(NOTE: If you’re reading this page to decide about coming to work with us, you can read Google reviews of our shelter and foundation here)
Welcome Workawayer!
The purpose of this page is to help you get going with some basic navigation stuff, briefly describe our dog shelter and point out good things to do while you are our guest in Bulgaria.
While you are part of the Every Dog Matters EU family here, there should be plenty of time to enjoy Sofia and give you a well-rounded Bulgarian experience that you hopefully remember forever.
Remember, if you get stuck, lost or arrested at any point, Yuliya (Whatsapp: +359877663990) or Terry (Whatsapp: +359877663991) from Every Dog Matters EU are always available to get you unstuck.
To summarize Sofia and Bulgaria, Bulgaria is an EU country in transition from a Soviet/Communist past to a Western European future.
You will see many crumbling old Soviet-era buildings right next to new modern buildings across Sofia.
Sofia has a population of 1.5 to 2 million people, is the economic engine of Bulgaria and has a huge tech sector here.
Sofia (and Bulgaria generally) is pretty safe, has sunny weather mostly and beautiful mountainous natural scenery across the country (more on that below with our recommended sightseeing options).
There are also plenty of expats in Sofia and speaking English is semi-OK to get by here (use Google Translate and show the translation in Bulgarian on your phone if not).
You will be staying in our apartment in a secure, gated complex called Flora Park, which is on Flora Street and you will be living straight across the street from the founders of Every Dog Matters EU, Terry and Yuliya, so they are always available to help you:
We also have one of our shelter rescue dogs, Goshko, living in the Workaway apartment – he’s a lovely, cuddly (but lazy) boy – and Workawayers share the responsibilities of looking after Goshko:
Our apartment where you will be staying consists of:
– 2 bedrooms (each with their own bathroom),
– 3 bathrooms (the 3rd one belongs to the living room area)
– a fully equipped kitchen (dishwasher, washing machine, microwave),
– 2 balconies, and is,
– in a gated complex with controlled access and security
The bigger bedroom has 3 single beds, a big wardrobe, a chest of drawers and access to a balcony.
The small bedroom has a sofa bed that can accommodate 2 and a single bed + wardrobe.
The living room has a very big sofa, 2 armchairs + a big dining table for 8.
The sofa can be converted to a bed and is sometimes used as an overflow area.
We aim for a maximum occupancy of 6 people at a time, though usually it is 3-4 people there normally.
We provide the bedding, bed linen, towels. Vacuum cleaner and cleaning materials are also provided + 3 clothes hangers.
We expect that volunteers will keep our apartment tidy and clean and water the two plants in the living area (thanks in advance for that!).
Volunteers should make sure that the bed linen and towels that are used are also washed and put out to dry.
Remember, the founders of Every Dog Matters EU, Terry (Australian) and Yuliya (Bulgarian), live right across the street in a complex called Flora Garden, about 20 meters away, so if you get stuck with anything, they are always available to help get you unstuck (reach them on Whatsapp, numbers above).
A good navigation point is the 2,000 meter-high mountain, Vitosha (pronounced VEE-TOE-SHA), which you can see from everywhere in Sofia, even from our dog shelter – it’s actually the best thing about Sofia, read more about the mountain here.
Flora street – you will be living there! – joins a main road, Bulgaria Boulevard (easy to remember!) and in one direction, it goes straight into the city center either by tram (10 minutes) or walking (1 hour), if you like.
In the other direction, it goes up to Vitosha mountain where you walk up to sights like Boyana Waterfalls and the small Boyana Lake (use Google Maps for navigation to those, if walking).
Where Flora Street joins Bulgaria Boulevard, there is an underpass to a tram stop and trams (#7 or #27) there take you to the center (for sightseeing) or to Central Station where the trains to Dragoman take you to our dog shelter (more on that in person but it’s pretty straightforward).
You should ALWAYS have valid tickets for the trams as inspections are common and past Workawayers have been busted without tickets!
Along Bulgaria Boulevard towards the center (away from the mountain), you will quickly find Billa (marked on the map above), a large supermarket, where you can get all you need, grocery-wise, and there are also smaller corner shops within 100 meters of your apartment.
If you’re working at the sanctuary when Terry is working there, he can give you a lift home by car at the end of the working day.
PRO TIP #1: the mountain here is called VitoshA and the main street in the center is called VitoshKA (so as to not confuse them).
PRO TIP #2: Bulgarians tend to lack the polite habit of saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ when dealing with them and are generally a negative bunch who love to complain about everything – don’t take it personally, that’s just their style.
PRO TIP #3: Bulgarians shake their head for YES – weird but true and it takes a little getting used to:
Here are 10 quick fun facts about our dog shelter:
1. Our dog shelter currently houses about 130 dogs in large open yards (apart from smaller ones for puppies, juniors – between puppies and adults – or rehabilitation cases), our site is 27,000 m2 in total.
By comparison, the largest dog shelter in Bulgaria by dog numbers (a government facility), about 20 minutes drive from our site, houses 1,500-1,800 dogs in 33,000 m2.
2. Our dog shelter is an ex-pig farm that was originally built in 1970 (yes, the site is 50+ years old) and that explains why many things on the site are broken.
3. We are about to enter the 4th year of a 10 year lease on the site so over-investment in a site that we don’t own is problematic.
4. We also house 7 cats that we inherited from another foundation though our site is not well suited to cats (you will get to meet them).
5. Most dog shelters do not provide any medical care for their dogs (lack of funding and/or lack of ambition usually).
Instead, we provide full preventive and remedial medical care for all our dogs with our own vet clinic on site.
6. Where we are located on a plain gets very hot in summer (June, July and August mainly) and very cold in winter (January and February mainly).
In winter, we provide winter-proof clothing that is effective for working outdoors.
In summer, you will get a great tan!
7. All of our dogs come from horror stories of abuse, cruelty and abandonment but most have completely turned around to be loving, social and very friendly with people – that’s part of the miracle of dogs!
8. We need to warn you that during your stay with us you WILL fall deeply in love with some of our dogs and will be heartbroken to leave them behind – but do you actually need to leave them behind?
Really?
9. The long-term goal of our foundation is to inspire, encourage and lead other organisations and people around the world to adopt the large-yard model for dog shelters as we see that as the future of all dog shelters everywhere in the world, just like smartphones, the internet, digital nomadism and electric cars are radically changing the world we live in.
As you will see, dogs in our type of shelter environment are much more social, healthy (emotionally AND physically) and adoptable – what could possibly be more important for a dog shelter?
Your time with us will hopefully advance that mission.
10. If and only if, you like our mission to help dogs everywhere, you can help our mission in the future by:
[a] sharing our stories on social media with your network,
[b] consider adopting one or more of our wonderful dogs,
[c] returning to volunteer with us in future years when it is convenient for you (some volunteers already do that, 2 became full-time staff and stayed), and,
[d] consider donating to our work, once you are financially stable in your life as the standard of care we provide for our dogs is very expensive to maintain.
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