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!
Flo is an absolute natural talent with our dogs. She is very observant and notices even the slightest change in our dogs moods and behavior. Needless to say, they all love her.
“I came across the shelter by complete accident and now 8 months later, I can’t imagine being anywhere else.
The dogs for me have truly become my whole life, I spend my days off thinking about them and they also are in my dreams! But it’s hard not to become obsessed with these dogs when they give you nothing but love, joy and entertainment.
For me I imagine each dog having a certain life, Drago going on adventures, Daisy with a loving family, Kenny being perfect anywhere, I could go on 😂. But my dream is to see each of these dogs get the love and life they deserve because for me I can never repay the love and life they have given me!
Well the actual dream is to become a millionaire and adopt them all myself but for now I take each adoption as a huge success as each dog deserves it so much and it’s so wonderful also seeing the adopters receive and give so much love.
I’m proud to be in a job I never imagined having, as part of a team who I admire and think are making huge changes to the lives of so many incredible dogs
The dogs, the team, the city for me it’s the dream package, doing a job I love with people and dogs I love, I’m not sure what more you could want.”
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.”
Daliya too gave up her corporate career to follow her dream in helping dogs in need.
Though tiny and delicate, a master in Business Administration, Daliya is an absolute tornado in the office and there is no task too big for her.
“I have loved dogs since I was little. Despite my severe allergy to them, I did not give up on my dream of having a faithful four-legged friend and companion in life.
Over the years, I engaged in various activities that, despite the career development they offered, were not related to the cause of my life, namely to be in the protection and benefit of homeless animals.
After my first visit to Every Dog Matters, I was amazed at what a friendly for the dogs environment and how well they are cared for there.
Joining the Every Dog Matters team, I found an amazing crew with whom we share common understandings, dreams and goals through which we can help more homeless dogs in Bulgaria in discovering a new and better life and care for them!”
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.”
Ivanka mastered in Photography and Visual Arts. Her creativity shines through daily as one of her main tasks is problem solving.
She also runs the fundraising, partnerships, adoptions and new entries, social media, the team and being a professional photographer, she takes the photos of our wonderful dogs.
“When I first moved to Bulgaria five years ago, I was appalled by the abuse, the neglect, the downright irresponsibility and apathy towards animals here.
Daily my heart was wounded by these actions and I wanted to either curl up and cry or run to somewhere where such abuse wasn’t so prevalent. I couldn’t do that though.
I spent many evenings on the terrace watching the sunset and thinking things through.
Running would be easy, and change nothing.
Change.
A small word, but it affects us all. We each have a voice and the ability to effect change.
If we are conscious with our actions, if we act for the change we want to see, we can make it happen.
I know I have strength to accompany my passion and love for the amazing creatures dogs are. I have the will and the ability to act for change.
If I want to see change in society, I must step forward and work towards it instead of being a silent observer of society’s problems.
Running a dog shelter is a very tough and demanding job. And I have no day off. But it is also very rewarding and definitely worth it.
Because every dog matters! ”
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.”
