Work in animal welfare is very challenging and our ongoing goal to provide the best possible care for our beloved doggy guests would be impossible without our heroic staff.
Let’s meet them!
Ever since I was a kid I was very sensitive towards all the stray animals and I was always eager to help them.
I was looking after six dogs on the street but one day they were seriously threatened to be poisoned. And then Every Dog Matters showed up and rescued them. This was the first time I visited the shelter and my heart stayed there!
I started visiting the rescue center every chance I had. I was hugging and kissing every dog there, just spending time with every dog was filling me up with happiness and my heart was feeling full!
And then I understood – this was my place under the sun! Yes, there are tears when you see an injured and abused dog, but the happiness comes when you see in its eyes that all the pain and fear goes away under your care.
Thank you, Every Dog Matters for seeing in me my love for the dogs, for welcoming me so warmly to team and for making my childhood dream come true!
Kali is always in good mood and full of energy.
Her wide smile is our dose of positivism even in the moments when we can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Kali takes care of our dogs with a lot of love and attention.
You can hear her from far how she greets every single dog during feeding.
And, when she takes care of the babies in the quarantines, you can hear her singing to them.
“Here is the place where I completely detach from the daily tension, stress and boredom. Here I am energetic, patient, calm, smiling, loved and humbled. And this is so because here are my favorite furry therapists who give me so much love, I adore them. To support a cause for me is priceless and I feel blessed.”
My entire life so far somehow always evolved around animals, dogs especially.
I have a great weakness for them as I find them amazing animals, so intelligent, interesting, so loving and such wonderful companions.
Dogs that end up in shelters have no one but the dog carers. These dogs too deserve love, care and attention. And I would love to provide all that for them and to be their loving human till their find their forever loving home.
That’s why when I heard that Every Dog Matters is looking for dog carers I didn’t even think twice, I knew I belong there!
Because really every dog matters.
I have felt strongly connected to animals since I was very young.
I never wanted or had a Barbie doll, my entire childhood was stuffed puppies that I “walked” in my grandmother’s garden.
After that, I walked and fed the neighbors’ dogs regularly.
Until I was 10 and saved a 3-month-old puppy that was being beaten in the schoolyard,
or actually it saved me.
The puppy – Maggie is now 10, and I am 20…
I want to give everything I can, because the animals have given me so much. Although working in a shelter is far from easy, it is filled with subtleties and really heavy losses. All the emotions, all the strength that my colleagues and I put into each dog, in each day spent at the shelter, give results!
Just the feeling of seeing animals that have been abused recover physically and mentally is something indescribable, really…
I never dreamed that one day I would have the chance to work with such sweet, smart (most of the time), four-legged charmers…
I go to Every Dog Matters with desire and impatience because we are a great team, because I know that my work matters, because together we can!
I happened across Every Dog Matters as a travelling volunteer and immediately knew it was no ordinary dog shelter. The staff, the care they give to animals, the consideration for quality of life, and most importantly the amazing souls who make up the shelter’s dog population all contribute to what makes the place special and made my decision to join the crew full-time an easy decision!
Having grown up surrounded by dogs it has been a dream of mine to give back and do something positive for these creatures and Every Dog Matters is the perfect place for that.
Seeing the daily improvements in the dogs’ health and behavior is what I live for and it’s been a pleasure to contribute to such an important place and mission.
Marti is our dog trainer. She works with those of our dogs who need help to overcome the trauma they experienced before coming to us.
And when a dog is reserved for adoption, Marti begins intensive work with it to prepare it for an easier and good adaptation in its new family. This work consists of learning to walk on a leash, riding smoothly in the car, getting used to the urban environment and lot more.
Marti also runs our post-adoption program where we provide free lessons to our adopters to help them build a real strong bond with their adopted dogs.
“I always loved animals and while growing up I was always helping and feeding all animals around my neighborhood.
My professional path in the pet industry started about 10 years ago when I moved to Canada. I was very interested in dog training so I started volunteering and training service dogs for people with physical disabilities where I learned a lot.
Over the years I did different sports with my own dogs.
With every other course that I was taking I was getting more and more curious about training and behavior.
I love teaching people how to communicate with their four legged partners in crime and building a better relationship with them.
I recently moved back to Bulgaria and I couldn’t stand watching all those dogs that are being chained, abused and left in the middle of nowhere suffering.
When I had the opportunity to start working for Every Dog Matters I didn’t hesitate. That was my chance to make a difference for some of the dogs, show them that not all humans will give them bad experiences and to get them ready for their new lives.
My favorite thing is seeing the progress that the very fearful dogs achieve over time.”, says Marti.
Because every dog matters!
She is our vet technician. Kamelia graduated from “St. George Pobedonosets” PGVMSS in Kostinbrod in 2017.
From then on she started on the path of her specialty – veterinary technician. Through years of dedication and hard work, she developed interests in emergency medicine, dermatology and cytology, as well as behavioral problems in cats.
Since October of 2024, she has been part of the Every Dog Matters team, when she first encountered the environment and reality of the shelter lifestyle. Kami is a true perpetuum mobile machine and is always two steps ahead in any situation. Working with Kami is easy like a song and her sense of humor makes even our toughest day much easier to digest.
“I accept each of the animals staying here as a separate person. For me, there is nothing more meaningful than being a part of the journey that the animals take here until the moment they go to their forever home.”
Meet Dr. Kristian Zahariev, the chief physician of our veterinary clinic. Dr. Zahariev is the sun in our team, the smile never leaves his face. He treats every animal with a lot of love and attention. Our dogs enter his ambulatory without fear, where he performs all the manipulations with ease.
Here is what he shares about himself and his work at our rescue center:
“My name is Kristian Zahariev, 31 years old from the city of Kyustendil. I graduated veterinary medicine in 2019 at University of Forestry, Sofia.
From early childhood I loved animals. When I was 10 years old, my father and I took in a puppy from the streets – we named it Sarah. She lived with us for a while before she died of an infectious disease. The time I spent with Sarah made me fall in love with these animals. I started feeding and playing with the street dogs outside our living block.
A little later, I realized that I wanted to continue dealing with animals, so in 2012, when I graduated from high school, I enrolled to study veterinary medicine in 2019 at University of Forestry, Sofia.
After my graduation graduation, I started wandering from one clinic to another until a few months ago, a close friend of mine told me that Every Dog Matters was looking for a head doctor and he thought it was the best place for me. After a few days of thinking, I decided to start working at the shelter. Two months later, I don’t regret my decision even a bit and I think I found the right place for me and my professional development…if you don’t believe how wonderful and healthy all the dogs are here, come and see!”
Sabine has been part of the team since the very beginning of the shelter.
Her passion for the cause and her love for the dogs make her unstoppable in our mission of helping as many as we can and changing the society to a more responsible one.
“Dogs have been by my side in all situations in my life and I don’t want to have to be without them even for a single day.
Watching the dogs open up from their first day in our shelter is magical.
They learn to trust and learn what it’s like to be loved.
We are all they have in their lives and a wagging tail is enough to know that each and every one of them is more than worth fighting for.
I am so proud to be part of this great project and to have such a great team by my side.
Only together are we are strong and can change something for the better.”
Terry is the Australian co-founder of WPX.net, the major supporter of Every Dog Matters EU.
“Building a dog sanctuary with optimum care for every single one of our dogs is the hardest thing that I have ever done in my life, but it is also the best thing I have ever done.
The most difficult part of the work is that we often have to refuse to take in extremely tragic cases as we are already way overfull with dogs and maintaining high level care for our current dogs must remain our top priority.
On a daily basis, we are approached to take in abused or abandoned dogs from all over Bulgaria, Kosovo, Serbia, Greece, Cyprus and beyond or to help struggling shelters in other parts of the world, most of which is simply impossible.
My ultimate goal is that the work of Every Dog Matters EU continues and expands long after I have passed away and will always help as many abused, abandoned and homeless animals as we can.”
