Bentley

Although not technically mine (he is a pap rescue dog) Bently lives with us permanently, he was passed into rescue before i took over and put into a home that was totally unsuitable, the first i heard of it was when the woman rang me up and said - i need this dog picking up, im changing jobs and cant take him, family will have the rest but not him!

I got someone to pick him up for me, then got the phonecall! He was matted so solid he had to be clipped as short as a jack russell (but had to be bathed 3 times before the clippers would go through the coat) every tooth in his mouth was caked with horrible grey concrete stuff and there was puss pouring out from behind his teeth if you touched them, needless to say they all came out at the vets.

That was just the start of it, Bently hated being touched, if you went down to touch him he threw himself over on his back, brought his paw over his face and screamed like youve never heard. He was with me for 6 months for rehabilitation where we worked on him to stop him screaming and to start accepting stroking and brushing until i found a lovely new home for him. Here he came on beautifully until November 2009 when due to family circumstances he had to come back, at 18 1/2 year old he wasnt going anywhere else, so at 19 1/2 years old (Oct 2010) hes still here, mostly deaf and limited sight but he knows what he wants!

He starts bouncing at feed time and we have to put the fire guard up as hes nearly bounced in the coal fire a time or two, we also have to move the water bowl as he has bounced in this frequently at food time! He will only eat raw food - serve anything else up and he looks at you as if to say come on then wheres the proper stuff!

He will stay with me until he passes on, a much loved member of our family

Bently was quietly put to sleep at 3.20pm on Monday 27th July aged 20

Bently when he arrived and after he was clipped