Jenya’s story, as told by Rusudan, our team member:

We decided to go up to a mountain peak. We stopped our car by a busy highway. When I got out, I saw a shivering dog. I said one kind word to her, and she followed us on our trail.

The terrain was still very steep and stony. It was clearly very painful on the dog’s feet, she kept whimpering. But she stuck with us till the very end, she was clearly desperate for human attention. She didn’t even want our soggy sandwiches, she wanted to spend time with us. The whole way up, she was terrified of our walking sticks—she had clearly been beaten by humans before. It was excruciating to watch. I cried my eyes out all the way to the peak.

When we came back to the car, she ran into traffic so badly that we realized it was very dangerous to leave her there. We left her at a paid foster home.

We named her Jenya after a kickass Ukrainian rock climber, Jenya Kazbekova (whose last name should be related to Mount Kazbek, the mountain behind Jenya in one of the photos below!). 

A week later, I visited Jenya. She was over the moon to see a familiar person. She was already a completely different dog—much more trusting and extremely goofy! She drowned me in kisses and hugs. I don’t think I’ve ever been this emotional. 

Personality: Jenya has regained trust in humanity. She’s always careful and timid around people, but all it takes is one playdate for her to fall in love with a new human. She starts showering them with hugs and kisses. She’s very well-behaved, and barely makes a sound. Obviously, she also loves to wander on hikes. She gets along well with other dogs, but she’s a bit intimidated by seeing so many new and large dogs in her new foster home. Which is why we want to put her up for adoption as quickly as possible. We think she’d be perfect for an apartment, and she’d happily accompany her humans on outdoor adventures. Anyone who meets her immediately falls in love with her sweet soul. We can only imagine what she’s been through, and we want to give her the best life!

Good with cats and kids? She is good with kids; She was briefly tested with a cat, and she didn’t even pay attention to it.