Rudozem Street Dog Rescue

UPDATE 4 APRIL 2013:   LOLA HAS BEEN FOUND!!!! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE THAT HELPED WITH SHARING AND LOOKING FOR HER. XXX

Message from Owners Daughter "LOLA'S COME HOME!! My parents went downstairs this morning to their back door and she was there wagging her tail!! She had come home!! She was very hungry but this timid dog was very excited! My parents thought they were dreaming! Wherever she went she managed to get back again !! Thank you so much for your wonderful help yesterday - my parents were overwhelmed by loveliness. It's so good to know she had come home. Little mischief maker!! Thanks guys x"

On the 20th march we took Flossy and Sebastian to be spayed and neutered. It was quite a long drive but they were both very good in the car. Flossy just lay down on a blanket on the back seat. Once she did try to climb over my shoulder to get in the front with me, but after Tony held her on his knee for a while, she was happy to settle on the back seat again. When I got out of the car, Tony said she was jumping up at the window crying for me. She does need a lot reassurance and gets easily worried and isn't entirely comfortable with a lead. She did have a snap at Tony when i went in to the vets and he stayed outside with her and he went to pick her up when she got upset. She also had a bit of a snap whilst she was in the vets.

The following day she was feeling very sorry for herself and wouldn't leave the large cage that she was in in the staff room. Yesterday she ventured out of the cage and decided she was going to snuggle up with us on the settee. When Luke came to work she was very pleased to see him. She seems particularly warey of men but makes an exception for Luke. She has been great with the other dogs in the staffroom and today had a bit of a play with them. When she isn't snuggled up next to us, her favourite place is on the windowledge where she can bark at anyone she spots. She is so much happier and more settled today,

The German Shepherd mum that we rescued the same day as Flossy had a very unsettled first night and was disturbing the other dogs by trying to get out of her pen. She has now settled and her and the pups all seem to be doing ok. She has been called Mary and is an extremely affectionate and loving girl.

Sebastian who was neutered when Flossy was spayed, is recovering well. (picture below- Flossy on the way back from the vets).

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Last night we had a phone call from Gary who transports the dogs, asking us if we could help a little dog that had been dumped at the Bulgaria/Greece checkpoint a month ago. She hadn't moved as if she was waiting for someone to come back for her. On the way out of Rudozem we spotted a pup near the road that we had tried to catch before. It is one of a litter of older pups who are all terrified of people and won't even come near us for food. We stopped and tried to feed the pup and a man and lady told us that one of its brothers or sisters was hit by a car yesterday. The pup managed to drag itself down near the riverbank but they thought it's back was broken and phoned for the vet. The vet never turned up so we went to look for the pup. Sadly we found him/her dead near some bushes. The only consolation was that someone ( probably the lady who told us about it) had covered the pup with a blanket and old coat and put bread near it before it died.

An hour later we arrived at the checkpoint and saw the little dog. she wanted to be friends but was still timid. she froze when we went to pick her up but made no attempt to bite. We decided to leave her on the back seat of the car next to kerry instead of putting her in the cage. It wasn't long before she was snuggled up next to Kerry, sleeping. Her coat is terribly matted and she is covered in ticks. We named her flossy on the journey home. Whilst we were at the checkpoint, the guards asked us if we could take a mother dog and her pup that had also been dumped. Sadly the mum was too scared to let us get her. The guards assured us that her pup was safe in a little church and they would continue to feed them and try and get mum more used to people and let us know when they are able to get her so that we can take mum and pup together.

On the way back we stopped suddenly after seeing a German Shepherd in the road. She was watching the car and wagging her tail. Tony was first to get out and she was all over him, jumping up and happy to see him. He quickly shouted for us to help him as she had pups that were wandering towards the road. There was a little nearby and an elderley couple came out. they said the mum and pups had been dumped by someone and they had been feeding them. They asked if we could take them and the lady insisted on giving us a loaf of bread for them.

Tomorrow we have to take Shiva to the vets to be spayed so we thought it best to take Flossy who we picked up today. As it is, she is in a large cage in the staffroom so she may aswell be spayed and recover whilst she is in with us. Usually we would give her more time to settle but although she shows no signs of being pregnant, we can't take the chance of more pups as we are struggling for space. the vet will also clip or shave her as her coat is terribly matted with the knots going right down to her skin.,

PLEASE DONATE AT:  www.streetdogrescue.com 

12 February 2013

We have been advised by the municipality vets today that if the shelter is not up to EU standard soon, RSDR will close, and Founder Diane Rowles will be charged and sent to prison.

The EU are putting pressure on all municipalities about shelter and non government shelters to be up to EU standard. RSDR explained that is one of our aims to have everything renovated as and when we try and raise funds. The municipality vets know this, as they have been aware we have been trying to raise funds for years and have advised them what needs doing. They want to help but they say the mayor is not listening.

The municipality vets have left us with a big folder with a TO DO LIST. We now need to raise the funds urgently!

If anyone can please donate at www.streetdogrescue.com . Currently we have no target on how much funds we need to raise for renovations and the isolation unit, as the builder with it being winter, stops work and there is no response at the moment. Once a target is known, we will write this above the paypal widget.

Renovation will mean all floors, walls, windows, doors, ceilings, and drainage will need doing and also the building splitting into a room for an isolation area, food prep area etc. After that comes the construction of the individual pens.

Apart from the major issue of raising the funds, we will also have to empty that part of the building of dogs so the work can be done. At the moment we have 33 dogs in in that section, and there is no room to move them anywhere else. We need help with getting these dogs adopted!!

Last year we built extra pens outside to move dogs into while work was being done on the Roof, but these are all now full.

At the moment we have over 150 dogs and 16 cats. There is no electricity in the main parts of the building where the dog and cat pens are. No hot water at all and the only heating is the small log burner in the staff room. We have no washing machine and the only sink in the place is a tiny hand sink in the staff room.

We also need a decent sized sink and plumbing for a washing machine in the area next to the staffroom. For now we will get a small electric water heater so we will at least have hot water. In the summer we wash and bath the dogs outside, using a large plastic tub and watering can. We have to boil water so that we have warm water. Dirty bedding and blankets are also washed by hand and hung over the fence to dry. None of this is possible in the winter. We have a backlog of blankets to wash and we are struggling to bath new rescued pups which might be very dirty.

URGENT APPEAL - IF YOU CAN HELP, PLEASE DONATE

We have just got back from a particularly difficult rescue. Last week we were contacted by quite a few people about a mother dog and her 8 pups that were near the hospital in Smolian. We had explained that we had no room for them but for the past few days we have been trying to integrate two pens of dogs to make room for them. Our other concern was that we have recently lost pups with an infection and not having an isolation area, we didn't want to risk any new pups catching the infection. However it has been said by other people that the pups face certain death where they are and better that they come to the shelter.

This morning I had another e mail from someone saying that one of the pups had been hit by a car. The driver could see the pup but made no attempt to avoid it. It did get up and join the rest of the pups in their hiding place. Originally there were 8 pups but over the last few days one has gone missing. We did find one dead pup in like a concrete pit so we are presuming that is the missing pup.

When we arrived the pups were out of their hiding place but we only managed to catch one before they disappeared down a hole into an underground tunnel. Whilst waiting to see if any came back out, Tony heard a pup crying from another area. The whole area is a mass of drains and underground pipes and tunnels which made it very dangerous. We were met there by Julian and Savvina who had e mailed earlier today. We all followed the sound of the crying pup and Julian traced it to an 8 foot drainage hole in the ground. There was no way of getting the pup out without going into the hole which is what Julien did. Luckily the pup didn’t run off down one of the tunnels and he managed to get her and pass her up to Tony. Tony then had to help Julien up as only his outstretched hands reached above ground.

Once we had put the little girl pup with her brother in the cage, we turned our attention back to getting the other pups. Unfortunately they wouldn’t come out so Tony had to climb through the narrow entrance hole into a very cramped underground tunnel which had metal rods sticking out in various places. Julien lay down with just his legs sticking out and Tony passed pups to him and then he passed them out. It was made more difficult by the fact that the pups were so scared and trying to bite.

Once we had all the pups we looked for mum. She has been spending less time with her pups and not always feeding them when she did go back to see them. We eventually found her but she was very nervous and untrusting. She did go to a lady who owned a nearby shop and Tony managed to then get a lead on her. She totally freaked out and was trying to bite and all but chewed through the lead. We had to let her go as there was no chance of us managing to get her in the car without upsetting her more and someone getting badly bitten. We don’t like leaving the mother dogs behind but sometimes there is no option and if we didn’t take the pups, they wouldn’t survive. The seven pups are now back at the shelter.

A big thank you to Savvina and Julien who met us there and also to Nikola who had first emailed me about the mum pups and is in contact to see how they are and to the doctor from the hospital who phoned Kerry about them.

At the moment we are being visited by the lovely Erin Parks from Canada who is doing a video documentary. Today we went to Smolian and we were showing Erin the many dogs on the streets. It was heartbreaking that we couldn't bring them all back and for some all we could do was feed them. One large black and white male dog was following me about thinking he had found a friend and someone to feed him. We just don't have anywhere that we could put an adult male so I had to ask Tony to put more food down for him to distract him while I walked away which was a difficult thing to do.

We saw one young girl lay down at the side of a busy road in some leaves. I went to see that she was ok and give her some food but she was more interested in affection than food. Being a young girl she typically wanted to play and was mouthing and gently chewing at me. It is always worrying when young dogs on the streets do this as you just know that they will be accused of biting by someone who doesn't speak dog language. We discussed it and decided that we could try her in a pen with dogs we have of a similar age so we brought her back to the shelter. she has now been named Cecilia by Jane Summerfield.

We saw a young pup lay down near a shop. She was wearing a collar but was wandering about following other street dogs and then started following Tony. We were worried for her safety when she tried crossing a busy road. We went back to the shop where we had originally seen her and asked if they knew who she belonged to. They told us she had been dumped there weeks ago and to take her otherwise she would be killed. On the way back to the shelter, we stopped in rudozem and tony went in the shop whilst i was feeding some of the street cats. When he came out of the shop he was stopped by the police. Seeing four policemen and two other men I went over to see what was going on. Apparently the pup with the collar had belonged to someone and she had escaped. The man had come from smolian to find us. Although we were concerned that the pup was on the streets when we found her, we were really pleased that he had her vaccination records with him and medication that she was on and that he had bothered driving to Rudozem to find her. It was all sorted out very amicably and the man has our card so that if ever he can't care for her he knows where to bring her.

Cecilia, the pup we brought back to the shelter.

Yesterday we took Courage the pup for an operation to have his eye removed. When we first rescued him we thought the eyeball was actually missing but on a recent visit to the vet, we discovered that he did have an eyeball but it was very badly damaged and would have to be removed. He also had a fungal infection in one ear and two fungal infections in the other ear. Yesterday he had his ears flushed out and the operation to remove his eye. He did very well and today is acting as if nothing ever happened. Despite his collar to stop him scratching at the stitches, he still manages to get about and do everything he normally would. He had a peaceful night although i can't say the same as i woke up a few times after being bashed in the face with his collar as he was trying to snuggle up to me.

It is a long drive to the vets and costs a lot in petrol so we always try and take more than one dog at a time. yesterday we took Sage to be spayed and she is recovering well.

On the way to the vets, we saw a very thin female dog who had cans tied to her back legs. When Tony went to help her she just cowered and froze. We put her in the cage in the back of the car and had Courage and Sage on the back seat. Last night we took her to the house as we have no room at the shelter. Kerry has been looking after her and today she is still very scared but starting to come round and wag her tail at Kerry. She has taken a liking to Barney. Barney is very slow as he is so old and blind so she probably doesn't feel at all threatened by him.

What was supposed to be a day out with Sam and Nikita, turned into another rescue mission. We decided to go to some caves which was a three and a half hour drive away. So many times we stopped along the way to feed pups and dogs. We couldn't pick them all up as we would have picked up over 10 before we got there. A couple of weeks ago we were asked if we could go and help some pups in a layby near

the caves. We had two of our dogs in cages due to lack of space so we weren't in a position to go and take in more. We went to check if they were still there and sadly they are. They are very scared and were fighting with each other. We only managed to catch one that had lost an eye.

On the way back we had to stop on a busy road when we saw a litter of young pups all crossing a busy road. one pup got hit by a car and ran off screaming. Sam managed to grab one of the pups but the others all went under a fence. By this time it was very dark and Sam could see the pups had joined their mother on the other side of the fence. the little one that had been hit by a car had stopped screaming and apart from the problem of where we would put them, it wouldn't have been safe to try and get them. The two pups we did rescue are now settled in a large cage. That doesn't stop us from thinking and worrying about all the dogs we saw and fed today that we didn't bring back. Sadly we just don't have the room. By the time we got home we must have seen or fed nearly 20 dogs or pups that all needed help.

I have to say that at just three years old, Nikita was a little star today. We were parked on a very busy road after seeing the litter of pups crossing the road. Sam passed me the one she had managed to catch and then went looking for the one that had been hit by a car and the others. I had to move the car and turn round so I told Nikita she had to be a big girl and look after the pup for me. She held the pup all the way home despite us having to stop again after it was sick on her.

The little pup who has lost an eye will need to go to the vets in the city.

21st August 2012

We were asked if we could help this old boy in Smolyan. We set off this morning and a lady met to show us which area he was in. it took a while to find him and when we did he was very scared. He is 15 years old and had been thrown out. He was run over and then someone put bread in the road and deliberately ran over him a second time in an attempt to kill him. He was then left and no one has bothered with him apart from one old lady who fed him every day. It took a while to catch him as he dragged himself under a vehicle to hide. He is now back at the shelter. It might be that someone else takes him over who has better access to specialist treatment for him. We are a long way from any good vets. For now he is just resting after the stress of being caught. Thank you Daisy for meeting us in Smolyan and coming with us to find him and to Ineke for naming him Zorba

23rd August 2012

Zorba was taken to a vet in Plovdiv this morning. I have just heard from kerry and Tony and this is the update. His xrays showed no damage apart from a lot of wear and tear to his joints, especially his hips.  He had full movement in his legs when the vet moved them and was able to feel his back paws. His blood tests showed that he is anaemic but that is probably due to worms, fleas and lice. He has no heartworm and his blood work was surprisingly good for a dog his age. The vet said he might possibly have recovered from being run over but was in so much pain anyway with his arthritis that it was too much for him to support himself fully. She thinks that he could improve on pain medication and as he builds up condition and gets stronger. He is to go back in another month for a check up and to check the anaemia. Due to the wear and tear of his joints, we might still have to get a wheelchair for him but on the whole it is good news. It has been stressful for him and although the vet was very gentle with him, he did have to be muzzled as he was trying to bite her. I think he will be glad to get back here to his bed. Tony stayed with him the whole time to reassure him.

I was away for a week visiting my mum for the first time in two years at the end of june/begining of July. Tony had a terrible week when many of the dogs became ill after having their first vaccination. Us and the vets were totally baffled as the pups and dogs were different ages, kept in different parts of the buildings and no other dogs or pups were ill at the time. None of them including the dogs that fell ill had a temperature. All the dogs that had  their second vaccinations were fine and both us and the vets double checked all the vaccine bottles and all were well in date. Two vets came out and none of us can come up with any explanation. Sadly Hamish, Manni and Jerry died while I was away and Kirstie died just after I came back. Dooley, leeba and Hvidfod weren't very well but made a full recovery.

 Tony did update about Jerry but then just didn't feel able to write anything about the others as he was so upset. I did say I would update about it when I got back and apologise for being late in doing so. Things are always quite hectic here but it has been even more chaotic for the past couple of weeks with the builders here doing the roof and on top of that Tony wasn't well when his diabetes got dangerously out of control so we have had a few hospital visits.

We always feel so bad on the people who named pups when they don't make it and all i can say is that we did our best for them, They knew love and care and the donation for naming them helped with their costs for food, flea and worm treatements, vitamins and medication.

R.I.P Jerry, Hamish, Manni and Kirstie.

Hi everyone. This is Anita. Today I got a phone call from Sunsuper about the Sunsuper Dreams competition. I got a shock when next minute the lady was telling me that my Dream had won, and that Rudozem Street Dog Rescue will be granted the $ 5000 monies. The lady advised that they had fraudulent systems in place and that the other charity that had been ahead had many illegal votes. After checking all the votes officially. RSDR are ahead and are the winners. This is fanastic news for all. I then received an email from them confirming everything, and I had to fill out a form, and send back.

They would then send another email, when it was announced on the website. Well Just now checked, and the Sunsuper Website has now officially put it on the website....so i can tell everyone!!!! I'm so ecstatic. Thank you very much to each everyone of our supporters that voted, to all the RSDR team that worked so hard sharing and telling everyoe, and most of all to Diane & Tony, the Rowles kids and all the dogs and cats at RSDR...because without them, there would be no RSDR and all the animals in the Rudozem area would not be here today... xxxxx Anita xx

http://sunsuperdreams.com.au/winners/june-anita-weber

SUNSUPER COMPETITION - UPDATE

I would like to thank everyone for their hard work these past 30 days in promoting RSDR in the Sunsuper Dream competition for June 2012.
I would also like to thank all the other registered charities that participated, and note all are deserving in benefiting animals and people. So thank you for participating. RSDR feel honoured to be a part of it all.

All team members and supporters worked extremely hard promoting RSDR in Facebook, Twitter, Forums, Email, family, and other online social applications, with trying to get the word out as much as possible to Vote for RSDR. We can't thank you enough for those that worked so hard.

Throughout the competition there were 3 small charities fighting it out for first place.

Early on in the competition, RSDR took the lead twice, but changed positions from First to Second to third and back, and were then coming second/third for about 10 days. From the 18th June RSDR managed to take first place, and stayed in that position for over 12 days with a lead of approximately 800 votes.

Unfortunately on the last day of the competition, a late entry by a foundation run by a celebrity actor was entered. Even though we applaud this foundations charitial aims and ideas, I will admit being disappointed that it took 1 Tweet on the Famous Actors Twitter page, to overtake all the smaller charities within 6 hours, whilst all of the smaller charities had all worked so hard for 30 days.

Votes were coming in about 100 votes per minute in those final few hours.....and RSDR tried desperately to fight back, however they easily overtook us with about 1.5 hours to go in the competition.

The competition has now closed, and Votes will be now checked officially and the winner will be announced in the following days.

However, we need YOUR support more then ever now to help RSDR. We have only 4 months to rasie 16,000 euro for the remaining 2 sections of the roof.

I honestly do not believe it will last another winter and that it will collapse.

I still keep thinking of the times last Winter when Diane and I would be talking together and she would be telling me how frightened she was...the roof was making creakin and loud noises, and bowing and sagging so low from the heavy snow.......holes were opening up in the roof near the staffroom......It was a very frightening time and I still remember just how frightened they all were.

The ROOF situation is now a life threatening situation and time is running out. It is not only the dogs and cats that I am worried about, it's also Diane & Tony. I know Diane will never leave them, if the roof was coming down on them, they would all go together. I don't want that to happen.

I implore everyone now to please help by making a donation on our roof fund either on the donate options at

http://www.streetdogrescue.com/donatehelp.htm

or by paypal donation email donation@streetdogrescue.com

Thank you all very much.

Regards

Anita Weber.

Screen shot 24 hours before end of competition and in the final minute.

APPEAL FOR ROOF FUND -- PLEASE DONATE & HELP PROMOTE RSDR

Words from our Founder Diane Rowles on the 30 June 2012.

I woke up to the disappointing news that we didn't come first in the Sunsuper Dreams competition. We were pipped at the post by a late entry, a foundation of a famous actor who obviously has many fans.

We really only have four months now to raise funds for the new shelter roof. Last winter the roof nearly collapsed under the weight of snow which would have been devastating. We now have nearly 150 dogs and cats at the shelter and there is nowhere else for them. We cannot risk facing another winter with the danger of the roof collapsing and killing all the dogs. We have raised one third of the total cost and the builder has agreed to do a third of the roof. This still leaves the problem that two thirds of the building is unsafe for the 100 animals in that part. For months now we have been praying for more adoptions and saying we can only take in the most critical cases. Sadly there are so many critical cases and if we don't take them it would be certain death for them.

What do we do? Bring them to a shelter where the dogs already there are at risk from a dangerous roof or leave them to die?

It is easy to say we can't take any more dogs but when you are knelt over a tiny pup that has no chance of surviving on the streets or a dog that has been so badly starved and abused that it can't stand, then it is another matter. I personally can't walk away and leave them and i know that none of us could and our supporters wouldn't want us to, so we just have to raise the funds for the rest of the roof to be done. We have to do it for our dogs as there is no other option. Please help us in our appeal.

I would like to thank everyone who voted and supported for us and most of all Anita who submitted her dream and has worked non-stop for the past month.

Diane. x

Rudozem Street Dog Rescue (RSDR)

www.streetdogrescue.com

PLEASE HELP RSDR SHARE WITH YOUR FAMILY, YOUR FRIENDS AND THE MEDIA

If you can help by making a donation on our roof fund either on the donate options at

http://www.streetdogrescue.com/donatehelp.htm

If you can help with any fundraising for the roof please go to:

http://www.streetdogrescue.com/fundraiseforus.htm

DOWNLOAD "RAISE THE ROOF POSTERS" AT:

http://​www.streetdogrescue.com/​downloads.htm

SHARE OUR VIDEO DOCUMENTARY ON RSDR AND ABOUT THE ROOF APPEAL PLEASE GO TO:

http://youtu.be/​-NIjj1WXLNg

ALL SUPPORTERS -- Use Easysearch to search on the net, and raise funds for RSDR at the same time.

go to http://​rsdr.easysearch.org.uk/

UK SUPPORTERS -- Use the Easyfundraising site, to shop. Go to: http://​www.easyfundraising.org.uk/​causes/rsdr/

You can shop from over 2,000 well known stores and each will donate up to 15% of what you spend.

It's very simple - once you've registered with Easyfundraising making RSDR your Cause. When you shop with one of the retailers, the Easyfundraising system makes a note of your purchase, collects the donation from the retailer and passes it to your chosen good cause. That's it! No hassle for you, we do all the hard work while you shop as your normally would.

The June 2012 newsletter is now out and available on our website with the monthly news that has been happening at RSDR.

GO TO:  http://www.streetdogrescue.com/newsletter.htm

Rudozem Street Dog Rescue
RSDR Registered Foundation No: 175647065
www.streetdogrescue.com
E:  streetdogrescue@gmail.com

Hi Everyone

Our blog has been down for the last few weeks, so we haven't been able to comment on the website much, however at anytime you can still check our facebook page for any daily updates and photos / videos of the dogs & cats at RSDR. 

MAY 2012 NEWSLETTER

Diane has released now the May 2012 Newsletter, so if you would like to check out the latest newsletter for what has been happening at RSDR the past month.  http://www.streetdogrescue.com/newsletter.htm 

RSDR are also been nominated for 2 competitions this month, which would be fantastic if we could win either of them.  This would mean a lot to us.

We have first been entered in the Sunsuper Dreams to win $ 5000 for the month of June.

If you could please VOTE, it only takes one minute and share by email or facebook with all your family and friends the below link.

RSDR ARE COMING THIRD. We currently have 712 Votes..... Second place has 792 votes....and First place ahead of us has 815 Votes.

Winning this amount of money would make such a difference to RSDR with our dog shelter as we need to renovate the roof URGENTLY.  RSDR need this shelter, as by next Winter, we might not even have a shelter.  Last winter the roof nearly collapsed on the dogs/humans from the snow.  Please don't let it happen we need the funds so we can fix the roof before this years winter.  Please share this with all your friends.

If you haven't already please VOTE at http://sunsuperdreams.com.au/dream/view/renovate-shelter-roof-for-street-dogs-and-cats

We have also been entered in Bigheart Bingos to win £500 pounds for the month of June.

You can vote by liking their facebook page at the following link http://www.facebook.com/pages/BigHeartBingo/308021008214 and then commenting on their timeline page saying "I vote for RSDR"

or you can email mycharity@bigheartbingo.co.uk saying "I vote for RSDR (Rudozem Street Dog Rescue) for the month of June"

Voting ends on the 30th June.

Please then spread the word with all your family and friends!

View our Video Document about RSDR with added section about our Roof Appeal

NEED HELP WITH TRANSPORT - Rudozem Street Dog Rescue needs your help. 2 of our RSDR cats Sassy and Phoebe need to be urgently transported in the UK within the week.

Due to a domestic situation, the 2 cats need to be rehomed. We have temporary foster care set up for the 2 girls, but need help with transporting them from Durham to the West Midlands Area (near Birmingham)

If you can help, even for transporting the cats part of the way please ring Julie at Mobile: 07821042396 email: streetdogrescueuk@yahoo.co.uk

WE ARE ALSO LOOKING FOR FOSTER CARERS OR PERSONS THAT MAY WISH TO FOSTER OR ADOPT SASSY/PHOEBE as the person volunteering foster carer now is only very temporary...

If anyone can foster these cats please contact Julie at the above number or email.

On Wednesday 10th May, we were shocked and very upset when little Flore had a bad reaction to her first vaccination and died just hours later. Twenty nine pups and dogs were vaccinated and all the others are fine. We have never had a dog react like this before but it can happen. We just hope it never happens again. Flore was a lovely and happy little pup. She lived with us in the staff room until very recently when she moved into a pen with Muffin. Muffin and Flore had great fun playing with each other but were both a bit too big and rough for little Flanagan who stayed in the staff room. We couldn't leave Muffin in a pen on her own so she has moved back into the staffroom. Flore was fit and well when she had her vaccination. Just hours later she had collapsed and was dying. She died in my arms. It is always hard losing any of the pups but when it is so sudden and unexpected it seems to hit us harder. RIP little baby.

Muffin and Flanagan were joined this week by Jamie lee. Tony found her by the roadside on his way to another town. She tried to run off but was so weak that she just collapsed. Under all her fur, Jamie Lee is very thin. She was absolutely covered in fleas and has very bad worm infestation. She was bathed straight away to get rid of the fleas and is being wormed every day for so many days. She now has much more energy and plays with Muffin and Flanagan. She may only be about 9 weeks old but already she starts yapping at anyone new that comes in. She is full of character and already thinks she is a little guard dog.

We have so many pups and dogs on the webstore for vaccination donations. Any help is appreciated. if anyone would like to help and can't afford the full amount, you can purchase a 10 euro vaccination voucher towards the costs. All the pups have to be vaccinated to protect them against any nasty diseases and so that there passports are up to date and they can be available for adoption.

http://www.streetdogrescueshop.com/Donations_for__Neuter__Vaccination__Blood_Test/cat218195_161287.aspx

Sadly Gunner died this morning. Gunner was the largest of the three pups that were left in a box in the forest to die. Two of their siblings were already dead when we found them. Apart from regaining enough energy to stand, Gunner never really made any improvement like his sister Muffin and tiny brother Flanagan, who despite their size do seem to be getting better. Poor little Gunner had such a short and horrible life. The only consolation is that he is no longer suffering.

Late last night, the boys found another dog left tied to the garden fence at the house. They brought her to the shelter when they came to work this morning. She is a very friendly female, probably just over a year old. She does have a couple of cuts and sore patches which could possibly be due to flea irritation.

On the 1st May, Tahki gave birth to five kittens. We had asked the vet to spay her at the begining of march but he wouldn't as he said there was a chance she was pregnant. Tahki would in fact have only been pregnant by days at that stage. One of our team members has already said she will adopt one of the kittens so we hope loving homes can be found for the rest of them. Tahki and kittens are all doing well. The kittens have to wait until they are three months old before they can be rabies vaccinated but will then be available for adoption.

We had just come out of a shop in the town today when a boy approached us as he was leaving school. He told us that five very young pups had been left in a box in the forest two days ago. He told us the area which was several miles out of town. We were searching but couldn't find them and then Kerry asked a woman if she knew where they were. She asked another young woman who did know and they took me into the forest where we had to listen and search for them. it was quite a steep climb so someone had gone to a lot of effort to make sure they weren't found.

Having been in the box for two days without any food or water, two of the pups were sadly already dead. There was a clean box nearby which i put the three surviving pups in. The pups are very weak and can't even stand on their own. They all had a little lap at some water and all we can do now is encourage them to eat and drink small amounts at a time or syringe feed them.  The biggest pup seems the weakest and unable to feed on his own.

I have given up asking why people do such cruel things because in most cases the answer is simply because they can.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HJ568NT1Ww&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO-JhgAVabM&feature=youtu.be

At the moment at RSDR we have another serious situation going on, yet again.

After a pack of street dogs killed an elderley man in the capital city of Bulgaria - Sofia, people are taking revenge on the dogs with mass killings and torturing. The government are once again calling for mass killing of all street dogs and trying to pass legislation for it.   This is not going to solve the solution of street dogs in Bulgaria.

The government need to offer free neuter/spay for owned dogs or at least make sure that it is available and affordable for everyone. We could take all the dogs from the streets in Rudozem and within days there would be many more through people throwing out their dogs or litters of pups. There are people that would be willing to neuter and spay their dogs but it isn't available in this town and people cannot afford to travel to another town and then pay 100 levs to have a dog spayed. unless the government do something about this it will just be an ongoing cycle.

The government is also now trying to pass a law, that people are no longer allowed to feed the dogs in the streets, unless they take the dog home with them.  With charities full to the max, we need every  bit of help with getting our dogs adopted, so we can save more lives off the street.

Part of gaining a dogs trust before catching them off the streets - means feeding them until you've built up trust.  We have no trapping equipment, and we can't catch completely wild dogs and need training and a license for a tranquiliser gun.  Diane & Tony take many weeks and months of building up the trust of these dogs before they can take them to the shelter and so far this has been a more effective method in giving these dogs a chance of adoption and finding a loving home.

In Rudozem more and more dogs are turning up on the streets every day. We don't have the room to take any of them in and if we don't raise the funds and get adoptions so that the roof can be done before Winter, we won't have a shelter as it would be unsafe.

A lot of street dogs in Bulgaria are not aggressive. Diane & Tony at RSDR have only ever come across 2 dogs that they would class as aggressive and would be problem dogs in the 5 years they have been helping street dogs and finding homes for them.

Those 2 dogs they would class as aggressive, have been "guard dogs" that have been chained since they were puppies, abused constantly, and once they are past their use by date...thrown out on the streets.

Of course those dogs would be aggressive as man has made them be the way they are!!!

In general, most street dogs they have come across are scared of humans, and will usually run away from humans, because they are scared of being hit, shot, kicked at, spat at....and so on.. It's us Humans that need to change!!

For some dogs they are so scared, it takes many months of building up trust before they will come to you.

Spay and Neuter are the answer for reducing population.....but kindness and compassion will change how these animals are treated.... as their life around humans is already a hell.

It's easy to say round up the stray dogs and shoot them....however there are hundreds and thousands of dogs in Bulgaria that are dumped or being born on the streets in Bulgaria every day....

Education to humans is the key on how they treat animals and doing the right humane thing with spay and neuter is the right thing to do....this is a problem that is long term that can take decades to fix... not blaming the poor dog who has to die a horrible death for a quick fix, is not solving the solution.

ROOF APPEAL & ADOPTIONS NEEDED

Photo of the roof that needs replacing.

At the shelter in Elohvets (which is a 20 min drive from Rudozem), we got another quote for the roof which was better much in price, than the other quote. This guy can do a new roof with sheets instead of slates for 24,000 euros. He will do it in three stages doing one shed at a time. We now have the contract which we have to sign. That is the way it is done here, there has to be a contract with the person doing the work. The good thing about it is that they can't say half way through the job that it is costing more than they thought. They have to stick to the price on the contract. We need to raise 8000 euros for each shed to be done. We now have 5,284 so need to raise another 2716 for work to start on the first shed.

At the moment we have 36 dogs in that first shed so the other thing is that we need to find homes for 36 dogs before work can start. 

To sum it up we have two major challenges:

1.  To raise the money for the roof

2.  We need more adoptions before work can start.

It would be great if everyone can help with spreading the word.   We need to advertise where we can, maybe ask people to put posters up in public places and vets surgeries or other organisations in the UK, Netherlands, Germany and Belgium where our Adoption Teams are.

I will be putting some posteres on the downloads page on our website in the next few hours, at the following link:  http://www.streetdogrescue.com/downloads.htm   -- if People would like to print them, and start putting them everywhere.  Or if you would like to volunteer in making posters for us, please email them to streetdogrescue@gmail.com  and I'll start putting them all on the Downloads page for people to share and use.

We need posters for the roof, and posters to get adoptions in the Netherlands, UK, Germany and Belgium.

If we don't get the roof done before next Winter, it means no dogs can be kept there incase the roof collapses.

ADOPTION TRIP THIS SUNDAY

This week we have another adoption trip coming up and soon another 13 dogs of ours will leaving us this Thursday, and will be travelling to the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK.  Please keep a watch on our facebook page for the latest videos of our dogs leaving.  You can view the videos at the following link:  http://www.facebook.com/rudozemstreetdogrescue

As always it's an extremely sad time aswell as happy.  Sad for Diane & Tony as they care a lot for the dogs as they have been with them so long, so it's painful saying goodbye, but at the same time happy because they get to go to their new loving home.  We would like to thank the adoption teams, as they do such a wonderful job finding new homes for our dogs. 

VOLUNTEERS FROM CANADA

This week some lovely girls from Canada have arrived to help out and volunteer at the shelter.  Sara, Farrah and Natashah with Betty, Harley and Bob. Sara Ahmadi has been following and supporting us for four years. She always said that one day she would come and see us and she made it from Vancouver, Canada. They arrived on the 16th April 2012 and it was lovely to meet them.

Sara feeding some of the street dogs

The girls helping clean the pens.  To view more photos of the girls volunteering please go to http://www.streetdogrescue.com/apps/photos/album?albumid=13285666   or view our volunteer album on the facebook page.

Kind Regards

Anita Weber, RSDR Secretary.

update 13th April 2012. .Last week someone came and gave us another quote for the roof which was better than the other quote. This firm can do a new roof with sheets instead of slates for 24,000 euros. They will do it in three stages doing one shed at a time. We now have the contract which we have to sign. That is the way it is done here, there has to be a contract with the person doing the work. The good thing about it is that they can't say half way through the job that it is costing more than they thought. They have to stick to the price on the contract. We need to raise 8000 euros for each shed to be done.

We now have 5,284 towards the first stage as we have recieved donations other than through the fundraising widget and 1060.75 of this amount was raised by our fantastic team in Holland who did a sponsored dog walk. We need to raise another 2,716 euros before work can start on the first shed.

At the moment we have 36 dogs in that shed so the other thing is that we need to find good families and homes to adopt dogs as we have to have each shed empty of dogs for the work to be done.

Please help in any way that you can. If we don't get the roof done before next winter then we can't risk having any dogs in the shelter incase the roof collapses on them.

On the home page and donate/help page of the website, there are fundraising widgets specifically for the shelter roof which let you donate through paypal. on the donate/help page there are details of other ways that you can donate. Please specify "shelter roof" if you are donating in any way other than through the specific widgets. Thank you.