After a burglary, my parents decided we needed extra security. Jerry was the answer – and this hungry, handsome hound helped us all in countless ways

Jerry came into our lives because a burglar had broken in. My mum had woken in the middle of the night to find an intruder in our kitchen. He scarpered, but the psychological damage was done. Two days later, my dad came home with the cutest little rescue puppy, with traces of beagle and labrador in him. He was two months old, had a black, brown and white coat, and big, bashful eyes. We called him Jerry because we had a cat called Tom. “I’m not sure how he’ll protect us,” I said. “He will,” my dad replied.

Jerry was very laid-back and Zen. He became part of the family straight away. He also became the therapy dog we hadn’t realised we needed. With two teenagers in the house (me and my older brother) and a hyperactive younger brother, someone was always in a strop and needing to let off steam by taking him out for a walk. Each time, Jerry obliged. I’d bore him with my latest teen-romance trauma; he was a very good listener. Sometimes, he’d have five walks a day, with both of my parents taking their turn. He certainly got his steps in.

Scientists say research suggests blinking may have acquired a social relevance in interactions between dogs and people

Stare into a dog’s eyes and you may encounter a bemused expression. But researchers have found that dogs blink more often when they see their owners doing so, suggesting there may be more to the mutual gaze than meets the eye.

Scientists have previously found that dogs turn on the puppy eyes when humans look at them, and that their brains can distinguish happy human faces from other expressions – even telling apart fearful faces from those that are angry or sad.

He has chased a deer across a dual carriageway, eaten an entire tray of chocolate brownies and jumped head first into a canal. But despite all the worry he brings us, he is extraordinarily lovable

Ernie found his way into our hearts and home about nine years ago, when he strategically crawled into my lap during a family visit to meet a litter of puppies. While all the other beagle puppies ran wild, Ernie sat comfortably on me with his long, soft ears dangling down. We chose him because of his placid nature and named him Ernie after my mum’s late dad, who coincidentally also had short legs and a bit of a round belly.

After a few weeks we realised that Ernie was anything but placid. His gentle temperament quickly morphed into an unruly and persistent need to find his way into danger.

In the week that Years recalled all of its fresh meals, concerns grow about a potential link to dogs’ health conditions

“It’s been horrible – Chester developed sudden red and gunky eyes in May,” said Elizabeth, whose six-year-old cavachon “can’t open his eyes” on many days.

The 29-year-old civil servant is one of a number of people who contacted the Guardian because they are concerned about a potential link between a recalled dog food and their pet’s eye condition.

Cute, egoless canines offer a break from a world that feels dominated by ‘nepo babies’ and ‘Maga lady aesthetic’

What do Nicole Kidman, a pair of “nepo babies” and a beagle called Sansa Martínez Berlingeri have in common? They all appear on the covers of the all-important September issues of Vogue and Dogue. But the winner of the unofficial battle of the covers? The one with the keenest sense of smell and a penchant for playing with socks.

The September covers of British Vogue and Vogue US have come under intense scrutiny after their recent release, while their canine counterpoint, Dogue, has been almost unanimously celebrated.

Move by Years, which provides personalised meals in subscription-based service, follows recipe change

A dog food brand has recalled all of its fresh meals after reports that a recipe change may have caused some animals to develop an eye condition that, if left untreated, can lead to sight loss.

The brand Years said owners should stop feeding its fresh meals to their dogs “immediately” and also told them not to feed them to any other animal, or to donate or sell them.

The winner of The World’s Ugliest Dog Contest, Jinny Lu, took home the big prize in the annual and peculiar competition, which calls attention to the benefits of adopting rescue dogs. The 50th Annual World’s Ugliest Dog contest was held at the Sonoma County Fair in Santa Rosa, California, with contestants from as far away as Poland

• World’s Ugliest Dog contest 2026 – in pictures

Lithuania’s capital Vilnius has been billed as the ‘European corgi capital’. Corgi Race Vilnius began during the pandemic as a friendly bet between two owners, and now features sprint heats, a costume parade, a loudest bark contest, and new agility and ‘run and return’ races.

Researchers analysed activity in regions of brain when dogs were shown images of different facial expressions

While dogs are known to turn the puppy eyes on their owners, it seems our pets are keeping a close eye on us too: research has revealed dog brains can distinguish different types of unhappy human faces.

Dr Laura Cuaya, a co-author of the study from the University of Vienna, said previous behavioural studies had shown dogs could tell apart some human facial expressions, but such studies tended to only test two at a time, one positive and one negative. As a result, it was not clear if dogs could distinguish different types of happy or unhappy faces.

I worked with children for years, so the noise doesn’t bother me. You know you’ve done a good job if they’re quiet on the way home

I’ve been a bus driver for 25 years. Before that, I worked in engineering sales and was on the road a lot, but it became impractical once I had young children. I took my kids to soft play centres and I thought: “I could run a place like this.” I opened my own centre in a Victorian shopping arcade in Otley, West Yorkshire, in 1995. It was great as my daughters could come with me. Then, a customer told me about play buses – vehicles converted into soft play centres with slides, ball pits and climbing frames. I liked the idea.

I went to an exhibition to look at some and bought a doubledecker that had already been converted. My uncle drove it home, because I couldn’t. I had to learn quickly as it was parked outside my house. It had no power steering and a ratchet handbrake. I threw up during my first lesson because I was so scared, but driving it soon became second nature. I passed my test within six months.

With soulful eyes and ‘reverse chicken legs’, greyhounds are challenging to sketch. At a fundraising event in Melbourne, Josh Nicholas tries his hand

I’ve done life drawing before, but this time I am a bit worried. The woman across the room from me has done life drawing too, “but not with dogs”.

The problem with drawing people from life is they tend to move. The same is true of greyhounds, but they also don’t understand when you ask them to hold a pose.

She was the friendliest dog you can imagine – with an insatiable appetite for jeans, table legs and steering wheels. I will always miss that floppy-eared destroyer

Holly, my hyperactive mad hatter of a beagle, was a gift from my well-meaning sister. She was born into a beagle pack who were kennelled in a dog food factory in the Irish town of Edgeworthstown in County Longford. She bounded into my life one sunny evening, a bouncing, dribbling, velvet-eared bundle of puppy energy.

From the moment I laid eyes on her, it felt as if we were meant for each other. She quickly figured out that I was a softie, with an abundance of patience and access to her food.

Police say they also found more than 600 dog collars in area where they suspect animals were killed

Investigators uncovered 117 dead dogs at a northern California animal rescue sanctuary, with many of the canine remains having evidence of gunshots.

Miranda’s Rescue, a sanctuary outside Fortuna, California, described itself as a “no-kill” facility. Investigators said the organization accepted hundreds of dogs each year from shelters across the San Francisco Bay Area in return for hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding.

Need something brilliant to read this weekend? Here are six of our favourite pieces from the last seven days

Our lovable yet unruly boxer Dusty forced me to wonder: if a dog has no morals, how do you teach it to be ‘good’?

When I carried my beautiful two-month-old puppy into our home for the first time, I couldn’t have imagined the scene six months later, as I led her through my local park experiencing such a toxic cocktail of emotions – guilt, regret, powerlessness – that I had tears in my eyes. It was a walk that many dog owners will recognise as having “gone badly”. My exuberant dog, Dusty, had approached another dog that did not wish to play with her. This shouldn’t have happened. I should have been able to call her back. Maybe I should have just kept her on the lead. Maybe I shouldn’t have got a dog in the first place.

Dusty started barking, jumping and circling the owner and her dog at high speed. “Do you want to have a dogfight?” the owner asked curtly, while I lunged around on the ground, all dignity jettisoned. “My dog just wants to play with yours,” I protested. “But mine doesn’t want to play,” she replied. “If you just let yours off the lead for a moment,” I countered, “I think mine would calm down. I promise you, she’s not aggressive.” Her reply: “So what do you call this?” Checkmate. As the seconds and then minutes passed, with Dusty still evading my reach, I began to wonder how long this might go on. Would the police have to be called?