Thankfully, a puppy who had been brutally crated in a trash bag and left to die next to a riverbank was saved in time.

Every now and then there’s an animal ʀᴇsᴄᴜᴇ story that takes my ʙʀᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴀᴡᴀʏ. Oliviero’s is one such story.

Two women were strolling across the rivers of Messina in Southern Italy, when the ᴍᴜꜰꜰʟᴇᴅ ᴡʜɪᴍᴘᴇʀs of an animal caught their attention. They began to investigate the location of the noise and they discovered something in a garbage bag lying along the banks of the River Terme Vigliatore. What they found sʜᴏᴄᴋᴇᴅ and appalled them.

When the woman tore open the plastic bag, she found a dog in ᴘᴏᴏʀ condition. The scene was more ʜᴏʀʀɪꜰʏɪɴɢ when not far away, there was a ᴅᴇᴀᴅ calf lying Rᴏᴛᴛɪɴɢ nearby. The dog was ᴛʜʀᴏᴡɴ ᴀᴡᴀʏ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛʀᴀsʜ, ᴛɪᴇᴅ ᴜᴘ by electrical wires while vermin and ꜰʟʏ ʟᴀʀᴠᴀᴇ settled on the dog’s ʀᴀᴡ ᴍᴇᴀᴛ. He was so ᴇxʜᴀᴜsᴛᴇᴅ that he couldn’t stand up on his own.

The first thing the woman did was give the dog water to give him a boost. Then, they called the animal ʀᴇsᴄᴜᴇ staff to get help. Linda Li, an animal ʀᴇsᴄᴜᴇ volunteer, came and took the dog to the ᴠᴇᴛ. He seemed to know he was sᴀᴠᴇᴅ and it wagged its tail repeatedly.

They named the dog Oliviero. After ᴇxᴀᴍɪɴᴀᴛɪᴏɴ, they determined that he was ᴘᴀʀᴀʟʏᴢᴇᴅ in his hind legs due to an ᴜɴᴋɴᴏᴡɴ ɪɴᴊᴜʀʏ. Oliviero is cleaned of ticks and cleaned. He gets better every day thanks to the dedicated care of the ʀᴇsᴄᴜᴇ volunteers. Finally, Oliviero is adopted by a kind woman who will give him the love and family he deserves. Thank you to the ʟɪꜰᴇɢᴜᴀʀᴅs who helped change his life.

The pet I’ll never forget: Ella the puppy threw up on me, snubbed me and after 10 years decided to love me

Mum, Dad, my brother Michael: everyone in the family got more affection from our ridgeback-staffie cross. And guess whose bed she used to poo on…

I think the tone was set when Ella threw up over me on the way back from the Dogs Trust. She was three months old, rolling around on the back seat between me and my twin brother, Michael (we’d just turned seven), and wasn’t enjoying her first trip in a car. She could have been sick anywhere – over the seat, over the floor – but for some reason she decided to climb on to me first.

It was the start of a beautiful but strangely one-sided friendship. Ella, a ridgeback-staffie cross, was the perfect dog: playful, energetic, naughty and tolerant. She would let us poke and prod her without complaint, turn her ears inside-out or dress her up in T-shirts or the thick woollen poncho my Greek Cypriot grandma knitted her for the British winter. And she was endlessly loving, at least to the other members of the family. Me? Too often it was as if I didn’t exist. If Michael and I were sitting on the sofa, she’d bound up to him. If I came home after a day out with my dad, he was the one she’d jump at. If I tried to take her for a walk by myself, she’d drag her feet and insist that I fetch my brother.

To add insult to injury, about once a year she would do a poo in the house. Not just anywhere, though: she’d climb the stairs to my room and leave it in a neat pile on top of my bed.

I can’t pretend I wasn’t offended by Ella’s attitude – I loved her just as much as anyone. But it took me a while to realise that in her eyes we were both bitches fighting for our place in the pack. I read that dogs are 98.8% wolf, even yappy little chihuahuas. Ella was a definite she-wolf and my mother (she who opened the tin of dog food every night) was the undisputed alpha female. Ella could handle that fact, but she didn’t want to be the omega female. That was me.

Working out the reasons for Ella’s lack of sisterhood, understanding that her indifference was atavistic and not just casual, didn’t make me any less jealous of my brother, who always took great pleasure in the fact that Ella seemed to prefer him. But I resigned myself to the situation. And then one day (happy ending, anyone?) everything changed. I must have been 16 or 17, we’d been away for a fortnight in France, and when we got back it was me she ran up to first, whining and twisting with pleasure at seeing me again. After that it was like all those years of competition had never happened. We were best friends for ever, or at least for the couple of years she had left. Ella finally loved me.

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