A DOG abandoned on Portland has been given the perfect Christmas present after two animal charities stepped in to fund a life-saving operation.

Weymouth and Portland dog warden Ian Lewis was contacted after the Lancashire Heeler was found in Hambro Road.

He said: “He had obviously been dumped and when we took him to the kennels they noticed he was dragging his right back leg.

“We took him to the vet and they said he would need an X-ray.”

The X-ray revealed the dog, which Mr Lewis believes is less than a year old, was suffering from Perth disease, a condition from birth that developed as a result of not receiving enough blood in his mother’s womb.

The vet at the Moorcroft veterinary practice on Dorchester Road, Weymouth, said the animal would need an operation that would cost between £750 and £1,000.

Mr Lewis said: “The council could not afford that so I spoke to the RSPCA and Paws (The Progressive Animal Welfare Society) and they agreed to fund some of the operation.

“Then I got a call back from Paws saying that they and Happy Dogs Rescue would fund the whole lot between the two of them and then re-home the dog.”

Mr Lewis said that were it not for the intervention of Paws and Happy Dogs – a re-homing charity working across Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire – the young dog was facing a very bleak future.

He said: “It’s a nice outcome because if we couldn’t have got funding, he would have had to be put down.”

Mr Lewis added: “The owners had obviously taken him to the vet and been told the operation would cost in the region of £750 so they brought him to Portland and dumped him there.

“If they had taken him to have it done when he was a puppy, it wouldn’t have cost half as much to put right.”

The young dog is currently being looked after at the Woodlands Farm Kennels near Bridport, where staff have given him the nickname of ‘Shorty’ for his diminutive stature.