Once, there was a dog. It was one part a hunter, but not completely, almost loved, but not really, sick, but not dead, a dog with a strange destiny, a destiny of suffering.
Marta wasn’t born in the street and was someone’s dog for the first years of her life. We don’t know what they were exactly, her story is known to us from the days she was dumped in front of a mall – where she was shivering, begging from passersby – hungry, bald, confused.
She came to the shelter with almost no coat at all. And here, she received an unpleasant diagnosis – hypothyroidism. It is an illness of the thyroid gland where there is insufficient produce of hormones that have to be carefully dosed and given orally. If that doesn’t happen, many other problems occur – hair-loss is only one of them. But, in general, it’s not something scary, it’s a simple, controllable disease. But when it comes to adoption – it’s a huge problem.
Dogs like Martenichka become eternal subscribers to our shelter. Half-naked, with a chronic illness – who will look at them a second time? Almost no one. But as you’ve already guessed, someone did look into Martenichka’s heart if we’re telling you this story. And that someone is a very special person called Teodora Hristova. A Bulgarian, living 2000km away from here, in London.
The first time Teodora wrote to us was in the summer, seems like ages ago. She was asking what dogs we have, and if she could adopt one of them… Of course, we told her we had all kinds of dogs and yes, she can, but we didn’t expect anything to come out of it.
But, ever as before, life seems to override all our negative thoughts – one by one. Giving us direct proof that the world is full of Kindness and we only need eyes to see it. Teodora came to the shelter on a rainy fall afternoon. So neat and clean, incredibly sweet… she quickly grew a smile on her face and mood on her clothes from all the dogs that said “hi”. She met many of them. But it was our chronically-ill Martha that grabbed a hold of her heart. They exchanged hugs, whispered something to each other and the magic was done – Martenichka received her ticket to Paradise.
Three weeks later Maretenichka took off to London, with a transport hired by Teodora. A group of sobbing girls sent her off, and a remarkable new owner met her there. For an amazing new life. Like so:
Teodora, we have no words to describe our joy of meeting you! For everything you did and are still doing for Martha, for the person you are, for the help you are sending for the other dogs in need… We wish you all the joy in the world! May you always be full of love and strength, and may you always be happy in a long, long life ahead.
