21/02/2025
We work on the philosophy that a few well trained and happy dogs who go on to become excellent pets is better than tens of scared and unhomeable dogs who end up crammed into shelters or worse...
Having worked in Ukraine for 3+ years now, we've seen too many times animals fall through the cracks because the focus is on the quantity of animals rescued and not the quality of their care. 50+ dogs in one muddy yard with almost no human contact or enrichment. Barking and fighting or being forced into a crate for hours on end if they are too reactive. These dogs either end up terrified of people as they've never been socialized or completely wild. Barking at every small sound, not house trained, chewing everything the second they're left alone...these dogs are nearly impossible to re-home. Especially in a country where finding good homes for dogs is already a huge challenge (lots of people would love a scary looking guard dog to stay on a chain in the garden, but we want our dogs to members of the family.) We've seen so many dogs end up in substandard fosters for years, while the rescuers scramble to find enough money to cover their foster.
With all this in mind, the only way forward for us has always been to help a few dogs to become pet ready and find them fantastic homes abroad. It's a huge task- endless hours of work and training. Vaccines, paperwork, tests and more paperwork. Finding transport. But it is all worth it to know these dogs go on to thrive rather than just survive.
At Lila's Tree, this is our mission statement 💪
