Whatever Happened to the Rescued Sochi Ten?

Kelly O’Meara, Humane Society International
So the Olympics held in Sochi really did highlight the plight of street dogs that existed in Sochi.

Michelle Pascaran, Pet Owner
I understood that they lived on the streets and I knew that they were exterminating the dogs while they were building the Olympics sites.

Bobby Charles, Pet Owner
This is an animal that clearly knows it was on the knife’s edge and now it doesn’t have to worry as much.

Sophia Charles, Pet Owner
For one thing it makes me feel lucky, really fortunate, that I had the opportunity to do something for him.

There was a huge demand for rehoming some of these dogs here in the United States.

When we first went to the shelter this dog was known by the name Bosh. So the great irony is that when we went there we didn’t really know what we were looking for other than a rescue dog that would get along well with our own.

I just saw this one dog, just, I don’t know, he reached out to my heart and it was just like love at first sight.

Somebody had opened the top gate for Sochi and her head just kind of popped out and as I was walking by she started just licking my hand. And as I was leaving she put her head right into my hand as if to tell me that she didn't want me to leave. And that is when I knew, I knew she was it.

[Sound Up] Who’s my good girl? Sochi’s my good girl.

It also makes me feel, just, all warm inside, because he’s just so happy and I don’t know, but I don’t think that in his past he was always that happy and now he is.

This dog who we have now named d’Artagnan, because he’s a bit of a Musketeer. His ears don't come up exactly the way that maybe a well bred dog would have his ears be, and he’s a very cheerful dog. And if you’ve ever seen the Three Musketeers, or the famous Four Musketeers, the fourth one is d’Artagnan, and d’Artagnan is a character, and this little dog is a character. He’s got a little bit of swagger and he’s got a lot of humility and he just seemed like a d’Artagnan to us.

I think Sochi’s special in every way. Particularly, she has what some people would call a bum leg, I think it adds to her charm. It doesn’t stop her from doing anything. In fact, I put her in the car, in the backseat of the car, I was loading my trunk up, and she jumped right out of my back window, my car window, chasing a squirrel. And that’s when I realized that her leg is probably OK.

There’s concern of them competing with the dogs that are in this country already awaiting homes.

I’ve gotten people that have outright told me, ‘why would you adopt a dog from Russia? There’s so many dogs here in the United States that need help.’

I feel like you can never be upset if you’re trying to help a dog. You can’t be upset about anybody ever doing that, because dogs, they rely on us.

I didn't pick Sochi, she picked me. So regardless of where she’s from, she’s my dog.

This was a dog that wanted to let you know very early on, count on me, I’m a good family member.

Specifically, because of the situation with Bosh and adopting him from a shelter, I really want to work at a shelter and help out those dogs and give them hope, comfort.

One of the journalists that interviewed me fell in love with one of the other dogs that was in that shelter. Not a Sochi dog, one of the other dogs that was in the kennel and they just happened to walk by it, and they went and they put in an application for adoption of that dog, while the Sochi dogs were arriving. So that’s just an example. The exposure that’s being brought, not only to those dogs but to the shelter in general, to the number of dogs that are awaiting adoption there, to the idea of adoption in general, automatically spikes adoption on a broader scale.

Maybe what that does in turn is reinforces back in Russia that, hey, maybe these dogs do have some value. Maybe we should take a little better care of these dogs. This is the first rescue dog we’ve had, and you know what, this rescue dog in some ways is humbler and more grateful for everything than the purebred we had before.