Animal crossing

has been a challenging one for most but, for some, it brought added sadness. In March, 27-year-old Stephanie Ters from Croydon in Sydney, learnt that, at 12 weeks, her long-awaited pregnancy had come to an end. In the weeks and months after the emergency surgery that followed her ectopic-pregnancy diagnosis, she found herself at an emotional “rock bottom”. What she and her husband of three years, Andrew, hadn’t reckoned on, though, was the comfort they’d derive from their unfeasibly perky three-month-old Shiranian (shih tzu-Pomeranian mix), Casper, purchased just two weeks earlier. Chocolate box-winsome, with a fluffy white cloud of a coat and blackcurrant eyes, Casper just seemed to know it was his time to shine. “When I got home from hospital, he lay by my side on the couch,” says Ters. “He sensed my mood. He’d lick my face, try to make me