Myself and my husband traveled through Europe in our campervan last year, but soon realised the dia situation for dogs once we crossed the border into Romania. There were stray dogs everywhere, struggling to survive, dodge traffic, fend off abuse, suffering from injuries and disease and worst of all trying to avoid the public kill shelter dog catchers.
We could not ignore the problem any longer when we came across a sandy coloured stray dog hanging outside a bar. She looked just like my childhood dog Sasha, but seemed to have poop on her head.
However, when this friendly girl came over for a stroke, we could see it was actually a huge dark scar. More worryingly, there was also a large growth on the side of her head. The bar manager said that she had been abandoned there a year ago. We decided to help this sweet girl. But how?
We researched online, and came across Barking Mad Dog Rescue, a UK registered charity, and contacted them for help. They were amazing; offered their vet, to look after her in their shelter, and find her a forever home. We just had to get her to their shelter. We had named her Chooky (after the beer, Ciucas, we were drinking when we met her).
The day and a half journey across Romania to get her to the shelter was quite an experience. In this duration we tried to get a collar on, (somewhat) lead trained her, slept with her in our campervan, and shared tons of cuddles and strokes. We fell in love with the dreadlocked matted furball. 3 months later Chooky came to the UK to live with us. She has had the lump removed and has taken over the best sofa in the house. She deserves it.
Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
