The pet I’ll never forget: Sylvester the dog adored my mum – and his memory comforted me when she died

Comfort and joy … Sylvester taught me how much love a dog can give. Photograph: Supplied image

I first met our family dog, Sylvester, on New Year’s Eve 1990. I was nine years old. My mother took me to the local animal rescue centre, just to have a look at the dogs we could adopt. The moment Sylvester saw us, his whole body started wagging, not just his tail.

He was a mongrel who had been abandoned by his previous owner but it was obvious from the length of his body that one of his parents must have been a dachshund – and whenever he was excited, as he was that day, his whole body would waggle back and forth around his head with joy, in a sort of S-shape.