I’m going to share a great story of triumph over adversity. This poor chap had a miserable existence before we met him. On the day we made our acquaintance, we had walked into a dog rescue looking for a young male collie as a mercy dog to encourage Rosie to start eating again. She was consumed by grief (as were we all) at Archie’s loss and had stopped eating. We couldn’t allow that to happen because she was desperately sick and needed all her strength to fight the cancer that was raging around her body.

JD was the only boy who met our needs but he was “damaged goods” in the worst sense of the word. At the ripe old age of two, he’d already been in the rescue centre four times. His first owner was prosecuted for cruelty, then he went through a succession of homes, each time being returned to the rescue because he was disturbed, difficult and hard to handle.

It took us a while to realise the extent of his spooks, because he loved us instantly and with all his heart. It was the rest of the human race he couldn’t get along with. We couldn’t walk him off a lead because he’d charge people down and get in their faces barking and growling. When people came to our house, he terrorised them and as soon as their backs were turned he’d nip their bums – not hard, but just to let them know not to mess with him.

Over the course of a year, we took him to dog training classes with the amazing Carol Valvona. At the end of his “therapy” she said she thought he’d never truly get over his spooks but at least we could now work out his triggers and make sure we didn’t compromise either his, or any human’s well-being. The sausage lady (Carol) had helped us to build his confidence enough to enable us to walk him off the lead and to be able to invite people into our home.

Over the five years between bringing him home and now, he lost Rosie (and we all still miss her desperately), gained Lola as a friend and he’s mellowed imperceptibly bit-by-bit. We only notice the land marks – he let our friends' daughter into the house without a murmur when she came looking for her Mum and Dad at 2am on New Year's Day, then a couple of months ago he deposited his tennis ball at the feet of a total stranger and wouldn’t take no for an answer…but in a nice, asking way, not an aggressive one.

Since we have had Lola and JD, we have never left the dogs all day because of our working patterns. Now we both go out first thing and don’t return until late. I’ve been worried sick about their well-being, although they don’t seem to spooked and they’ve slotted into their new routines well. I still felt they should have company during the day so I have found a person who is going to come in every day and see them at lunchtime.

Today was her first day and I was so terrified that we’d come home from work to find her injured in our hallway that I decided to work at home for the day. When I heard her arrive, I peeped round the corner of the top of the stairs and watched JD like a hawk. I need not have worried – as she came through the inner door, his tail was wagging. She made them both sit and then dispensed biscuits to both of them. JD then spent a happy hour following her around. I could see he was completely happy and confident.

That would have impossible even three years ago. We can now finally regard him as a confident boy, comfortable in his own skin and able to communicate with humans on a happy level. I’m so proud of his achievements. We worked hard not to write him off – it would have been so easy to walk away from him when we realised how spooked he was but we persisted and five years of kindness have transformed him. He is such a good boy.

On a separate note, I am delighted with this photo - the plane of sharpness across his eyes is just right!