Megan Everett, who is head nurse at Chantry Vets on Brindley Way, Wakefield, went above and beyond the call of duty to give Dodger a second chance of a happy life.

The young Lurcher was starving and riddled with parasites, with patches of red-raw skin, when he was dumped beside a road near Wakefield.

A passer-by who witnessed what happened spent a few hours trying to catch the pup and took him to Chantry Vets where the team rallied to look after him.

Megan then took Dodger home to meet her husband Richard and their seven-year-old Lurcher Bambi and officially adopted him.

Megan’s dedicated care was rewarded at the British Veterinary Nurse Association Congress 2023, which celebrates the veterinary nursing profession, where she won the Hill’s Award for the Most Transformed Life.

Megan said: “It’s lovely that all that hard work paid off and it was great to get recognition.

“Dodger came in as a stray in May. He looked neglected. He was only 13kg but should have been at least 18kg at the time. He was bald in places; his skin was raw, and he had fleas and mites.

“He needed to be fed every few hours because he had been starved.

“He started to come outside with me at lunch times, and I couldn’t resist.

“He was very nervous and is most fearful of men. We knew he would be a work in progress. For the first three months he wouldn’t go for a walk with my husband and would run home if we practised recall.

“He used to steal food and we had to watch him all the time because of the risk of him swallowing foreign objects. These issues are all getting better as time goes on.

“I try and see things from his point of view, and it makes me proud to see how he has come on.

He is a lovely dog and has a lot of character. Not having him now would leave a significant hole in our lives. Considering what he has gone through, the trust he now has in people is incredible.”