The FINANCIAL — The Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel hosted 5 adorable, homeless puppies from Tbilisi Dog Shelter on 4 October.
Dog Organisation Georgia (D.O.G.) and Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel organized the event held on World Animal Day. The action was a great success as 4 puppies were adopted directly from the hotel and another 2 from the dog shelter.
Dog Organization Georgia is a non profit organization whose objectives are the promotion of kindness and the prevention of cruelty to animals. According to D.O.G the mission of the organization is to bring about the day when all dogs can enjoy a happy life, free from the threat of unnecessary harm.
“At our shelter we take in lost, unwanted, abandoned, injured and neglected dogs and care for them until a loving new home can be found. We also provide veterinary treatment and special care for injured, sick, abused and vulnerable dogs. We have a team of dedicated staff who look after the dogs on a daily basis. As a non profit organization we depend heavily on donations and all the money we receive is used solely to benefit the dogs,” D.O.G notes.
“Your donation makes a tremendous difference to the lives of theses stray and vulnerable dogs, so please help us give them a happy home. You can really help make a difference to our dogs with your contributions,” D.O.G notes.
“We held a special event in honour of World Animal Day at Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel. During the whole day, 5 homeless puppies from Tbilisi Shelter were on show at the hotel. Everyone was able to visit us and see, play or even take the puppies away and give them a new home,” said Natalia Luchaninova, Cluster PR & Marketing Manager at Radisson Blu.
“It’s World Animal Day, a day dedicated to animals and their role in our life. In this country there are many animals that have no owners and many dogs on the street so we decided to create a shelter for such animals. Together with the Radisson, we arranged the event for 4 October whereby everyone was able to adopt puppies from our shelter,” said Ivo Bakhuijzen, one of the organizers of the event.
“Tbilisi Dog Shelter started functioning two years ago. I was driving my car when I saw an injured dog in the street that wasn’t yet dead. I took the dog to a veterinary clinic but unfortunately couldn’t do anything more for this pet. Actually I am quite the dog lover. I love animals, so together with my friends and many other people and acquaintances who wanted to donate a little to help street dogs, we created this shelter,” Bakhuijzen said.
“We have had business and social relationships with the Radisson for a couple of years and we decided to do something what would be good for us, as well as for the hotel and dogs. People have been quite active in the frame of this event and wanted to adopt puppies. Owning dogs is a big responsibility so we pay much attention to the people who are going to become owners of the animals,” Bakhuijzen said.
To adopt a dog people have to fill out a special adoption application. The new owner of the dog has to pass several procedures with the Tbilisi Dog Shelter and should explain precisely why they have decided to adopt dog, where the puppy will live and how it will be fed. According to Bakhuijzen, it is also necessary for the new owner to get a passport where all the required vaccinations will be recorded.
“New owners receive and fill out a special application form. There have even been cases of us not trusting a potential owner who wants to take a puppy home: they didn’t persuade us that they would be able to take care of the dog properly hence we refused to give them a puppy. Adopting and looking after a dog is a huge responsibility. You have to walk the dog at least a couple of times a day, feed it, care for it, and play with it. When it grows up a dog needs even more attention so we need to be sure that we are giving the puppy to a serious person who will look after it well,” Bakhuijzen said.
“I do believe that Georgians love dogs but they should be made to realise that street dogs are dogs as well; they can also pay attention to them. We catch these dogs in the street; place them in a special environment until they are checked over fully. They are in a 10 day quarantine and have no physical contact with other dogs or people just to make sure that nothing is wrong with them, and if there is, that it can’t be passed on. Before the dog is offered up for adoption they are completely cured and made healthy. We have professional vets that take care of the dogs’ health and wellbeing,” Bakhuijzen said
“I think that it’s a current trend in Georgia to have a dog. It has become much more popular among Georgians nowadays. When we placed an announcement on one of the social networks about a dog adoption event at our hotel dedicated to this very special date, there were many comments made about it, and many people contacted us. They wanted to receive information on how they could adopt puppies and we explained that they could take these puppies home for free,” Luchaninova said.
According to Luchaninova Radisson staff will continue cooperating with Tbilisi Dog Shelter and visit it on the weekends to take some of the dogs for walks or just to spend a couple of hours with them.
“We are thankful to the Radisson for giving us the opportunity to arrange the event here. We depend on people’s donations in order to buy food for the dogs and expand the shelter as there are still a huge number of dogs out there in the streets,” Bakhuijzen said.
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