Harvey
Rescued: April 2013
Passed away: December 2023

Harvey was abandoned as a puppy on a tiny balcony in April 2013, left to sit in his own faeces with no food or water, very little shade and no way of escaping. We were told the Spanish family who lived there could no longer pay their utilities and had simply left, locking Harvey on their terrace.

A woman who lived in a neighbouring apartment noticed this poor puppy and called the police, who said they couldn’t act without a rescue centre lined up to take him afterwards. The local dog charities were too full to help, so she called us in desperation. We simply couldn’t say no.

Harvey was still a puppy when he arrived, small for his age and with a slightly deformed back due to malnourishment.

He’s now more than made up for that slow start. He’s an enormous boy – the size of some of our miniature horses – and doesn’t quite seem to realise just how big he is, meaning he occasionally bowls people over from sheer excitement. Luckily, he doesn’t seem to have a mean bone in his body.

Harvey lives in our garden with our other canine residents, but has also learned how to open doors so regularly lets himself inside.

He’s taken up a lot of our personal space and he’s certainly not the sort of dog we would have picked for ourselves, but nonetheless he’ll stay with us for the rest of his life, as they all will. We believe that if you undertake to save an animal, you must keep it for the rest of it’s life, not play pass the parcel with it. Harvey is with us for good.