Odai Animal Shelter

The story of the association Dogs without Borders Romania began long before its official founding in 2022. Ilinca Macarie, one of the founding members, had been involved in animal welfare for many years, but when she became a city councillor in 2016, she started to take a more active role in helping the dogs at the public shelter in Odăi.

Until 2016, this shelter had a rather poor reputation, as it was managed with little transparency and neither volunteers nor animal welfare organisations were allowed access. At that time, the official number of dogs was stated to be around 700, but no one really knew what was happening behind closed doors.

The first step towards improvement was the creation of a Facebook page: “Help the dogs from Odai shelter”, where we – volunteers independent of the city administration – started presenting the dogs. Up until then, the dogs had not been photographed or promoted for adoption. We began taking pictures ourselves, sometimes with professional help, which allowed us to quickly facilitate a few adoptions.

It soon became clear that most of the dogs were not immediately suitable for adoption and urgently needed socialisation and training to overcome their fears and learn to trust humans again. To this end, a socialisation programme was created and, with the help of volunteers, dogs gradually became accustomed to human contact, learned to walk on a lead, and began to play with other dogs.

This programme continues to this day. Since 2020, around 1,000 dogs have left Odăi shelter and found their forever homes.

Animal Welfare at Odăi

The shelter is located on land belonging to the city police, on the northern outskirts of Bucharest. Around 600 dogs are kept in kennels in groups of four to five. The shelter is poorly designed, resulting in damaged facilities and frequently clogged drainage systems.

Dogs in the main part of the shelter are never walked; they are simply fed and otherwise left to their own devices. These dogs often suffer from trauma and need human interaction to improve their behaviour. Unfortunately, due to the limited resources of our organisation, we are unable to include all dogs in our programme.

It was therefore essential to create a calmer space outside the chaos of the large shelter where the dogs could be prepared for adoption. As a result, ten new enclosures were built around the shelter clinic. The roughly 35 socialised dogs either stay in these pens or roam freely in a garden surrounding the clinic.

Their time in this area is a sort of transitional phase. When a dog is reserved for international adoption, another dog from the large shelter can move into their place within the socialisation area.

Our Socialisation Programme

Each month, we successfully facilitate a good number of adoptions. For every dog that finds a home, another dog from the main shelter is brought into the socialisation area.

If we come across a friendly dog – or at least one that shows signs of accepting human interaction – we move them to a quieter area and begin working with them. This means spending time in their kennel each week, feeding them by hand, getting them used to a harness and lead, taking them for walks, and eventually introducing them to other dogs in the play area.

Once the dog is ready for adoption, we ensure that all vaccinations and deworming are up to date, conduct blood tests, and prepare all necessary documentation.

We try to be sensitive to each dog’s needs, giving them time and space when needed. It can be challenging to work with a dog who shows little interest in people or who doesn’t trust us. In such cases, we introduce a friendly, confident dog to share the kennel and act as a role model and intermediary. This approach has led to remarkably positive outcomes.

Our Goals

Over time, our association has grown. We now not only care for the dogs at Odăi shelter but also rescue others, placing them in foster homes or a private shelter we work with, run by the veterinary couple Ferbinţeanu.

At present, we care for around 100 dogs, spread across foster homes, the Ferbivet shelter, and Odăi. Thanks to donations, we are able to provide medical care when needed and carry out small repair works at the shelter. The dogs in our programme are socialised and ready for family life.

Our aim is to remove at least 15 to 20 dogs from the shelter each month and place them in responsible, loving homes. Achieving this goal would only be possible with the support of more international partner organisations. At the moment, aside from the animal welfare association Europa, we have only one more partnership abroad – but unfortunately, this is still not enough to bring about lasting improvement.

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