Oksana Durova and Yulia Dezhnova have created an effective system of housing "retired dogs," says https://www.forbes.ru/forbes-woman/496725-zelenyj-pes-kak-dve-podrugi-pridumali-scastlivuu-pensiu-sluzebnym-sobakamForbes Woman. The friends worked together at the Kommersant publishing house, made dozens of media special projects. Once at an exhibition about service dogs Oksana and Julia heard from dog handlers about a serious problem - it is impossible for retired service dogs to find a home.
Dogs usually serve for about seven years, but sometimes they stay longer because of their unique qualities. However, after a maximum of 10 years they are still written off "by age". Up to three thousand dogs are written off from all special services in Russia per year, only a third can find new owners.
"In retirement, dogs often "burn out" from lack of movement and their uselessness. When we realized the depth of the problem, a "Green Dog" appeared. Our task is to place retired dogs in good, cool, kind hands, who served faithfully," the founders of the project say.
The Green Dog is a retired service dog club. The club has its own "dating site". And this is not just a file cabinet, but a full-fledged dog selection service according to criteria, characteristics, content, conditions. On average, the project attaches several dogs per week.
"It's a pleasure to have one in your house or apartment," they say in the Green Dog. Such dogs follow commands the first time and help out their owners.
There are unrealistic stories. For example, a man forgot to turn off the pot of broth, sat down at the computer, and the dog sits next to him and starts pulling into the kitchen. It turned out that the broth had boiled away and there were minutes left before the fire," says Julia.
The project keeps in touch with all the owners: the owners send photos and share news. One woman told how a Labrador saved her in the eighth month of pregnancy when she almost fell down the stairs.
The geography of the project extends so far only to Moscow and the Moscow region — logistics has been worked out here. Once a woman from Orenburg liked the dog, but the delivery would take three days and cost 20,000 rubles - so far such a decision is impossible. Oksana and Yulia want to make the project federal and find volunteers in the regions.
The founders of the "Green Dog" believe that the village of service dogs will allow scaling the project - an important intermediate stage of the arrangement between the kennel and the family.
The "Green Dog" is confident that parents with children will be able to come to the village of dogs, young dog handlers and veterinarians will be able to undergo pre-graduate practice. And this, according to the founders of the project, needs to be done urgently, because if the dog does not work, it quickly dies.
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