It’s amazing how we continue to come across hundreds of new dog rescue stories that never fail to make us feel all warm inside. Sometimes, it’s easy to lose hope and not see the brighter side. As dog lovers, we wish we could do more, but what we’re left with is just empathizing with dog rescues we see online. Luckily, there are people who are there to bridge the gap for us.

A small dog rescue channel on YouTube called ‘Love Furry Friends – Rescue Channel’ has been actively reaching out and saving the lives of the many stray dogs in Ukraine. It was started by a woman who is a dog lover and would surely do anything to help an animal in need. She says that in Ukraine, there are a lot of strays that are in need of help and it doubles during the wintertime since it’s usually incredibly cold.

She has a team of people that go out and rescue abandoned, homeless, and abused dogs from the streets. They do all of their rescues out of their own pockets and if lucky, through donations. They make sure that each dog they rescue is given the opportunity to find a loving forever home without having the interested dog parents pay any adoption fees.

It’s true that sometimes those who don’t have much are those who still choose to give more. Just like the rescuers, there’s a kind-hearted homeless man named Oleg, who rescued over 30 dogs. Here, we’ll see how he was able to provide a temporary shelter for over 30 dogs in the vacant lot that he camped in.

The rescuers were informed about the situation and they immediately went to Oleg’s location to figure out how they could help. They arrived at a vacant lot that was quite vast, bigger than the usual vacant lots that they encounter. In the middle of it was a small tent and a few pieces of chopped logs as makeshift chairs, as well as a few bricks and charcoal for cooking.

They found out that it was three years ago when the man rescued two dogs, but he didn’t have enough resources to get them spayed and neutered – which led to the 30 dogs that he has now.

As they looked around the area, they saw different dogs ranging from pups to adults, each dog had their own safe spots. Some were hiding, some freely walking around and playing. They didn’t seem to have minded the current situation, they somehow seemed happy. One specific happy little pup is named Borya. According to Oleg, the pup wasn’t from the same litter. He just found and rescued it from an area near the road. Borya apparently loves Oleg so much that he follows him everywhere

After meeting most of the pups, they had to head home and promised to come back the next day with food for both Oleg and the dogs. Upon arriving, the dogs immediately smelled the food in the massive bags! They ran excitedly, waiting for their turn to be fed. You could tell that these dogs have not experienced that before. It was quite a big lot, so the rescuers had to go around leaving piles of kibble around for the dogs. They also made sure to provide them with clean drinking water.

While going around the area, Oleg mentioned that there were puppies that lived in the burrows. They need to be relocated, because of how dangerous it was for them to be staying in the little holes they spent most of their time in. Apparently, some puppies have died from suffocation when the holes would collapse and bury them in the sand.

Slowly they were able to find the puppies their forever homes. The very first adoption was for Borya! It didn’t take long for people from the internet to fall in love with this little one. They were contacted by a man who was impressed by Borya’s loyalty; he wanted to give the little guy a forever home. This, of course, was news that brought Oleg happiness – he bid Borya farewell and wished him luck with his new family.

Just when they thought things were going smoothly, they received a call from Oleg saying that Tima, his favorite dog, was hit by a car. The life of a homeless dog means living day-to-day in danger and the potential risk of getting injured. Thankfully, he survived and only had a minor injury. When they arrived, Tima was constantly crying and could barely move. They immediately brought him to the pet hospital and had to carry him in a specific way to avoid causing more damage. During the examination, they found out that the accident broke his right hip and fractured his left hind leg which had to be surgically fixed. Tima’s rehabilitation post-surgery means that he would need to stay at the hospital for at least a month.

With the number of dogs within the area, they don’t immediately take notice of all of their conditions. It was only after Tima’s accident that they noticed one of the dogs, Julie, had an eye injury that needed to be treated for two weeks. Oleg made sure of that. He promised to treat her eyes four times a day to ensure her recovery.

A week later, things started to look a bit brighter. Good news started to pour in! Both Julie and Tima were recovering. Tima’s surgery was a success and was soon ready to be up for adoption, while Julie’s eye was slowly healing.