A death-defying young dog has been crowned PDSA Pet Survivor of the year, after surviving a fall down a 60ft dam in the Scottish Highlands. During a walk with her owners, two-year-old Darcy jumped over a five-foot wall and plunged down a concrete slipway.

Vets treated her for multiple injuries, including a ruptured spleen, damaged liver, air leaking into her chest, a fractured pelvis, fractured and dislocated front leg and a complex open fracture to the back leg and hip joint. Her recovery has been called "miraculous".

Fifty working dogs and 50 dogs over eight years old are being offered free eye examinations to celebrate 50 years of the Hereditary Eye Disease Scheme.

The main purpose of the Hereditary Eye Disease Scheme, which currently screens for 12 conditions in over 50 breeds, is to ensure there is no evidence of hereditary eye disease in dogs used for breeding.

Organisers say that The Canine Health Scheme, run by the BVA and Kennel Club, will approach a number of working dog organisations to organise the exams.

Owners of dogs that are over eight can contact the CHS office on 020 7908 6380 for details of their nearest participating eye panelist.

The Scottish SPCA has launched its annual Staffie Awareness Week in a bid to change negative public perceptions of the breed.

Chief superintendent Mike Flynn says it can take the charity up to six months to rehome a Staffie and past research found 75 per cent of those surveyed were unlikely to give the breed a home, with the majority believing it is dangerous. While the charity has managed to change many people's views, there is still a lot of work to be done, which is why staff are inviting the public to meet the Staffies in their care this week.

Last month staff and volunteers working with Mission Rabies managed to vaccinate 11,185 dogs in Goa. International director Kate Shervell said: "This campaign brings us closer to eliminating rabies from the State of Goa. Since annually vaccinating over 50,000 dogs, the number of dog rabies cases has been cut by 60 per cent and human cases have dropped to only five last year and none so far this year. We will keeping vaccinating until we are 100 per cent sure rabies has been eliminated for good."

During October, education teams visited schools to spread life-saving rabies prevention messages to over 4,600 children. The project also provided specialist equipment for diagnosing rabies to the government laboratory in Panaji, Goa.

Battersea Dogs and Cats Home has paid homage to its longest serving volunteer, Laurence Ackland Smith. Laurence started volunteering as a dog walker on 16 October 1986 and since then, he has donated 12,000 hours of his time and walked dogs around 7,500 miles - the equivalent of 290 marathons. Now, he particularly enjoys the charity's monthly visits to the Royal Hospital, when pensioners get to cuddle and interact with the dogs.

To honour Laurence's 30 years with the charity, staff and volunteers gathered to throw him a celebratory party where he received a certificate of achievement.

A rare black dormouse has been spotted in the Blackdown Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on the Devon/Somerset border. First recorded in 1972, black dormice were not seen again until last year and, until now, have only ever been recorded in small numbers in northern Germany. The sighting occurred when dormouse boxes were being checked as part of the National Dormouse Monitoring Programme.

Ian White, dormouse officer for the People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES), said the programme has been running for over 25 years, during which time volunteers have collected data on thousands of dormice at nearly 400 sites, but never before has a black dormouse been found.

Image by Rob Grimmond