzy was surrendered to the vet practice I worked in at 10 months old and needed to be given a second chance. I was hoping to get my first dog since moving out of my family home in summer 2023, but I agreed to take Ozzy on in August 2022 (a year earlier!) and have never looked back.

He is the most intelligent (although he does very often fall off the bed in the middle of the night!), friendly and loving dog I have ever met. He loves coming with me to look after my horse every morning and evening, goes on long walks to lots of different places, and he even went stand up paddle boarding with me the first weekend I had him.

His favourite place to go is the beach, he LOVES going for a swim, a long walk and then finishing with a doggy ice cream. His equal favourite place is in the bed, and at 3am every morning he creeps up from the end of the bed and cuddles up in between me and his dad underneath the duvet. I am new to the county I currently live in, so it has been great fun exploring the countryside with Oz by my side. Our little rescue pup has given us endless fun and I can’t wait for the years ahead with him.

He even went stand up paddle boarding with me the first weekend I had him

Johanna thought that life with her dog Dotty couldn’t get any better, but the arrival of Mo proved that you can never have enough puppy love!

We have had Dotty the Cockerpoo since she was eight weeks old, and I can honestly say she has made me laugh daily for 11 years! She is a great guard dog, barking at any potential murderer that might walk past the house (who'd have known little old ladies and postmen were such a threat) even though she would only lick them to death. One tickle of the tummy and she is anyone's! If you approach her when she's lay down she raises her paws for a tummy tickle.

She used to be so fast! I'd let her off her lead and off she'd go! Twice she has walked away from the house unseen and taken herself to the field where I walk her! She's old and poorly now, and is very slow and less agile. But she still 'smiles' when I get in from work and puts her arms round my neck for a cuddle. Her favourite thing is - food!

They complete our family

Dreading when she can no longer have a good life we recently rescued a Romanian dog, Mo. He is so naughty but so cute! He is the only dog Dotty has ever had to compete with, and she is usually jealous of other dogs getting my attention – but not with Mo! He is the cuddliest dog and sits so close to you, if not on you, the whole time. They play together so it's nice company for Dot, and she keeps Mo in his place.

A house is not a home without a dog. When they went to be groomed the house was eerily silent and felt wrong. They complete our family and provide good therapy for my daughter who suffers from extreme anxiety. Dogs give unconditional love and their faces are so expressive. They know if they're being told off, they know what to do to get a treat. They are bonkers, like us, and I would not be without my special little guys.

Bramble was mistreated as a pup, but Vivienne’s family have given her as much love and care as possible since rescuing her

When we fostered Bramble 11 years ago, she was very frightened and shut down from her treatment at a puppy farm. She wouldn’t walk past me if I had boots on and would drop her head if you tried to pet her.

She’s so precious to us

I couldn’t get her to sit with me for months, so I arranged some cuddle time for a few days, and she eventually found her way back for more. And getting a kiss from her is rare, but she enjoys receiving them.

She’s so precious to us. It’s clear that Bramble has learned a lot from the way she’s now being treated, but we’ve learnt so much more from the love she gives back.

Jenny loves Clyde for many reasons, especially the way he takes care of her mum

Clyde is 12 years old, but he’s been part of our family ever since he was a little ball of fur. My dad passed away nearly 2 years ago now, and Clyde has been the most loyal and loving companion for my mum. I don’t know what she’d do without him.

He loves the rain, playing with his favourite ball and eating yummy snacks. He has arthritis in his legs and so he falls down sometimes, but while his body may be getting old, he still has the mind of a puppy. He’s constantly wagging his tail and ready to play, he’s such a happy boy.

He’s such a happy boy

Clyde enjoys nothing more than stealing your spot on the sofa as soon as you get up. If you leave even for a second, he’ll be lying there waiting for you when you come back. He’s also not keen on getting his photo taken, though he’s really photogenic, and we all utterly adore him. I think he still has the same puppy dog eyes we fell in love with all those years ago.