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Tigger's Journey Home

When Tigger, (now Yuri) was sitting on a stoop as a tiny puppy in October 2014, he probably never imagined that one day he'd have his very own home—food just for him, a soft bed to sleep on, and more love than he could ever imagine, but it would be a long road to get there. 

 
 

Yuri spent two and a half years at the shelter, that's about 974 days! He watched dogs come and go. Some days new dogs would show up looking frightened after just being picked up on the street and he'd try to play with them. Other days his best buddies would be getting groomed and whisked off to their forever homes. Through it all Yuri waited patiently, playing with Platon, greeting newcomers, and quietly sleeping in his dog house. 

On one of those ordinary days as Yuri paced around his run, Sochi Dogs received an email that would change his life forever! Dan-Michel had been quietly following Yuri's story for a little while, waiting for the right time to adopt. Things just weren't lining up, but he knew Yuri couldn't wait to go home, so Dan-Michel took the plunge.

It was finally Yuri's turn to get groomed and taken on a long car ride to the airport. Yuri arrived at JFK Airport on Saturday, June 17, 2017, and just like he had been a regular road-tripper hopped into Tanya's car and enjoyed the scenery all the way up to Lake George, NY where he met Dan-Michel, his new best friend. 

 
 

Yuri lives on the outskirts of Montreal, Canada and for the first time in his life he is sleeping on the soft bed and dreaming of his shelter friends find their forever homes too! 

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Sochi Expedition 2017:  The Road to the Shelter

Tanya Umansky, one of Sochi Dogs’ cofounders traveled to the shelter this spring. Over the next few weeks she’ll be sharing her experience on the blog.

From New York to Vienna, Vienna to Moscow and Moscow to Sochi

and I finally make it to Sochi! I couldn’t be happier! Visiting the shelter had been my dream for the last 3 years.  Vlada meets me at the airport and the first thing she says to me is, “Quick lets go, I just saw a dog on the opposite side of the highway.” We drive very slowly looking for the dog but unfortunately it ran away.  Our next stop, the old part of Sochi, a small resort town on the Black Sea. It’s lively with tons of palm trees and shops lining the streets  We have a quick lunch at a local café, load the car with the groceries and of course stop by a pet store. Vlada says she can’t go to the shelter without bringing treats! There are no Petcos or PetsMarts or anything even comparable in Sochi.  The pet store is tiny. We are able to find some treats but they were oh so expensive. Finally we are ready for our destination — the shelter

From Sochi to Adler there is a modern highway. Then we turn off towards the shelter and then the road goes through villages, fields, along a small cemetery, passing some abandoned buildings, and finally through a patch of woods to reach the shelter gates.

The last few miles of the road we’ve been calling the “abandoned dog road” because we’ve found so many dogs here. Since very few people know to spay their dogs, many drop-off unwanted puppies in these woods because its far from town so they won’t be able to make back.

This is where we found Nellie, Hanna and her puppies Tula (Chenna), Ginger (Marina), Daisy (Deshka), and Nuka, just last week Simcha was dropped of here in a box, among many others.

The road ends at the shelter gates. As you can see from the photos, you need to be a very experience driver and have 4-wheel drive if you want to drive through.  If there is ice or snow even a 4-wheel drive vehicle won’t get you there.

The Shelter

Vlada goes in to open the gate. The shelter is set on the slope of a mountain and its surrounded by an 8-foot fence.

I haven’t seen the shelter but I know and love this place!  The gate is opened and I walk inside.  Masha  meets up with Sierra, Trixie, Marsha, Katya and Josie. First Vlada, goes to hug her favorite dog, Katya and then everyone else gets treats.  

The dogs in the kennels want to greet us too and they are barking as loud as they can to tell us. After saying hello, we go inside the cottage where Masha lives and where I’ll be staying. I give Vlada and Masha the posters with notes and photos from our adopters. We reminisce about the dogs already in homes and how each of them were rescued. We can’t chat for long, there is lots of work to be done!  

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When You Think Someone Is Coming Back  - And then they don't.

Can you imagine this munchkin sitting outside of a store waiting for her owner all night? Sadly her owner never came back... 
Late that night after the store had closed and it was clear no-one was coming for Josie, Vlada took her back to her apartment, where Josie spent the night. Josie is now the newest resident at the Sochi Dogs shelter. She is house-trained, likes cats and other dogs. Josie will ready to go home to her true forever family soon! 
 

 
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From Scared Street Dog to Loving Pet 

Enky (short for "енот" or Enot, meaning raccoon in Russian) was found scared and lost sitting on a stoop by an apartment building. Within hours of being at the shelter we saw Enky's true personality come out! He is a fun and feisty little guy with a winning personality. He loved everyone he met and soon he was adopted to a loving home in New Jersey. Enky is all smiles and kisses now.
Scroll through the photos to see Enky's transformation from scared street dog to loving pet! 

 
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