In February 2017, Zorro and his sister Zena were surrendered to Galway SPCA. The two Akita pups were underweight and covered in fleas but within 36 hours everything took a turn for the worse.

Both puppies were found in their kennels paralysed and were immediately rushed to the vet. After a course of steroids Zena began walking again however, Zorro was not responding to treatment.

Emma O'Brien of the GSPA told Independent.ie that they never gave up on Zorro.

"You always doubt yourself. Many would have made the decision to put him down but that's not what we do here. We were not going to give up on him."

Soon after, Zorro began doing hydrotherapy once a week in order to stimulate his legs again.

"Each trip would take at least five hours there and back" Emma explained "It's easy to pity a dog like that but pity was not going to help him."

After four months of therapy Zorro was finally able to stand again and began to walk and socialise with other dogs. In the meantime, over on the GSPCA Facebook page the volunteers shared Zorro's story and soon they were inundated with adoption requests.

"Everyone wanted him but we had to make sure it was for the right reasons."

The GSPCA has a strict re-homing process and when the perfect family became interested in Zorro they were put through a long screening process.

"We made sure they visited numerous times. They visited us three times a week for six weeks in order for Zorro to get used to them."

Zorro will now spend his first Christmas in his forever home thanks to the hard work of the volunteers at the GSPCA and hopefully he will have many more Christmases to come.

Make sure to check out the Facebook page to find out more information on how to help dogs like Zorro this holiday season.

Online Editors