When we had an opportunity of sending ten little ones to our friends in Austria we weren’t cheering. There was no money for this extra trip and the babies could simply miss their chance. We had no other options but to ask for your help.

Three days later thanks to you and your great geneurocity ten lovely sweethearts have arrived at their Destination Love! 10 lovely puppies are now in the caring hands of the foster families at Sibi’s Hundeparadies!

The puppies waiting for the start of their journey at the shelter office this morning

Of course, things had to get complicated at the last moment – some of the puppies began caughing yesterday. Coud be nothing, but also could be an illness, so some of the babies had to be replaced in the last moment. But the good news is that we managed to squeeze in 10 pups on this journey to happiness.

And here, for you, dearest frinds of Animal Rescue Sofia, are the 10 souls you saved. These puppies have much to thank you for, although they will never know that you have saved them from a caged, lonely life. Here we go:

Acta, Blair

Blair, Acta, Noah, Rusty and Skills are siblings. They were found dumped on the freezing ground near a garbage bin. They grew up at the shelter quarantine and have never even been outside yet. What a grat surprise life will be to them from now on!

Rusty, Noah, Skills

Yet another lucky sibling on this journey are the amazing white ladies called Heather and Shane. These babies were found at a dumpster on the edges of Sofia. Just a handful of puppies, bloated with worms, skinny and disoriented. Their bigger brother Colin was lucky to be adopted locally. Here are the ladies and on the right you see how they looked when they were first picked up:

Top left Shane, below -Heather. On the right – where they came from

There are very few things in the world that can be so sad as the look of an unwanted baby, torn from it’s mother, alone and confused. Shane and Heather can thank their lucky stars tonight. We go on with the list, presenting to you a rarely sweet and absolutely gourgeous little boy – Antonio!

Antonio

If you have just felt the absolute need to have this lovely puppy at your side – don’t worry! We still have Miro – Antonio’s twin brother for you to adopt! These puppies are 100% “homemade”, perhaps they are the babies of a Golden retreiver, we are not sure. But they are absolutely special, that we can guarantee. Just as any shelter puppy is.

And finaly, last, but certainly not least

Olivia and Damon

Damon and Olivia come from two different dumped litters, but are so much alike in their temperament! Balanced, friendly, smart and so loving and human-oriented that your heart simply melts for them. Dogs like these two must be the reason humans love canines – friendly, loyal, obedient, following your every move with love, appreciating every second of the time they spend with you…

So this is it, people. These 10 angels are now officialy safe thanks to you. Thanks to the fact that you didn’t just just click further, but gave what you could to see them happy. And they will be, you can be sure. Thanking you with every tailwag!

On days like this we feel the world is a friendly and joyful place. Thank you for being so great!!!

Until recently Heartworm was an unknown word for us. That was before. We were forced to learn it. We had to call every veterinarian who has been confronted with the serious disease to ask for advice and help.

We began a hard battle with unclear for anyone outcome – can we, or can’t we cope, would we raise the unachievable for us amount for medicines, would the dangerous treatment be successful – no one knew…

We still don’t dare to praise ourselves. Therefore we won’t tell you – we have the first ones cured! We would say it more humble – the treatment of Jack, Harley and Sibir is over!

The little beasts fought hard. First, we isolated them in individual fence surroundings, because we had to avoid all thrills and tremendous movements. Regarding the endlessly moving Harley and Jack, constraining their actions was impossible – they kept jumping, climbing the doggy houses… Each sharp movement was endangering their lives. We were forced to chain them. We, who are so much against chained dogs, were watching day by day, week by week, month by month the chains around their necks and every time we promised them: – Just a little longer and you would be free! Once you recover, and you would never ever again be chained!

Sibir

The preparation is over. All vitamins and medicines were given. The first dose of Immiticide. Jack is lying down with fever and his body is convulsing from pain. Sibir is crying quietly. Harley… well, I admit, Harley is tough – nothing can scare him and he probably didn’t even know we have him a painful and dangerous injection.

Weeks are rolling, their problems are calming down. But time has come for the second dose. The most dangerous one. The one that is most often a cause for heart attack or sudden death. The vets and caregivers are checking them in turns every half hour. And every time – with fear. Would they all be alive?

Jack refused to eat. Actually he refused everything – he was not getting up, he was not happy to see us. He was looking at us with his black eyes as if he was asking “Why me?” Sibir was standing motionless like a statue for hours – a statue of a sad and lonely dog. And Harley unchained himself, jumped over the fence and ran uncontrollably for kilometers just a hand away from the breathless caregivers. Now I’m wondering who was more endangered with a heart attack – Harley or Dr. Tsureva…

Sibir, on the other hand, did not have such a problem. The kind and gentle Sibir was happy for a first time in his life. While in the common cages, the other dogs were oppressing him psychologically and even when we moved him with the small puppies, Sibir was hiding from them and was always awaiting a human to come standing with his head down.

Jack
Days passed and the risk passed with them. We figured out we were postponing their tests. What if they were positive again? Would we make the boys go through the same hell once again?

Luckily, we don’t face this dilemma anymore. Jack passed two tests – both negative. Harley and Sibir – one. After a week or two we would make another one. Just in case.

After all they’ve been through, Jack, Harley and Sibir would go back to the common cages, but this time, they would be healthy. And hopefully their adopters would appear soon – the boys worked really hard, so they can live, and what is a better reward than living happily.

And us? We start all over again. Since the rest of the dogs with the terrible diagnosis are awaiting their cure…

Harley

Now is the time to thank everyone who helped us in this scary journey:

• The donors, who made the impossible possible by purchasing the medicine. Dear friends, without you, these wonderful animals would have never heard the magical word – HEALTHY!
• Dr. Milen Kostadinov from Novet clinic and Dr. Ranko Georgiev from Central Vet Clinic. Without you, we were just confused kids, who didn’t know what to do. Thank you!
• Dr. Iva Nikolova, Dr. Nadezhda Tsureva and Dr. Rositsa Stoyanova, who gave everything of themselves during the lengthy treatment. Girls, you’re incredible!

Dear friends,
we are VERY happy to let you know that 10 of our sweet cats have found loving homes in Holland thanks to the wonderful work of our colleagues there. Here htey are: Sunny, Stefcho, Tiger, Irene, Thomas, Jack, Malcho, Malvina, Stella and Rachelly:

Malcho and Malvina – a brother and a sister who were rescued as tiny little babies in September.  The babies were dumped in a yard where a dog took them for toys. The dog wasn’t aggresive, but the rough games caused the lives of 2 kittnes before a neighbour decided to do something. The sweet kitties will have no problem finding loving homes in their new homeland.

This is how small they were when they were first picked up by their saviour:

And these sweethearts are Jack and Thomas, they don’t know they’re not brothers

The boys were both rescued from the street and lived in a house full of dogs. They grew strong and became huge, sweet-tempered and social tomcats. It seemed nearly impossible to have them rehomed, but why!?

Such wonderful cats should be in great demand, but people don’t know anything about a good cat these days… Everyone is asking for a kitten, a cute-looking one too. And fabulous, clever, kind cats like Thomas and Jack should never be lonely and unwanted.

Rachelly and Stella have also been picked up from the street. Rachelly never got over her fear of humans completely – she has seen too much pain as a stray cat. On the contrary Stella, who was rescued as a tiny little baby grew to love both humans and dogs with all her heart.

The three brothers below are Tiger, Sunny and Stefcho. Tiger is the smart one, Sunny is the cute one and Stefcho is the beautiful one. All three of them were living on a staircase of a house for quite a while. A kind lady used to take care of them since they were little babies, but couldn’t do so anymore. So this lucky family found love in a real home!

And finally – Irene! Aaaah, so much was said and done about Irene, what a stдry. She was rescued from an air-vent as a tiny little baby. Then she was nurced to life at a kind foster home. Then it turned out she needed surgery for a breathing malformation… A strange destiny, but we didn’t give up on her, Irene’s will to survive is too strong to let some troubles get in her way!

Good luck to you sweet creatures! We are so happy to know you will be loved!!!

Dear friends,
we are increadibly happy to inform you that 31 wonderful dogs from the Bogrvo shelter have found love and happiness in Holland! The group is a colorful bunch of doggies that we’ve had for quite a while – most of them came to the shelter as tiny puppies and know nothing yet about the many joys life has to offer! Here we go:

Of course we begin with Tihomir! A bouy you know about, a boy you’ve helped us save. Sweet Tiho has left us for good and will be making his owners very proud and happy in Holland! Finally, there will be no more troubles ahead – only happiness!

Aaaaah, how great it is to have a happy end to such a sad story!

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As most mothers that came to the shelter with their babies she also got the name “Mommy”. That somehow later was transformed to Mamacita and stayed this way. Mamacita had an unsusual trait – she hated men. Not just hated, but also gnarled at them and tried to bite at any occasion. When the babies were weaned we came to the point of a decision – if we should neuter and return her to the street, or she should stay in the shelter. Marieta and Nadia decided that any dog who is smart enough not to trust men deserves a chance. A year passed, then another one. The keepers and volunteers worked hard with Mamacita and there is no trace left of her hatered to men. Unfortunately even without this problem Mamacita remained unattractive to people – her looks were too plain. So, she remained in the cage until our Dutch friend heard her story and said: “Oh, here is one really clever dog. She deserves a good life!”

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Joey, Ross and Rachel are three friends that were lucky to have a foster home. They were found on a crossroad on he highway, abandoned by people. Two of their siblings had already been ran over by the fats cars. And these three were walkinga long the road, completely unaware that death is just centimeters away – just a bunch of fat little silly pups… The Friends waitd to find love  and people who would like them for half a year intil they were chosen to go to the land of tulips.

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Farewell dearest Wendy!

We took our Wendy from Seslavci last summer with one of her babies. In Seslavci she was put in a small little cage with twelve babies – half of them her own, the other half – not.  This wonderful, caring dog gave her best to feed all of the babies, trying to save them from the hunger and misery in the cage. But alas – Wendy’s mother love and commitment weren’t enough. Until the time we could take her in Bogrov all of the babies but one passed.

Wendy spent a long time in Bogrov, together with her sweet daughter Joy. She said her last goodbye to Joy (the second photo) with so much love and tenderness, we had to shed a tear. We hope so strongly that sweet Joy can have a home of her own now that her mother has left the shelter…

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You are not mistaken – these three German Shepherd dogs were unwanted here in Bulgaria. Seems like people are really rich here – they prefere to pay huge money to buy a dog instead of adopting:

Morigan came with a litter of abandoned puppies in the spring of 2010. Happily for her and sadly to them, she is the first of her family to be rehomed.
Dexter is a small puppy that was born ot the street and was nearly sealed off in a hot-water pipe during reconstruction. He had a wonderful foster home.
Risa was saved somewhat “by accident”… Our volunteers were called on a distress signal for a German shepherd – a mommy and three babies. They took them in only to find out that these were a different set of German Shepherds in distress… How lucky for Risa!

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Buch was born in the spring of 2011. He came to us with his abandoned siblings and is the last of his group to be rehomed. Such a calm and clever dog, he was born to live alongside people and will finaly have a chance to prove how great he is.

Thea came to us in the beggining of 2011. Of course 0 she was a dumped puppy. She was so small that you could fit her in your palm, just a handful of life. Thea grew into a lively, sweet dog with a wonderful attitude and a huge love for people.

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God little Virda has been with us since such a tiny baby:

We took her out of the municipal shelter in Seslavci a month before we began working at Bogrov.  All of her siblings have been rehomed since that day two years ago. And this sweet lady remained behind. Since she had been living in these conditions all her life – Virda had no problem in the shelter, she was one of the dogs that are really happy about life. A friendly, curious dog Virda never got into fights, never had problems with any dog or a person. She deserved this happy moment in so many ways!

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Chara was a charming dog that lived on the staircase of a Sofia living block. A kind, gentle dog that tried to be as quiet and good as possible. But here is Sofia it is forbidden to have animals on the stairs of buildings and Chara was facing the threat of being put away in the municipal shelter of Seslavtzi. Good Chara was very lucky to find love and protection in Holland. And she will be such a wonderful pet!

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Amanda and Graffiti are one of those puppies we call “cardboard box babies’. It means that they were the puppies of a pet dog that the owners left fertile. When the puppies were born they were simply put in a box and dumped in the middle of the city. Both these sweethearts have lovely brothers and sisters still with us at the shelter – hoping for loving families to chose them and take them to a warm, loving home…

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Emil the puppy was also dumped. Only with him it was even worse – he was dumped as a tiny suckling – unable to make it on his own. To his and his sisters great luck, they were found by a very kind woman who hand-reared them and broght them up to life.

Emil is the youngest of the dogs that travelled with this stransport. He left behind three carbon copies of himself – his 3 sisters. See the quarted on the second photo and try to make out wich one is Emil – it won’t be easy.

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Lovely boys Spas and Bear were among the dogs most loved by the volunteers.

Spas has been with us for nearly 2 years now. We will let you know much more about him in our Blog, as he is our dog №1000 to be rehomed Hurray!

And Bear – beautiful sweet bear, son of Miss Daisy has been with us for over 1 year. He is not affraid, he is just shy. But because of this shyness – he never got to be even offered for adoption. We are very careful not to send shy dogs abroad – better to heve them here, then to know they will be stuck forever in a shelter far away… Anyway – lucky Bear caught the eye and heart of our Dutch partners with his gentle temperament and love for people. Good luck to you, Bear!

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Chockolate time! Frida and Nikki look alike, but are not related, at least as far as we know. Both ladies were very lucky to have foster homes.

Frida’s story is quite strange actually. She appeared, then disappeared, then reappeared again… And of course people showed up claiming they were the ones who were looking after her in the meantime. Not only 1 group of people, but a few – all claiming that they took care of her. How this little girl managed to multiply and be with so many people at the same time is a mystery. The good news is this little wonderer will no longer wonder alone.

The saving of Niki is a proof that when there is a will – there is a way. And Niki’s foster – Vera, found the way. We only had to talk to her once – t let her know that the dog has been approved for Holland. Vera did everything necessary – took her off the street into her home, vaccinated, dewormed and trained her. It was only when Vera came to bring her to the shelter that we found out Vera was veeeery pregnant. It’s so great to meet people like her! Niki of course is the most happy!

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Ahh, sweet Vasya! A little girl who was found nearly dead, ill, bold and miserable in the summer. Vasya has been through alot, but managed to get over the hardest times thanks to her wonderful foster parents who did their best for her. Today little Vasya can enjoy a life of love and a home to call her own!

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These sweethearts are siblings Puppa, Shisko, Daisy and Bimba. They are the babies of a stray mother and a pet father – a husky. Since there was no space at the shelter these little ones grew up and were prepaired for their journey whilst still on the street. 4 families in Holland will be very, very happy!
The 5-th puppy from this sweet group, little Ares was rehomed to a family that already has a cat from us, here in Bulgaria.

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Now this is what we call “a shelter veteran” – sweet lady Lisa has been in Bogrov from even before we bergan working here. This small, energetic, kind and lively little girl spent 3 of her total 4 years of life caged. This will be one major change for her, and a good one too! Way to go girl!

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Do you know what “homeless color” is? It is a mixture of gray-brown that many of our shelter dogs have. And it is the color of dog that is least likely to be adopted, however sweet the dog underneath it may be…

Pancho is the third brother of famous calendar boy Jar-Jar to be rehomed. They are all lovely, friendly animals, but unfortunately sweet Cubrick, the last brother to stay with us is totally unattractive to people.
Dewi is a sweet, gentle, calm and very people-oriented girl who was simply invisable at the shelter. We are extatic about her going to Holland – finally a chance for her to shine!
And Biggi – well, Biggi will be in our hearts forever. This sweet dog has spent half a year with us and never ever showed any bad side of himself – always friendly to everyone, always waving his butt (he has no tail) in joy. Goodbye you silly boy, we will miss you!

 Well, this is it! The colorful group of lovely misfits who now face bright future in a wonderful new homeland. Our greetings and regards to our colleagues in Holland, to the donors, to the foster families, to the volunteers and to the staff of Bogrov for making this miracle come true!

Hurray! Third weekend in a row this year, all dogs from all cages have been walked!
Admirations to all volunteers who took the courage and came, despite the negative temperatures. Actually, the weather was ideal for walks – sunny and warm J And the mood was, as always, cheerful – lots of laughter, lots of smiles, many new faces, many happy dogs, lots of chatting, and most of all – running.

I believe that I speak on behalf of everyone, when I say that the only thing missing was… a snow-plough! After the two days of constant snowfall, the territory of the shelter was a total hell… snow pits, holes, ice… it was a test, for us, the volunteers, to keep up with the pace of the dogs, to walk in the snow-drifts, to be able to stand, and to somehow remain with dry feet. But how could we complain, when the dogs, compared to us, were more than satisfied by the winter setting. They were wallowing in the snow, eating it, bathing in it, digging in it and playing with such a great pleasure, that we felt bad grumbling, and decided to behave like children as well by making a small snow-ball fight.

And this way, cage by cage, dog after dog, until we reached the cherished last cage number 21 and it was time to go home. And all of a sudden we realized its now even 4pm… we had reached such a fast speed inertia and played with such enthusiasm with our furry friends, that we wondered who else to take out so that we can remain in this idyllic situation J far from problems of life, serious people and the beginning of the new week. But, unfortunately, everything good ends, sooner or later. This is why, we would be expecting you next weekend again for new adventures and fun!