Apr 16, 2017
Part 1
It was a cold day in late Fall. I was sitting in my office. Back then, I didn’t know why on that day I decided to take on the task of patrolling the company grounds and workers residences myself. I got out of my chair and headed for Boomehen. On one of the side streets I saw a dog sitting by the side of the road, that at sight of my car using his arms he struggled to pull himselfaway and made eye contact with me.
After checking on the resident, I bought some hot dogs and put them in front of the dog but he did not eat and instead went under a parked car and hid. I had to go back to work and moved on but I wish I took the dog with me as I could not stop thinking about him for one second all day. The next day, I called up my driver and told him to go to the same area and find the paralyzed dog and bring him to me. An hour later he came back with the dog. I took him to the animal hospital. After a check up and X-Rays from his spine the doctor told me that the dog is completely paralyzed and gave me three options. First choice was to put him out of his misery by injection. Second choice was to keep him myself, which is very difficult. third option is a shelter named Vafa where they are able to care for him. I asked Ms. Simin to follow up with the shelter as I was on my way to Dubai. She did so but they didn’t have an available kennel for ten days. When I got back to town I found him eating his food and was doing a lot better. After ten days a kennel opened up and we took the dog, now named Omid, to the shelter. Every day I hoped for a miracle and good news about him, until on first day of Spring I heard that he was headed for America. I cried for joy for nearly half hour and could not believe it. Though I’m not a religious person, I felt so blessed by God’s Grace. I felt so lifted. I envy Banafsheh and her husband who are volunteering in this way all the time. I feel like I’m a drop of water next to an ocean. May the same God who put Omid in my path reward you for all the good that you do.
Sincerely,
Mohsen
Part 2
It was around noon one day when Ms. Simin called me and said she had found a paralyzed dog. She said she had taken the dog in for X-rays and was told that the damage was too severe and beyond repair, and that she had no way of keeping him. As she was telling me the story, in my mind I searched every corner of the shelter and could not think of a spot for him. And still with full knowledge of our lack of space for one more dog, as if I had no control of my own tongue I said: “Bring him.”
Two days later, Omid came. He was in a cardboard box in the back of the van. He stuck his head out of the box and the spark of his eyes said: “Hello Life! I am back!” An hour after he was settled in I went to check on him, and that’s when I learned how extensive his damage was. But he didn’t seem to believe he was in bad shape at all. He was embodiment of Hope. Any time I went to visit him, he would hurry up to me dragging his paralyzed end behind him and a doggie smile on his face, plant himself at my feet and ask to be petted. Not only that Omid was full of Hope, he was also sweet and he never allowed his physical challenges bring his spirit down. He made his happiness. There is no distance between Hope and Happiness.
Ali Sani
Part 3
Everyone says “You’re an Angel” , “God bless you and your husband for saving this poor dog.
“But many don’t realize…..HE saved me!
Omid has brought a certain value to our life that I really can’t explain. He has taught me a different level of love, that I didn’t know existed. After all I have had dogs for 31 years now, what could I learn now about a dog & from a dog, that I hadn’t learned before?
The TRUE meaning of “Appreciation”, “Patience” and “UNCONDITIONAL Love”.
When someone constantly picks you up, puts you down, puts you on your side, then moves your legs, doesn’t let you move from one spot until you’re cleaned & in diapers, does this to you, does that…..every single day, several times a day; it would get on your nerves! When a dog gets tired or annoyed, what does he do? He growls or snaps at you. But not Omid. He continuously licks my hand with gratitude. And on the days he senses I’m a bit tired, he puts his head in my lap. He squeezes himself towards my legs and drops his head down like he’s saying, “I’m sorry you’re tired today. I thank you for taking care of me. I wish I could do more to show you how much I appreciate what you’re doing for me. I wish I had the capability to wag my tail to show you my appreciation and happiness.” But what Omid may not realize that with every little suddle notion, with every gentle lick and every time he burries his face in my lap; he makes me realize what unconditional love truly is. He makes me realize how the most simplest thing like scratching behind his ear is impossible for him (since he can’t use his back legs) & when I do that for him it’s as if I’ve given him the world. Omid has taught me to pay close attention to the little things that we take for granted & more importantly, he has taught me to not take life so seriously. Sometimes I feel his pain. Sometimes I see him struggling, trying to maneuver around, after drinking water, slipping on the kitchen floor surface & as I stare at him I wonder ‘is he tired of this?’ Then he notices me looking at him quietly and he all of a sudden gets this burst of energy and bounces to me so fast, picking up the closest squeaky toy as he jets towards me with the happiest look and smile that always makes me laugh and wonder at the beauty of this dog’s attitude. He’s an inspiration to me. His pleasant attitude, despite all that he’s gone through, is just mind-blowing. He’s so amazing. He makes me realize that ‘life is good’, be happy, enjoy the squeaky toy, bounce around, who knows how long we have on this earth? Enjoy this very moment. When I look at Omid and all that he has gone through, I feel ashamed for some of my own weaknesses, l get embarrassed for the way I may have handled a situation…. I mean look at this dog, look at this paralyzed dog and learn from his will to survive and strength to be happy! How can you not be in awe of him??? That’s when I realized how much God loves me. Only God knew how I would learn these very important life lessons; so he brought it directly to me in the form of OMID. Omid has shown me to always have faith. He loves me unconditionally and I owe him….. I am and will forever be indebted for the life lessons and his pure love he has given me.
What an angel. All the way from Iran. Yes, he saved me. Omid’eh man!
Banafshe
Omid in the news:
http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/04/-miracle-dog-omid-in-search-of-a-good-u-s-home-74813.html
http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/06/omid-the-dog-becoming-famous-77365.html
http://www.wjla.com/video/2012/06/omid-find-a-home.html
Apr 16, 2017
Adopted by Stein Family on September 22, 2012 – Danbury, CT
While volunteering at VAFA Animal Shelter in Iran this summer, I thought how good it would be if every volunteer from outside of Iran would take a dog back with them and find it a good home. With that in mind, I decided to take one of the healthy puppies back to the USA with me.
I spoke with Mr. Ali Sani, director of the shelter, who agreed with my idea. We checked out all the healthy puppies and we decided on two who seemed rather healthy. After running blood work on the two and having them checked over by the shelter’s veterinarian, I chose Azarakhsh who was a bit timid. I emailed Azarakhsh’s photo to my son in the USA and asked him if any of his friends would be interested in adopting him. My son emailed back that one of his colleagues at work was interested in adopting Azarakhsh, but she wouldn’t be completely sure until she and her family met him in person. I wasn’t worried because I knew I would find Azarakhsh a home if this one didn’t work out.
Azarakhsh came to the USA with me and stayed at my house for almost a month before Lori and her family came back from vacation and visited him. During that month, he gained weight and became less and less shy. He played with Max and Saachi, my two VAFA dogs and tried to chase the cats. He became bilingual and started being very much attached to me. By this time, I had shortened his name to Azzie so that people in the USA wouldn’t have trouble addressing him. Azzie was very popular at Quarry Ridge Animal Hospital where I took him to be seen by Dr. Cobelli. As always, Dr. Cobelli did not charge me anything and put Azzie on medications for worms and his cough.
When Lori, Jan, and Dexter Stein came to meet Azzie I could tell they liked him very much, but they didn’t want to commit until they had had a private talk. However, shortly after they arrived home, they called me and said they wanted Azzie. Soon after, the paperwork was completed through Fara Ravon and Maryam Kamali and I was able to deliver Azzie to the Steins. At the Steins, I noticed how much care had gone into making Azzie feel welcome. There was a new bed for him, new toys, and a new collar and leash. The only item that wasn’t new was the crate which belonged to their former (now deceased) dog. Azzie now lives in a house with three acres of land near a lake. He runs free because of the invisible fence and is allowed on the sofas and beds. He loves his new family and is less and less timid each day. As I hoped, he traded his attachment to me with an attachment to Lori.
This is what Lori says: “Azzie is a wonderful dog. He is your typical puppy with much energy. He loves to sleep on his back with his legs up in the air! He loves one particular blanket and runs around it all the time and then jumps on it. He jumps on the sofa and sits with us and loves to go outside. He runs back in when the neighbor starts mowing his lawn or a truck drives by because he is afraid of loud sounds. He developed a little rash on his face which the veterinarian treated. He loves food and eats everything we give him. Azzie is a beautiful dog and we get a lot of compliments from people when we take him out. He is very much attached to me but is starting to warm up to the men in the family, my husband Jan and our son Dexter.”
Sheyda Ardalan
Apr 16, 2017
Adopted by Annie Altman – September 23, 2012 – San Francisco, California
A few words from Rico’s rescuer/foster mom in Iran:
Rico was only about two months old when she arrived at my home on a cold Winter day. It was late February when I received a phone call from someone letting me know of a little puppy who had been beaten to near death in Fereydoun Kenar. I got to the address as quickly as I could.
I found the frightened little white puppy lying down, drooling from the mouth and moaning from pain, barely alive. Immediately, I put him in the car and rushed to the pet clinic. Unfortunately the doctors who usually take care of us were not there and the pup’s condition was worsening every minute. I got a hold of one of them on the phone. With his guidance over the phone I was able to connect the IV to the dog, right there on the sidewalk and give him some injections until the doctor arrived and took over the process. Poor thing was so weak and in such bad shape for many days that he had no control of his bladder and hid from me in a corner. He could not even stand on his feet and I started to think that he may have had spinal injury. Little thing had just started to gain some strength and interest in food that I learned he had Parvo. For three full weeks he fought for life. I was feeling horrible for subjecting him to so many injections and IVs. Now after all that, the fully recovered little boy is happy and has connected with the rest of the dogs and cats in the house. He is sweet and energetic. With the hard work of Faranak and Vafa team he has migrated to US. I miss him and think of him often. I’m so glad that he has a good home and lives a good life without being beaten or abused. He and his family have a special place in my heart, always.
Naghmeh
Rico’s forever mom writes:
My name is Annie and at the end of May I had to say goodbye to my beloved Chester after 12 years. I vowed I wouldn’t get another dog until the spring/summer of 2013. But as September approached the feeling of emptiness was growing and I started to look on the various rescue websites. And there on the Rocket Dog rescue site was the cutest face that immediately tugged at my heart strings – Rico, In addition to the face and those ears his back story moved me.
So I went to meet Rico at the adoption fair. He had been placed with a foster family. I was concerned because I live in the city of San Francisco and wanted to make sure Rico could deal with the hustle and bustle and I asked if it was possible to do a “test weekend”. I picked him up from his foster home on a Friday afternoon and by Saturday evening I was texting his wonderful foster parents that Rico had found his forever home.
I’ve now been Rico’s mommy for almost two and half months. He continues to grow more confident day by day. Everyone comments on how sweet and silly he is. They are amazed by his back story and it gives me great pleasure to educate people about VAFA – an organization I didn’t know anything about until Rico stumbled into my life.
And everyday my “Persian Prince” makes me smile with his goofy antics. You’ll see what I mean with one of the below pictures. I’ll be sitting at my desk working away and I look back and there he is – lying on back, stretched out, smiling.
I can’t imagine life without him.
Apr 16, 2017
Adopted by Linda Kay – Oakland, California – August 12, 2012
Her face kept popping out at me every time I scrolled down the Petfinders webpage. Her name was Lucky and she had a You Tube video. I finally watched it and watched it over and over. Her story was an amazing one of surviving against all odds as a street dog in Iran and from having her back legs shot (and losing two of her dog buddies to those bullets) to end up for adoption in the US.
My beloved dog Bo had died just two weeks earlier following months of failing health. For over 26 years my home had been graced by the presence of dogs and cats and it was now empty. Still I wasn’t sure if I was ready to commit so soon. But Lucky had a compelling story and I seemed to be drawn to dogs with hurt legs and goofy ears. And many years ago I had been to Iran as a young back pack traveler. I submitted an application and was contacted by Farah who gives her all to finding homes for the Iranian rescue dogs that make their way to the US through the rescue organization Vafa. I soon met Lucky at her foster home – she was having fun running with other dogs and paid me only passing attention when treats were being handed out. But I thought she was a good match for me. I have a pet business and take groups of dogs on off leash runs on the trails in the hills above Oakland. I wanted a dog that could go with me. I was sure that we would eventually have that special bond I had had with my past dogs.
It didn’t take long for Lucky, now named Leila, to work her way deep into my heart and for her to be as loving and totally goofy with me as she was with her foster mom and with Farah. With my business we get to spend lots of time together. She is the athletic director on the trails – getting the dogs to run and chase her or be chased by her. She picks up pinecones or balls and tosses them in the air, then bats them around like a soccer player. When done, she leaves them for the other dogs. In the car she lets every other dog know who’s the boss and it isn’t me. Back home she finds a comfortable place to rest – a chair, the couch, my bed, a rug and, sometimes, her bed, if it isn’t full of my shoes she puts there.
Besides the trail or a comfortable chair, her favorite place is the Persian run restaurant downstairs from our apartment. They love her there and often give her scraps. On our morning and evening walks she pulls me to go by the restaurant and then sits in front, hoping. She can be very stubborn and becomes a thousand pound dog when she doesn’t want to move. Speaking of weight – she is an athletic 72 pounds now – exercise and a good diet work. She was carrying a little extra baggage when she arrived in the US.
Bo was my travel companion when we lived in Europe; Leila is my travel companion here. She has been to Lake Tahoe to roll in the snow, to Sonoma, sneaking moments to run up and down the halls of the lovely Sonoma Mission Inn (don’t tell), and next we are off for a week’s road trip to see family in Phoenix, making stops in dog friendly Carmel, San Luis Obispo and LA on the way. We’ll be sure to post pictures on Facebook.
Like going down the aisle and wondering if you picked the right one, Leila with her goofy ears and all turned out perfect for me and I think she is pretty happy with me. If only I could do as well with Match.com as with Vafa and Petfinders.com!
Thank you all – in Iran and here in California for caring for her and bringing us together!
Apr 13, 2017
Adopted by Nicole & Karlheinz Pilgrim – Oscar – July 1, 2011 & Roya – Sept 30, 2011 – Friedrichshafen, Germany
Our story with Roya and Oscar started about a year before they actually came to live with us for good. That was when my husband went to Iran for work. While he was there he told me on the phone that there was a beautiful stray dog which often came to the gate of the factory where she was happy to see him. From the start there has been a special connection between my husband Karlheinz and Roya which still can be seen today. He told me that she had one blind eye though and that he would like to take her with him. I replied jokingly that we already had a sweet little dog which would not tolerate any other dog in our house.
About a year later Karlheinz went to Iran again. His German colleagues and he found Roya with eight puppies that had just been born. There was snow and it was very cold. After one night two puppies had already died. Karlheinz and his colleagues knew they had to do something, so they built a crate for shelter and fed Roya. With the help of Vafa a vet came and it was decided to take the mama dog with her puppies to the shelter. The puppies were not doing too well and three died at the shelter.
At home in Germany our beloved dog Pauline died due to cancer two weeks after the puppies were born. For us it was clear at once: we wanted to get one of the dogs Karlheinz saved. But which one? Karlheinz absolutely wanted the mother dog and I had fallen in love with the puppy which looked like one of the Beagle Boys from Mickey Mouse. His eyes on the photos kept telling me: “I want to come and live with you”. After a few weeks of discussion we finally decided that each of us would get the dog they wanted and up to now it is clear to see, Oscar is my dog and Roya is Karlheinz’s dog.
Since it is not easy to transfer dogs to Germany, it took quite a while till the dogs could come to Germany. Born on the 14th February, Oscar arrived at the airport in Munich in June after a little detour and a cool holiday in California. A frequent flyer at the age of four months, incredible! He was very happy straight away and we spent an amazing summer with Oscar growing quickly.
It was harder to get Roya’s papers ready, so that it was only at the end of September that Roya arrived in Germany: via Frankfurt she landed directly in our hometown Friedrichshafen at Lake Constance in the South of Germany. For her, the journey had been very stressful and she didn’t have an easy start at her new home. There were so many things she didn’t know and that she was afraid of, but we tried to help her getting adjusted wherever we could. Her son Oscar often led the way and helped her, too.
Now both dogs are doing fine. Oscar has become a beautiful dog who is very active and loves any kind of training. We spend about two hours a day walking through the forest and over the fields and the dogs just love that. Once a week we go to a dog school. We started agility training with Oscar and he is very good at it.
Roya is more reserved than Oscar but she is very friendly and sometimes she is very funny and outgoing. However, being a dog which has lived outside all by herself, she not only chases everything one can chase (so a long leash is necessary in the woods) but also she doesn’t really understand why she should sit or lie down or follow any commands. We’re working on it using positive affirmation and she has already improved.
We are very happy that everything turned out well and we have to say that all the effort and expenses were worth the cause. We are often asked what breed these dogs are because they are so special and beautiful and then people are surprised when they hear our great story.
Nicole Pilgrim
