A Very Romanian Rescue

'What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight – it’s the size of the fight in the dog.’ - General Dwight D. Eisenhower

He's a fighter, our Gunther. Stubborn, mischievous, slightly anxious, but playful, loving and incredibly loyal. Born and abandoned by an unknown family in Romania, he was found wandering the streets begging for food. He looked close to death, stick thin with a bloated belly and a lot of his fur had fallen off. Despite his nervous disposition – accentuated by the mistreatment he faced on the streets – Gunther still had a youthful innocence about him. A curiosity which pushed him to approach two local dog lovers as they attempted to coax him over to them.

Romania has a stray dog problem. Something that the BBC suggests, ‘stems from the country's communist period when some people had to move into apartment blocks that did not allow pets, and so had to abandon their dogs.’

The country has become infamous for the dogs who are regularly abandoned and roam the streets. The problem has become so bad, the animals so mistreated, that Romania are actively trying to change their country’s public perception on local dogs. Recently they have been starting every league football match with their players coming out onto the field holding puppies. Those who run the arenas have even banned audiences from bringing in anything loud, such as firecrackers, which might spook the animals.

When Gunther was found on the street by two brilliant women who have been making it their mission to rescue stray dogs, they initially didn’t know if they could keep him. One woman already lived in a flat with dogs, and the other, Ioana, already had seven of her own. Knowing that Gunther would’ve most likely been kicked, had stones thrown, as well as having cars and bikes coming at him, they came to the decision that they could not leave him to continue to fend for himself. Gunther would temporarily become dog number eight in Ioana’s house.

Ioana gave Gunther the name he has now, taking him for regular trips to the vet and nurturing him back to health. As it turned out, Sarcoptic Mange had been riddling Gunther, causing his fur to fall out, and his intestines were heavily blocked with raw corn making his stomach bloat in the way it had. He was also living with a hernia, something that could not be fixed until he was at least a year old for a dog of his size. She would take him on walks, shower him with love and attempt to socialise him; to encourage him to build back his trust in people. A difficult task, considering the traumatic incidences of his early life.

Unfortunately, with Gunther growing quite fast, Ioana could see that there was simply not enough room for an eighth dog. Having nursed him back to health, she put him up for adoption at a well-known agency called A Better Life Dog Rescue (ABLDR).

ABLDR rescue dogs from Romania who might otherwise suffer gruesome deaths and bring them to the UK to give them a better life with loving families. They are a registered charity with a base in Essex founded in 2012 and have now rehomed over 1600 dogs! It was around the time, Gunther had been put up for adoption, that my family finally decided to give in to our longing for a furry friend. We initially looked into adopting a dog from an animal shelter in the UK. However, there had been a problem. Over the course of the first Coronavirus lockdown that the UK had, there had been an upsurge in families, who didn’t quite understand what looking after a dog would entail, adopting the animals. When the first lockdown we had drew to a close and people went back to work, adoption centres were inundated by people bringing back their dogs, or even abandoning them on the streets all over again. It was, frankly, a shameful state of affairs, and as anybody would expect, when a second lockdown rolled around, most shelters were closed for business.

ABLDR was suggested to us through a friend, and it was through the charity that we found our beautiful boy. After extensive background checks – have we had experience with big dogs before, do we have a reasonable size fence, locks on the gates, places to take him on long walks and somebody in the house to give him the attention he needs – Gunther began the long journey to England. ABLDR were incredibly thorough, always on the end of the phone and updating us of his journey every step of the way. They gave him all of the required, inoculations, got him his pet passport, and microchipped him to both our house and their address.

Their love for animals is such that even if an animal was set to be put down for some reason or another, they would rather step in, take that animal on and work with it to alter it’s behaviour. Every potential owner fills out a form about their lifestyle, experience, and why they want a dog. The charity also have a help service, their own trainers, and a community of people who have previously adopted animals from there who regularly share how their pet is doing. We were blown over by their professionalism, and of course, overjoyed when we finally got to meet our Gunther.

He was a nervous dog when he arrived, finding himself in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people. On the journey home he clung to my mum, his legs trembling, refusing to leave her side. The list of things he was scared of was probably as long as my arm. Many of the things that made Gunther nervous, could be traced back to his time on the streets, some were just typical canine fears. He didn’t like parked cars, quick or sudden movements, bikes and scooters, dense crowds, not being able to see around corners, and specifically men in shorts. When encountering these things, he would back away, legs shaking, and bark, very, very loudly.

In the early days with us he would listen out for every noise, reacting to almost every perceived threat to him and his new pack. We found ourselves in a dilemma. How to socialise him during a Coronavirus lockdown. As it turned out, lots of walks – at first in quieter fields, then gradually in more populated areas – stopping to have socially distanced chats with other dog walkers, allowing him to get to know other dogs, teaching him that even if one of us leaves the house we will always come back, and plenty of love has done wonders. We’re even able to let him off the lead now at dog parks where he grows more ecstatic each time he discovers another dog he can play with!

As we’ve grown together, Gunther has gone from cowering in corners with a knitted comfort blanket to forgetting quite how big he’s gotten as he bounds over, jumping on us when we walk in the house, sit on a chair, or come down for breakfast. He’s cheeky, affectionate, and a force to be reckoned with. When we first adopted Gunther, we’d thought we were rescuing him, but it is Gunther who has made our lives better in more ways than we can count. We’re more considerate to each other, calmer, and have a reignited sense of adventure as we comb through ideas about where to take him next.

Gunther has acquired the well-earned title of Wellness Pup. He is devoted to the role as he showers us with love, is there for us when we are sad, and forces us to take much-needed breaks from work – doing what animals do when you’re paying too much attention to technology and not enough to them, encouraging us to establish a work/life balance. If it were up to us, he would most definitely win EmPAWyee of the Month every month.

We’re still learning together, with Gunther discovering new ways to adapt to his environment and behave around strangers every day. But he has come leaps and bounds from the way he was when his story began. He has made our days brighter in more ways than one, has given us something to be excited about and has amplified any emotional intelligence we did have before as we communicate wordlessly, dog to person, person to dog. Whatever the future holds, we’re pleased to say that Gunther has found his forever home with us and we wouldn’t change a thing.

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