By area, we are the biggest large-yard, dog sanctuary in Western Bulgaria: 27,000 m2 (about 6.5 acres).

Every Dog Matters EU, a registered nonprofit NGO (Reg. 205679614), was founded by Australian Terry Kyle and is directed by Ivanka Patterson.

You can meet the whole team here.

Our sanctuary is also legally licensed.

Apart from some temporary yards for puppies, socialization rehab and emergencies, our yards are roughly 250 m2, 400 m2 and 630 m2  and our largest yard is 1,500 m2. 

We also never overcrowd our yards with dogs as this can lead to tensions, fights and injuries.

Our largest yards have a maximum of 5 dogs and most yards have only 2 dogs, the ideal number in our experience.

We know all our rescue dogs’ characters and individual needs very well.

Here our dogs play with each other constantly every day whereas at most tiny-cage, prison-style shelters, the dogs are too depressed, too frustrated and too fearful to play at all. 

Or they don’t even have the physical space for exercise or play.

We hope that shelter operators EVERYWHERE across the world strongly consider switching to the large-yard model as the dogs are much happier, healthier, better socialized and more adoptable. 

All that is needed is land – every country has unwanted land – and ambition.

EveryDogMatters.org is trying to lead the future of rescue dog management with our no-cage, open yard dog shelter.

The Every Dog Matters EU sanctuary approach is very different from most medieval-style prison shelters for dogs.

Even though our dogs have plenty of space to play and run, we take each one of them regularly on walks. 

This helps them to not get bored, to socialize, get used to new people and to learn to walk well on a leash. 

Our dogs’ physical and emotional  health is our number one priority. 

We feed them only with high quality food and they get dewormed monthly. 

Each one is regularly checked and re-vaccinated by our own vet. 

When we take in a new dog, it gets immediately tested and quarantined until full immunity is built. 

And if the dog needs surgery, we make sure to provide the best service available. 

Preparing our dogs for their forever loving homes is equaly important for us. 

Our dog trainer who has more than 10 years of practice, works with our dogs to help them overcome any fears they came with. 

We use only Positive Reinforcement training as we believe love and patience are the key to a happy and obedient dog. 

We look for the best homes for each one of the dogs under our care.

Therefore you can not come to our shelter, pick a dog and take it home the same day – our adoption process takes time so that we make sure that every potential adopter will be the best one for the selected dog.

We are also socially engaged and opened to participating in projects with other NGOs to showcase the potential each dog has in our lives and society (e.g. we have regularly participated with the Alzheimer’s Society here by taking our dogs to visit residents of homes for the elderly with dementia).

OUR CURRENT PROJECTS?

As an organization, our primary goals are:

[1] building a new quarantine area at our sanctuary site to ensure an even higher level of medical care for our rescue dogs

[2] demonstrating our successful model of large-yard animal sanctuaries as the future of rescue animal management for any person or organization to implement anywhere in the world (visits at any time are very welcome read visitor review here)

[3] rescuing/rehoming/medical care for vulnerable dogs

[4] ongoing castration programs (to reduce the homeless dog population – an unwanted animal can have a terrible life here)

[5] lobbying for changes to legislation (e.g. outlawing keeping dogs on a chain, very common here), then actual enforcement of those laws

[6] education (to castrate, to help animals in trouble, to consider making your office dog-friendly like WPX.net etc, frequent school student visits to our site)

We also have been feeding hundreds of homeless dogs at an abandoned industrial site near the capital since 2016 and co-sponsoring a private shelter in Veliki Preslav for the last 5 years.

We hope to see you in person at our sanctuary in Kostinbrod soon, details on our location here).