Adopt Hero Dogs
Soon after Giz’s death, when Maria had gone abroad on Erasmus, Ana Clara adopted Loba, and, with her daughter’s return home, they began to formally structure the idea of the Adopt Hero Dogs project.
As a first step, the mother and daughter duo began formally contacting entities to see if there were dogs that could be adopted. Today, the project has as partners the PSP and the Army, and has already managed to broker the adoption of a police dog for a family in Porto. Currently, three other heroes are in the adoption process, Tico, Gorky and Mali, who retired from service in the Army’s paratrooper unit.
And how does this initiative work? The partner entities send all information about the dogs suitable for adoption, from health issues to elements about the animals’ personality, to Maria, who then communicates availability on the website. site and social networks. Since last year until now, almost 300 people interested in adopting have already registered with site.
The screening form they fill out serves to inform candidates about the specificities of these dogs, but also to immediately eliminate those who do not fit the profile that Ana Carla and Maria want for the project. “We pre-select these people, because we immediately realize that there are people who want to adopt dogs for personal protection, there are many people who want to adopt baby dogs, because as they are a breed, they want to have them, or to reproduce. And that’s it, we eliminate these people straight away because we realize that their intention is not what we want”explains Maria.
Soon after, a more detailed filter is made for those who move on to the next phase. “If the person has cats, if they live in an apartment, house, if they have children, as for some dogs it can be problematic up to the age of five. Also understand the people’s profession and the amount of time that would be available for the animal. All these issues are very important for the entity itself to also be able to make a decision”, adds the daughter.
From there, a number of candidates are sent to the institution responsible for the animal to select and finalize the adoption. For Tico, Gorky and Mali, they have already sent a list of around ten candidates each for the Army.
Basically, Ana Clara explains that the two are just “trying to optimize supply and demand”, but always towards the objective of providing the love and comfort that these animals deserve at a more advanced stage of life. “People need to realize that it is, above all, something they are doing more for the dogs than for themselves. So, it is retribution for the service they provided to the community”.
Although still in its infancy, mother and daughter have plans to invest, perhaps, in similar partnerships with institutions even in other countries. At home, before with Giz, now with Loba, they can confirm that they are doing the best for these animals. The ‘at ease’ that the dog demonstrates with these two strange elements in the report confirms this. The presence of journalists doesn’t bother us, the camera doesn’t scare us. “It’s okay, Lobita.” This is a dog, and a happy family.
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