Today's tale – or should that be tail? – from the Advertiser's archives sees us look back 15 years to the heart-warming story of a pet who was rescued from war-torn Kosovo by a dog handler from Helensburgh.

Here's how we reported the news in the Advertiser on January 13, 2005...

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A TAIL-WAGGING, tongue-lolling bundle of fur and fun has been taken from the harsh and primitive kennels of Kosovo into the loving arms of a Helensburgh dog-handler.

Six-month old Dolly was rescued from the war-ravaged Serbian province after Theresa Fury was charmed by the ‘whiskery wee thing’.

Theresa, 38, a dog handler at Coulport, was on a detachment to Kosovo to train the local police force in dog care when she first encountered the friendly mutt.

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“I found out about this kennel while I was over there and it was absolutely awful,” said Theresa, who moved to Helensburgh from Nottingham 20 years ago.

“There was 30 dogs in pens with no roofs – that isn’t too bad in the summer but in the winter it is minus ten and these dogs would be left out in the open.

“They would be left to go without food for days because no one had the money to look after them.

“One day, I saw this little whiskery thing which just appealed to me and I said to them that straight away that I wanted to take her home.

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The mongrel, christened Dolly because she is made up of a little bit of everything just like a box of Dolly Mixtures, took a while to come round to being shown some kindness after a life of neglect.

Theresa said: “She was born in the wild so there had been no loving, affection or anything.

“I took her back to my apartment and at first she just lay there but after a couple of days she came round and she would let me take her out on a lead.

“She is so loving now.”

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