What do you do when Russian soldiers invade your home?
For Nikolay*, the answer was to put his girlfriend, his dachsund puppy and as many of their
belongings as would fit into their car, and drive west.
And then, apparently, contact the British dachshund club on facebook.
As Nikolay drove west, an appeal went out to other dachshund lovers in the UK, and
incredibly a temporary home was offered to all three right here in Sussex.
After hours of travelling, and some respite in Germany, they are now safe from harm in the
UK.
Nikolay’s new friend is, in my opinion, a special kind of angel. She has opened her home to
this young couple and their pet, offering them refuge from war.
She has also provided home quarantine to be sure that Leo, the pup, is not bringing rabies
into the UK. And helped them with the mounds of paperwork the authorities required.
Luckily, Leo was already vaccinated and had his blood test before war broke out in the
Ukraine. And Nikolay had the presence of mind to pack his dog’s documents.
The British government has run out of room in its quarantine facilities, which is where I come
into the story. A series of home quarantine facilities have been set up, supervised by
specially trained vets like myself. I have submitted to 3 rabies shots and several hours of
lectures to qualify.
Our angel’s dogs have also had to be vaccinated, and submit to wearing muzzles in public,
just in case. They are maintaining a careful and continuous amount of separation between
the dogs, and monitoring Leo’s health on a daily basis, reporting it all to me once a week.
And all this was paid for by our government.
Nikolay is just starting out in life, but of an age where military service might have been
pressed upon him by the Russians. I am so very grateful to find angels in this world, who are
willing to open their homes to him and his darling pup, and remind me that there are
wonders in this world as well as war.
*I have changed their names to protect their identity.
