A Christmas Story

You may be wondering who these happy souls are who walk so well and naturally on the lead with their humans in such gorgeous scenery. And why do we post them?

Because they are Little Prince, Bruno and Zorro. And they’re finally Home in Scotland.

🐶 Micul Prinț (Little Prince) became Beren, named after a Tolkien story favored by his adopters. He ended up in Scotland with a gorgeous family who fostered him until he was finally adopted by another gorgeous family. Beren has a little cat brother now, Casper, who adores him and is super happy to have someone to play with. He goes for walks on lead and sleeps on the sofa as if he has never been in concrete kennels or in the public shelter of only two square meters. Beren doesn't know what to do with his toys yet, but he's very interested in the cat's.

🐶 Bruno remained Bruno and will always be like that, his adopters told us. When we found out that Bruno was going directly to his foster family, we timidly asked if he would have a small yard, because the shy Bruno would surely like it. The girls at The Paw Project told us that we shouldn't worry, his family has a 6000 square meter property with a small river running through it. Then we received videos and pictures of Bruno playing with the other dogs, running freely or walking on lead, jumping happily, tearing the paper out of a shoe box to the amusement of the family, or sitting quietly in front of the fireplace with the other dogs. The shy Bruno is now a self-confident Bruno. This is thanks both to the adopters who encouraged him and gave him space and time to settle in, and to the two resident dogs Maisie and Stanley who welcomed him so nicely into their micro-pack.

🐶 Zorro is still in foster care and learning what the good life is. Walking on lead is still a work in progress, but with the right guidance, it is sure to be a success. The lady who takes care of him now is amazed by the gentleness in his eyes.
We never told this story, but we named him Zorro because "zorro" means "fox" in Spanish. Zorro is the fox from the story of The Little Prince. “To you I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world.” - The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
And Zorro, the black dog like a hundred thousand other dogs, will find his forever tamer unique in all the world, and will be to him unique in all the world.

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The journey of the three dogs to Home took two years. Two years in which we went every day to feed them in the park. In which we caught them to be sterilized with tranquilizer darts. We returned them to the territory and continued to feed them. The little Prince was taken to the public shelter and two weeks of agony followed in which we phoned and wrote in chats to find a better solution for him and the other two. We were visiting the shelter and the crying of the Little Prince was breaking our hearts. We promised him then that he would have the best life possible because we wouldn't stop until we found him a wonderful family.

Then we took all three of them to a private shelter. It was a relief to know they were safe. They had enough space and a straw mattress in winter. But they had no human interaction. We visited them every month. We had to see them and they had to see us. We needed to know and they needed to know that we hadn't abandoned them. Every time we promised them a good life in a real family. And more than a year has passed. Zorro didn't feel good there anymore, he had become skin and bones. And we looked for solutions, we again sat on the phones and chats begging everyone. Give us a piece of yard to plant a shelter for these three souls. And towards the end of February this year, we started rehabilitating a pig coop in some people's yard. We carried stone, poured concrete, welded iron fences, scraped and painted, laid thatch. We spent more than 3000 lei, but it didn't matter. This time they were 10 minutes from us and we visited them every week. Zorro was gaining weight week by week. All three were flourishing. It was a wonderful time. Until it wasn't.

One day we received a call to urgently take the dogs from there. Shock, horror, seriously shook confidence in people. Phones, crying, exhaustion. After a week we took them from there. Everything we built and rehabilitated stayed there. But wonderful people heard our cry and immediately jumped to our aid and we built again. This time in a beautiful place with grass, hedge and trees, comfortable bed, clean dog cottage. We cried when we brought them in and they hit the grass with their noses and feet. After about a year and a half of concrete. They were rolling and rubbing against the grass and soil, running, hopping. Now we saw them every day: morning, noon and night. And so we discovered what amazing dogs , how good, calm, loving and grateful they are! They were finally resting and getting a taste of the good life.

We dared and turned to our friends at All Dog Rescue Scotland again. They had promoted them in the past but without success. The lovely Anda from Asociația Negrilica put us in touch with the lovely girls at The Paw Project. This time luck smiled on us. In fact, all the work behind the scenes, all the physical and emotional effort paid off. That's how we got to the point you read in the the beginning. It was intense. But we kept going.

We thank you with our hearts full of gratitude, because without you it wouldn't have happened and the story wouldn't have been told:

💕 Voice for the Needy who trusted us and supported us from the beginning throughout this journey.
💕 Emma Aubrey and her wonderful team at All Dog Rescue Scotland. Without them, the Little Prince and Zorro would not have finally arrived Home.
💕 Simone Pattyson and her wonderful team at The Paw Project. Without them, Bruno would not have finally arrived Home.
💕 Anda Angheluță from the Negrilica Association, who put us in contact with Simone Pattyson and thus Bruno found his wonderful family.
💕 To all those who have been with us this year: to those who donated, to those who sent us the 230 forms, to those who spread the word about our needs, to those who made phone calls on our behalf, to those who written, to those who thought of us, to those who said a kind word to us or sent us a warm thought.

This year was tough. And the hard work is not over. But we will talk about it another time.

Right now we are rejoicing and breathing a sigh of relief that The Little Prince (Beren), Bruno and Zorro are finally Home in Scotland.