Dogs Trust International - Ali's Trip to Bulgaria

Some of you may or may not be aware that as well as the work we are doing here in Ireland and over in the neighbouring UK, Dogs Trust provides practical assistance to animal welfare organisations around the world, who are striving to make meaningful and lasting improvements to dog welfare in their own communities. You can read more about these projects on our International website https://dogstrustinternational.com

Recently, one of our Training and Behaviour Advisors, Alison Ramsay, was afforded the opportunity to travel to Bulgaria and lend a hand at a dog shelter in Sofia..

Here's what she had to say about the experience:

I recently had an amazing opportunity to travel to Sofia, Bulgaria to
help with a four day behaviour workshop. Twenty five delegates from all
over Bulgaria took part in the workshop hosted by Dogs Trust and Animal
Rescue Sofia. The workshop involved two days of understanding the theory
behind our dogs behaviour, followed by two days of practical
demonstrations in Animal Rescue Sofia's Shelter.
The shelter is the largest in Bulgaria and houses 500 dogs. It is
staffed by a maximum of 5 carers each day - this means that each person
is responsible for 100 dogs! The dogs are predominantly street dogs that
have been picked up due to being poorly or considered a pest to the
local community. The Shelter receives no state funding and is completely
reliant on the money they raise from donations and support from
organisations such as Dogs Trust.
The attitude and dedication of the people who work with the stray dogs
in Bulgaria is truly inspiring. They have an overwhelming amount of work
ahead to try and improve the welfare of the streets dogs that are
commonly seen as vermin but they are unfailing in their determination
and passion. Not only are Animal Rescue Sofia micro-chipping,
vaccinating and neutering all dogs (stray or owed) free of charge, they
are finding loving homes for these dogs all over Europe and Bulgaria and
constantly seeking to understand the animals in their care.
The workshop was really well received and everyone was keen to ask
questions and put themselves forward to work with the dogs at the
Shelter during the practical days training.

I consider myself so lucky to have been given the opportunity to go to
Bulgaria. The idea was that I would be able to share some of my
knowledge with the delegates but I came away having had an amazing
experience meeting some fantastic people and dogs.

Here's some pics of the pooches Ali met on her trip

Huge thanks to those of you who are so supportive of our work.
For more information on the different ways you can help suppport the work of Dogs Trust, follow this link to our website  - how you can help



xx