Diane is doing everything she can to help Wish enjoy the happy life she deserves

Wish came into our lives after she retired. We've always had Collies, and had been without one for nearly five years after losing my last. Wish has some funny habits, like how she won’t eat her morning biscuits until we allsit down. She also gives you a disapproving look, like you're being told off,when you've been out and left her at home!

Wish has some funny habits

She loves her ears being tickled and often rests her head against your knees to tell you that’s what she wants. Wish makes our home a happy place, and we can only hope we’re helping her to enjoy her retirement years.

Chester started life as a lockdown puppy and ended up in a rescue centre at a very young age, but now he’s getting the lifetime of love he deserves thanks to Ezza

I was looking online to find volunteering vacancies in local animal shelters when I saw Chester’s photo on the Irlam rescue centre website. I was surprised to see such a young dog in a shelter already.

It turns out that he was lockdown dog – someone bought him, played with him as a puppy during lockdown and then dropped him off to the shelter when he became an inconvenience. His behavioural and health problems indicated physical abuse too. I couldn’t help it, I had to adopt him, even though I wasn’t really looking to get a dog in the first place.

I couldn’t help it, I had to adopt him

From the minute he got home, he did everything he could to fit in and thank me. He would come and lick my hand after every meal, he would jump around happily every time I said ‘walkies’, and he’d give me little kisses when he was happy. He also learnt to be quiet when I worked from home. Now he will just chill until 5pm without disturbing me, and appear when I finish work to remind me he’s ready for fun.

A couple of weeks after I got him, his harness broke when we were on a walk and he started running towards the street off the leash. I thought ‘that’s it, he’s gone’, as that was a very busy street and I couldn’t chase after him because I had injured my knee recently.

I stood there not knowing what to do as we had only known each other for a few weeks back then. But then something magic happened – he turned around and came back to me. He sat down, looked at me and stayed there still until I got him back on the leash. I knew then that it was meant to be.

Looking after Molly hasn’t always been easy, but Nicola has nothing but unconditional love for her

Molly came into our life a year ago and changed it forever. My husband and I had been volunteering at a lovely dog rescue charity called SHAK, where Molly was a favourite. She had been living there for three years and had already had four homes before she came to us.

She is a Husky Akita cross who suffers from separation anxiety alongside reactivity to other dogs, so she isn’t the most easygoing dog in the world. That doesn’t stop her from being really caring and affectionate though, and she absolutely adores people.

She absolutely adores people

When she first came home, she found it quite difficult to adjust. My husband had to sleep downstairs with her every night because she was so anxious. But now, a year later, she is so much better. She still has her anxieties, but that’s what makes her who she is and we wouldn’t change her for the world.

Molly comes with us whenever we volunteer at SHAK to visit all of her old friends and spread some hope. We couldn’t love her anymore.

Willow’s always looking for attention, whether that’s from Alexa and her partner or simply strangers in the street

Willow is a super positive influence in our lives. As you can imagine, we don’t get the best of weather in the North West but every day she looks at us as if to say, ‘Come on paw-rents, take me out, take me out!’ This particularly helps as we both work from home, so getting out the house for three walks a day is a must.

When we’re out, she thinks that every human wants to say hello and she has a special commando move of crawling up to them and sitting right at their feet with her head up, asking to be petted. It’s not often people can resist!

She loves a good pose for attention

She is very independent and likes to be defiant at times with a look of ‘I know what you’re saying but not today, mum.’ Plus, you’ll rarely see her without her favourite ball in her mouth, even if she’s sleeping.

She knows the name ‘daddy’ and if we ask ‘Where’s daddy?’, she’ll always jump on his lap and stand right over him so he has no choice but to pet her. We like to do this just to wind him up!

Her favourite snacks are natural treats and cheese. She won’t do anything at training unless cheese is involved, and that also includes fetching the ball. She’s currently scared of water and will do her best to avoid puddles.

She’s also a bit of an Instagrammer and loves a good pose for attention! I can honestly say Willow has really helped with my mental health by giving me a focus and a reason to get up and out. She even joins us on runs! She’s certainly made us a lot healthier and she’s the best furfriend I could ask for.

Things were tough for Aamer and her family, but Julio brought them a new lease of life and helped them to smile again.

This past year and a half have been quite hard on me and my mum, as we have lost a lot of family members due to a number of reasons, even our beloved dog Ceaser. Things were very bad, and for the first time I felt depressed and tired of life. But then we brought our beloved puppy, Julio the German shepherd, into our lives, and slowly but surely things changed for the better.

He has been a blessing to us

He helped me make new friends on all of our walks. Ok – he does drag me along rather than walk with me, but even that helps as it’s a great workout and cheers us all up! He has a lot of energy in him, and even though that can tire me out at times, it keeps me on my toes and helps me stay motivated.

He loves my 14-year-old son, and he loves him too and has learnt a sense of responsibility thanks to Julio. In short, he has been a blessing to us – although, our sofa definitely does not feel the same way, as he’s chewed it all up!

Joel loves how adventurous his dog Paddington is – she’s always out and about exploring and helping with the farm work.

Paddington love climbing trees, roofs, ladders – basically anything! She was named after Paddington Bear and she definitely lives up to the legacy.

She has her own routine!

She loves spending time on our farm helping with digging or driving the tractors.  She has her own routine of following different people around, depending who needs her help.

We call her a ‘free-range’ dog because she has her own life and we are just here to provide her with treats and food!