“Jack Sparrow” has an eye patch. “Lugar”, which is Spanish for spot, has a spot on her back. “Princess” is all white and “Spud” gets a bit clingy.

A litter of puppies rescued from the Waioweka Gorge several weeks ago have been taken in by an Ōpōtiki couple who are already seeing recognisable personalities.

Steffan Hathaway was driving past a rest area one evening when he noticed several tiny puppies barking at his vehicle.

“I wasn’t going to leave puppies out there, so I stopped and caught a couple, then chased the others till I had four,” he said.

“Somebody had dumped them there along with a pile of dry dog pellets.’

It was about 8.30pm when Mr Hathaway finally got back to the Otara home he shares with partner Ella Campbell, their son Henry, 11 months, and the couple’s two dogs.

The couple decided to take on the challenge of finding homes for the abandoned dogs, whose number was added to the following day.

The mother dog and two more puppies were dumped at the Opotiki Society for the Care of Animals, but there was nobody there at the time, so they also came to the couple.

Another puppy had earlier been found and claimed by a member of the public and the mother has found a home. That leaves six puppies unclaimed.

The dogs are thought to be an English or American bulldog cross breed.

The whole family have placid temperaments; the mother letting young Henry climb all over her without the slightest protest.

They are, however, very hungry puppies, at present gobbling up two large tins of Champ dog food and a generous serving of dog biscuits daily.

Ōpōtiki resident Kayser Brown led efforts to raise money to care for the litter. Donations came in after messages were put on Facebook and in the window of the Blue Moon 4 Square.

“We’ve been trying to find homes. So far people have come forward to take the mother and one puppy. We’ll try to re-home the others privately, as we’re reluctant to give them to the council pound or to the SPCA. Nothing against these facilities, but abandoned dogs can have short lives (at both) when nobody comes forward.”

Meanwhile, Ms Campbell, who is already a busy mum, said she has her work cut out cleaning up after the new house guests, adorable as they are.

“We really wonder about the person who abandoned them. It probably would have been more humane to have put them down than to have left them to starve to death out there.

“But there can still be a happy ending for these puppies. They have been wormed, given flea treatments and their first Parvovirus injections. They’re healthy happy animals and would make ideal pets.”