PLUCKY pup Tinkerbell was found chained to a gravestone in a Stroud cemetery with just a bowl of water and biscuits to keep her alive.
A week later, she's enjoying the luxury of a warm bed and a cooked chicken dinner thanks to the efforts of Whitminster animal sanctuary Teckels.
Tinkerbell was picked up by a dog warden and taken to the Bristol Road shelter for lost dogs.
The young Jack Russell was frightened, thin and carried a "haunted" look.
Centre manager Joan Barrett said her staff were disturbed by the condition she was found in.
"I have seen many dogs who have been brought in, but none have had a look on their face like Tinkerbell," she said.
"She looked so scared. She was quite traumatised and we have kept her in the office all week, she didn't want to be left alone." When no one came forward to claim the unwanted dog, staff treated her skin condition and microchipped her before trying to find her a new home.
Heather Glassonbury, from Stonehouse, had two Jack Russells for 15 years until they died recently.
Since then she has been scouring animal shelters for a new companion. It was her son who found Tinkerbell at Teckels and when Heather took her grandchildren to meet Tinkerbell, it was love at first sight.
"I think it is just so sad that someone could treat an animal like that," she said.
"She is such a lovely little thing. Tinkerbell is settling in well and we have given her some doggie chocolates and she will be having a tasty cooked chicken for her tea."
