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Happy Shelter Skopje: Finding Rescue Dogs Homes in the UK

Happy Shelter is a non-profit animal shelter based in North Macedonia that relies solely on the donations of the amazing general public. These fantastic people find rescue dogs their forever homes in the UK. This is their story! Check them out on their Facebook and website.

In just under a year we have successfully adopted 80 dogs into their forever homes with 76 of those beautiful fur babies being in the UK. The shelter is just shy of a year old as it was opened on 15th October 2020. 

As it stands we currently have 23 amazing dogs at the shelter still looking for their forever homes. We hope to find each and every one of them the absolute best home possible so they can live the lives they so truly deserve. 

Our mission is to never turn away a dog in need of help and care and to find them all the most loving and amazing homes no matter how long that takes! But for this, we need the help and support of others so we can continue to build and grow. 

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Cliff

One of our biggest boys here, Cliff, has quite the story. On 28th April 2021, Cliff physically climbed the fence to make his way into our shelter! He must have known he would be safe with us. He was covered head to paw in mange and his ears had been brutally cut off.

But despite all he had been through he still has the most amazing and loving nature! He acts just like any 11-month-old puppy would do! He’s extremely playful and loves attention.

After lots of love, care, affection and of course treatment Cliff has made a full recovery! Although his ears will of course never grow back we still think he’s very handsome! He’s looking for his forever home now and we cannot wait to tell him when we find it! 

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Kona at our shelter a few days after his rescue
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Kona now

Kona here is a very handsome 10 month old Eastern European village dog x Sarplaninac (according to his embark test done by his family). He was rescued when he was just 6 weeks old after being found by a local man in the mountains with just one other puppy.

Of course we welcomed him with open arms at our shelter and he was very quickly adopted, although due to his age it would be a little while until he could make his journey to his new home.

He suffered with kennel cough during his time with us as unfortunately the kennel cough vaccine is unavailable here in North Macedonia. So every day for two weeks he was given antibiotics morning and night.

With the right care he was able to fully recover and receive his rabies shot, meaning in 3 weeks he could travel! He made his journey home to his family back in April where he now lives a wonderful life full of love.

His family have said ‘Kona has been with us now for 5 wonderful months and we couldn’t imagine our life without him. He’s the craziest, silliest, most loving boy and we are so grateful to HS for giving us the chance to have him home’ 

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Frankie at our shelter
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Frankie now

Frankie here is a beautiful little girl, believed to be a terrier mix of sorts. She was rescued along with her mum and siblings, then known as the spuntiks, when she was just 2 weeks old. They had been dumped in the middle of nowhere with the smallest bowl of water!

Lucky for her and her family they were found by one of our volunteers and immediately brought to the shelter. Mum Lajka, Frankie and all her siblings have since been adopted and are all living their absolute best lives in the UK with Frankie travelling all the way to the North of Scotland.

Frankie is now just over 7 months old and has been living with her new family for 3 months. It’s safe to say she is very happy with her new life! 

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Maggie (left) with her blood sister Mila (right) both adopted in the UK
Maggie now (left) with her new dog brother Murphy (right)

Maggie has had it tough that’s for sure. She is currently 11 months old and was adopted back in May. At the end of May she travelled to what was supposed to be her forever family. But after just 10 days they gave up on her.

She wasn’t even given the chance. It’s unfortunate that sometimes bad adopters can slip through the cracks when they say all the right things. Maggie was taken into emergency foster by one of our UK volunteers/adopters where she stayed for 2 months until the perfect home was found for her.

During her foster stay she was diagnosed with hip dysplasia and cherry eye. We of course told her foster to go ahead with any treatments necessary for her. Thanks to her wonderful foster home Maggie was able to thrive even with her medical issues.

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Mila when she was rescued
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Mila now

She became the best of friends with resident dog Mila who is also a Happy Shelter dog that didn’t have the easiest of starts either. She was found on the streets of Drmeni as a young pup with a huge scar across her side. She’s been living with her family now for 6 months and has just celebrated her 1st birthday in style!

Maggie really learned what it was like to be loved. After surgery on her eye and medication for her hips she was ready again to look for her forever home and boy did we find it! She now lives an extremely wonderful life with her new mum and dog brother Murphy.

Unfortunately after a second eye surgery her eye has once again prolapsed and she will now need a final surgery for removal but she doesn’t let this stop her. She knows her limits but is just as playful, loving and affectionate as any 11 month old puppy. 

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From left to right: Leeny, Louie and Tori all looking for their forever homes

You can follow us and our dogs on either of our Facebook pages, Instagram or our website where you can see all of our fur babies looking for homes and you can also see all the wonderful dogs in their homes 🥰 

We cannot thank our wonderful adopters enough for giving these beautiful babies the absolute best lives and to our supporters for continuing to support us even when times are tough. 

2 thoughts on “Happy Shelter Skopje: Finding Rescue Dogs Homes in the UK

  1. Hi all, After losing my sraffy Cassie 4 months ago to cancer at her old age of nearly 16 yrs, I am ready to give the love & care to a new doggy, I’ve lived in my home for 24yrs It has a 6ft fence all round so is nice & secure, I’m no longer working so am home most of the time, when I do go out it’s a quick run to the local shops. I don’t have any other pets & am close to a park & a big field at the back of me, 4 mins away. Please send me any info on these beautiful dogs needing love. I’m here waiting!!! Thank you for what you do. You are amazing! If I could take them all I would. I have a big heart for all animals & can’t bare to think what some of these dogs go through in the hands of nasty humans!

    1. Hi Michelle, if you click on the links at the bottom of this story for the happy shelter Facebook pages of website you will be able to contact the team directly. There are 20 dogs now at the shelter currently looking for homes of all different ages, shapes and sizes.
      I have personally adopted from this shelter. Kona who you see in this story is my dog and I can hand on heart say it was the best decision my family and I ever made 😊

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