According to guardian Sacha Oosterveld, Lucille is "the sweetest, most beautiful" dog she has ever met. Loving words for a dog who once roamed the streets looking for food and shelter. Like all Romanian strays, Lucille’s life got off to a rough beginning. Nothing in her early years indicated she would one day enjoy a forever home in Zeeland, Holland, where she is loved, fed, and nurtured by Oosterveld and her family.

Now no one would ever guess Lucille had a care in the world. Since being adopted by Oosterveld earlier this summer, she spends her days playing with Oosterveld’s other dogs, chewing on bones, and living a carefree life. She regularly goes to the groomer and even sports a brown collar with faux diamonds!

Read the full story on Best Friends Animal Society.

Nancy Janes of Romanian Animal Rescue (RAR) has emailed the International Pet Examiner with a street dog story, this one with a happy ending.

Elizabeth is a scruffy little stray who was living on the streets of Braila, Romania. She was hit by a car and left paralyzed. She was taken to a facility where the dog would be euthanized because of her condition. Somehow Elizabeth did not get put down and she ended up back on the streets of Braila moving forward using her front legs since her rear legs no longer worked. Romania Animal Rescue was contacted and a local RAR member found her.

Read the full story in the San Francisco Examiner.

Nancy Janes saw a need and found a way to fill that need even though it was on another continent. She is the Founder, CEO and President of Romania Animal Rescue (RAR), an organization dedicated to improving the lives of street dogs in the Eastern European nation of Romania.

During Communism the policies of dictator Nicolai Ceausescu rapidly changed agricultural Romania to an urban society suffering from overcrowded cities and severe shortages of food and electricity. Before Communism, Romanians worked on farms with their companion animals. Considered workers more than pets, Romanian farmers and ranchers used dogs to herd sheep and cattle and cats for pest control. After Communism, many rural families were forced to work in urban areas and weren't allowed to take their pets with them into the tiny apartment complexes where they were forced to live. Thousands of dogs were left to fend for themselves in the countryside. After Ceausescu's trial and execution in 1989, the dog population had grown into the millions.

Read the full story in the San Francisco Examiner.

Janes found and rescued Anna Marie in Galati, Romania, when she was just a puppy; Anna Marie had suffered a broken back as a result of being hit by a car. "Now, she is the 'wild child' of our family," Janes says of Anna Marie, who lives alongside six other rescued dogs from Romania.

Being a street-savvy Romanian pup, Ashley is always quick to let her family know when there's "someone" lurking around the yard and puts up an alert whenever raccoons invade her back yard. While she may take a while to warm up to new people who come into her home, dog-lovers with patience and a warm hand always win Ashley's heart in the end.

In February, Obiectiv-Vocea Brailei posted a poll on their website asking for the best solution for the street dogs in the city of Braila. They have since taken down their poll, but not before 1900 people voted on it. An overwhelming 65% voted for "Spay/neuter and release on the streets". The newspaper commented on this poll in an editorial. Lilly Pierce provided us with a translation of the editorial.

This article appeared in the Polish magazine Moj Pies. The author is Kasia Gruszczynska, who was having a holiday in Romania.

As someone who had spent years in the advertising business in Romania, Livia Brenner knew that getting people to try something new was not easy. Getting them to change their opinions about the country's population of street dogs would be even harder. But Brenner was ready to face what might be the ultimate re-branding challenge.

A puppy struck by a car on a Romanian road and left for dead instead winged her way across the globe and is in search of a Carmel home, according to her rescuer, Nancy Janes. "She was just on the side of the road, and I knew nobody would have the money to take care of her, to do anything for her," said Janes. The puppy, almost 6 months old, pulled herself along the ground with her front legs, dragging her motionless lower body behind her.