This is a MUST SHARE POST by Patrecia Upton, a British x-pat, living near Tarnovo who adopted our lovely girl Benji. Patrecia already has one dog from us – it is 15 year old Guido who was supposed to be fostered, but remained with her and is still there, although very old.
Thank you Patrecia for being such an animal friend!!! Thank you for giving Benji the love she deserves! Here is the re-post, enjoy:
She is a big bundle of fluff with some grey on her ears and across her back,other than that she is white..oh and she has a square black nose and deep penetrating eyes covered in white fur… I think that she is beautiful.
How did I get her and why?
We already have three dogs, Rosie, Charlie and Guido. They are three elderly dogs and Guido has not been too well just lately. He is now 15 years of age (105 in human years) and he has a big growth on his foot but he still manages to get around even though he is a bit wobbly at times.
You may recall that for the past few weeks we have also been caring for Hobo.He is the dog that Ken and Sue found in Sushitsa,( well he found them is more like it). Anyway , he was transported to UK last week and I missed him very much. He is a scruffy little fella and a real character.
So me being me….because I missed him so much I was looking at Dog Rescue sites to see if anything needed to be rescued (as you do)… I had looked at Sofia Animal Rescue dogs for a day or two and as lovely as they all were , nothing really ‘grabbed’ me.
Then on Friday I noticed a heading ‘Fostered’ so clicked on that..and there was my dog 100% of what I had been looking for. You might remember that when we lived in Spain I had a dog called Perry who caught a deadly disease and died at the age of five..well here on this site was my Perry all over again. Okay..not exactly the same but as near as dammit.
I showed Neville who immediately said ‘NO, we are not having another dog until Guido passes on..then I will think about it’
That was definitely the wrong thing to say…. I sent an email to Sofia Rescue…then I noticed a message which said that the office was not always manned and you might need to wait for a reply.
I scoured the web-site and found a phone number for the lady who deals with the media and I sent a text telling her that ‘I had fallen in love and was Benji still available for adoption’.
I told Neville that I had sent a little ‘billy-do’ just asking if he was still there. Neville ignored me and continued to watch TV..Bad mistake!
The reply came back that ‘yes’ he was still available but she (Stella) has not been able to contact Polly, the fosterer…so instead she gave me Polly’s phone number.
Again I told Neville what I was doing and asked if he would drive me to Sofia (only 330k) to ‘see’ Benji. He said a very definite No!..So I asked again and again he said NO! (wrong answer)
I could not sleep on Friday night and was up at the break of day….it got to about 7.30am and I thought I would send a text to see if Polly was awake. She replied with a phone call and I said that I would like to come to Sofia to meet Benji.
Problem!…no driver! Solution..Dimitar!
I phoned Dimitar who was available and about 11am we set off leaving Neville at home sawing logs…. Never say Never!!! or NO!
I knew the moment that our eyes met that this was the dog for me! Yes, I do have three other dogs and I love them very much but somehow for some reason Benji is the special one, and I don’t know why! She just makes my heart sing and I feel happy around her..I love to bury my nose in her neck and blow raspberries….it is such a wonderful feeling to love so much.
Her history is that when she was a pup she did have a family but somehow ended up on the streets of Sofia. When she was found 2 years ago her beautiful coat was matted, and she was dirty and bedraggled, probably also had fleas. After being in the centre she was cleaned, spayed and vaccinated. Eventually she was adopted by an old gentleman who took great care of her. it seems that he and Benji often attended the fund raising events together at the Rescue centre.. but in June this year he returned her to the centre because he was gravely ill and did not want her to be neglected again.
Benji being adopted from the shelter the first time – with Ognyan
What a wonderful, brave, caring man.
According to what I was told, it was a very sad scene at the Sofia Animal Rescue. The old man was crying.poor Benji was looking very sad and unhappy and even the staff were in tears. That was when Polly said that she would take Benji home to care for her until a home could be found.This meant that she would not need to spend anytime in a kennel but would have a comfortable home and two other dogs and three cats for company.
It seems strange to me that 5 months have passed and there was not one enquiry about Benji, not one! I know that some of you will titter when I say that it was providence… but I do believe it was. I think Benji was waiting for the day when I would come to claim her.
She has been here 4 days and has settled well. I must admit I do let her sleep in the bedroom as I thought it would help to make her feel more secure but sooner or later she must stay down in the living room with the other dogs…but I love having her sleeping on the floor beside me, I love to hear her breathing, and at every movement I am awake in case she needs to know I am there….
Tonight she will sleep with the others…
As for Neville..he will never say it but he thinks that Benji is rather special too and I have seen him have a sneaky cuddle…so you see ‘Never take NO for an answer’ as nine times out of ten it will be wrong!
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