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.

Dog-obsessed Danielle feels complete now that Millie is in her life.

I've grown up with dogs all my life. I used to have two German Shepherds, Sabre and Levi. By the time we sadly lost my two best friends, I was 21 and was just beginning my life after university. I met my partner and moved to Manchester for work. Since the beginning of our relationship, I made it clear that I wanted to have a dog in my life again. Sometimes, it felt like it might not happen for another 10 years with work and so on.

But everything fell into place in November 2019 when we brought Millie, our Labradoodle, into our lives. My boyfriend has never had a dog before and Millie has 100% stolen his heart and made him as dog-obsessed as me.

Having Millie in our life is like a hole has been filled

She's the most loving and chilled out puppy I have ever known. I was ready for the madness and chaos that comes with a puppy but we never really had it. She has many quirks, including sitting upright on the sofa like a human being. She loves to snuggle up into your arms and she's the perfect size to do so.

She is tennis ball-mad, and makes us take her out at 8 pm on the dot for her tennis ball chasing hour! Morning walks are reserved for a gentle stroll through our local woods.

Having Millie in our life is like a hole has been filled. Taking her for her morning walk gives me such a feeling of calm before the day ahead. It's our special time when nothing else in the world matters.

Our life now revolves around planning adventures with Millie and doing everything we can to give her the best years of her life. We often ask ourselves what we used to do before we had a dog. Watching her grown, learn and blossom into an adult dog fills us with so much pride – we can kind of see why people might have children!

Woody might not be the most well-behaved dog, but John knew that he had strength of character as soon as he saw him

Woody is a dog in a million. I’ve had him ever since he was a pup. When I visited the Dog’s Trust centre, I chose him because he was the only one to approach me and with head held high. I thought to myself – he's got gumption and he likes me!

His head held high

It was hard work at first, because he chewed everything in sight, including my furniture – but he was so worth it. I took him to training classes and he did well, but at the formal assessment, he took off around the room when he was told to stay. He ran round and around at full pelt, chairs a-rattling, while all looked on – even the judges laughed!

My gorgeous dog began to have awful seizures a few months ago, including cluster fits. I was so scared for him but his enormous strength of character and resilience carries him – and me – through. I'm so proud of him, and could not love him more. And he still holds his head high!

When Paula bought a miniature schnauzer for her daughter, she never expected to find out that ‘he’ was in fact a female dog – now known as Sadie

My daughter, Eve, had been on a campaign to get a dog since she was two years old. Every birthday or Christmas when we asked what she would like for a present, she always replied ‘a dog’.

At age 13, she said if we didn’t get one before she was 14 we could forget it as she’d get one when she left home. This made us realise that we had no good reason not to get one. So, for Christmas that year, we bought Eve a lead and dog bowl to show our commitment, and the day after Boxing Day we had a little mini schnauzer called Freddie.

She has us all wrapped around her little paw

After a few days, the breeder rang us to ask if we’d been to the vet (we had, and the vet said he hadn’t ‘dropped’ yet) and then asked for the puppy back as ‘he’ was a girl who someone wanted to breed from! Of course, now we were completely besotted with her so couldn’t part with her.

Sadie is small but mighty and makes her gentle presence felt – she has us all wrapped around her little paw. She makes us laugh, melts our hearts every day and has been the best thing we’ve ever done as a family.

Bear knows how to make a splash, much to owner Michelle’s amusement!

Bear is our chocolate Labrador, who is such a joy! He has been by my sidea lot this past year and lay quietly with me the whole time I was ill.

He’s a very active dog and is always chasing a ball around. One of his favourite games is to go upstairs and drop his ball, then run back down to chase it. Bear has so many funny quirks, like the way he barks at any animal on the television.

It’s a great adventure for him

His favourite place is our local countryside park. It’s a great adventure for him as he loves to jump into the water. Bear can’t even go past a big puddle without splashing around in it. His latest hilarious habit is pawing at his water bowl until it spills, then lying on the wet floor!

After a difficult start, Janey is finally living the life she always deserved with Maria and her family

Our Janey is a rescue dog from Romania, who was saved from living life on the streets and brought to the UK by Blind Dog Rescue UK. She had experienced dreadful cruelty and was fostered by a wonderful lady in Derby.

She brightens my day every day

We drove from Essex to Derby to collect her. She was very quiet at first but soon settled in with us and our cats. She’s cheeky, funny and very cuddly. Our cats trust her, and my grandchildren adore her.

She’s so gentle and sweet-natured despite her rough start in life. She’s very precious to us and brightens my day every day.