Luna is my beautiful 5-year-old black Labrador, and she’s the calmest and most loving best friend you could ever imagine.
She sleeps at the foot of my bed every single night, obviously under a blanket, and slowly migrates her way up the bed throughout the night, until she's sharing my blankets and pillows and snoring loudly in my ear! She gets up at 6am every single day to jump between my parents, where she lies asleep on her back for tummy tickles until they get up.
Her best friend is her little "sister" Maia, our nearly 3-year-old black Labrador. She's very stuck in her routine and enjoys a quiet life. She loves walking at the local nature reserve where she can run and swim to her heart's content, and she spends most of the day asleep on one of our beds (her MANY beds are never as comfortable as ours are!).
She's definitely my spirit animal and knows what's up!
Every day at 6pm on the dot, she finds one of us and won't leave our side until she's been fed. When she hears the Life360 notification that indicates my dad's return from work, she runs to the door until she sees his car pulling into the driveway, where she proceeds to bark loudly to tell us to open the door for her to go and greet him. After that, it's back to bed until her nightly walk around the village – the absolute highlight of her day.
One of her (very many) little quirks is that she hates being dirty. After walks in the rain, she follows us until one of us washes her feet, she won't sleep in a bed until it has a clean blanket in it, and her favourite place to lie is in one of our beds after we've changed the sheets. She's definitely my spirit animal and knows what's up!
When she's not on the bed, Luna can be found snuggling on the sofa between Maia and her feisty (and rather grumpy) feline brother, Felix, probably on the one small section of the sofa not covered in a dog blanket! Her favourite place in the world is the beach, especially those in Scotland, so we take the dogs on an annual trip to explore the beautiful beaches of the west coast. Upon seeing the sand, she gets the zoomies and will run around in pure joy until she reaches the sea!
A few years ago, I lost my wife to a battle with cancer. It had always been our dream to get a dog and so the following January, I went to my local rescue centre. My intention had always been to adopt a German Shepherd – but beautiful, brindled Ginny (who’s a Greyhound-Saluki cross) stole my heart. Two weeks later, she came to live with me.
She understands my sorrow
The amount she’s helped me to cope with the bereavement and loneliness is immeasurable. She makes me smile, she understands my sorrow and she makes friends wherever she goes.
She’s been quite the ambassador for rescue dogs, appearing on TV and in magazines as well as newspapers. She’s even been to local schools with me, to talk about pets and emotions. She really is the best companion I could ask for.
Mags is our Red Fox Labrador who came to us after a relative could no longer look after her. She's a crazy little bundle of energy who brightens every single day.
She’s given us a new lease of life
I've got generalised anxiety disorder and OCD and she's helped me cope and just let go of things. My partner was also recently made redundant, but she's given him a purpose to get out of bed in the morning. She's given us both a new lease of life.
She loves stealing toilet rolls and chewing books, and she loves a bubble bath. She's so funny and energetic and just a beautiful soul. She loves everyone, including other dogs. She chases leaves and chases her tail – she’s just a bundle of joy.
We got Alfie as a rescue puppy when he was eight weeks old and I was nine years old. He has grown up with us through all the big life moments. He is such a caring and insightful little man who is always aware of how everyone is feeling. If someone is sad or unwell, he will sneak over with his waggy tail to be cuddled.
Alfie has had a massive impact on my grandad's quality of life
Most importantly, Alfie has had a massive impact on my grandad's quality of life. Alfie stays with my grandparents for some of the week due to my mum's work schedule. My grandad, who is in his 90s, keeps active by taking Alfie for walks on the days that they’re together.
They have such a lovely bond. My grandad even has a framed photograph of Alfie next to his bed, but none of the rest of the family! When they are together, Alfie follows him around everywhere until my grandad sits in his chair. Then Alfie will snuggle in between him and the arm of the chair and lay his paw on my grandad's knee while they both have a snooze.
Billy is 6, Henry is 1 and Percy is 9 months. My dogs are the best, as are everyone's to their families, but they really proved themselves this last year. In September I fell off my horse and broke my back, resulting in bed and sofa rest for 6 weeks and then some movement.
They snuggled in closer to comfort me
I am a very active person. I love walking the dogs and being at the yard with the horses and riding. During my 'cage rest' period, my dogs would keep me entertained. They would bring me toys – I'm sure for their benefit rather than mine – to play with, they would snuggle with me and they would guard me and growl at me if I tried to move. It was as if they knew I wasn't allowed to. If I moved they moved.
If I cried when the pain got too much, they snuggled in closer to comfort me. When I was allowed to start my rehab and walking, taking the dogs out was part of that, they were as good as gold, it was like they knew. They didn't mind the fact that I could only go a few steps each day, but always had a wag and never got stroppy. The dogs helped me through a really tough time and helped me mentally to overcome the trauma I was going through.
Arlo is a beautiful four-month-old pup who was part of a litter of 10. They thought mummy dog had finished after nine, but out popped the runt, Arlo!
But out popped the runt, Arlo!
I’m currently training him to be an assistance dog with help and support from our local charity, Ability Dogs 4 Young People.