About Paw Help UK

The dream to start rescue and rehome rescue dogs in UK was born in 2019, when Elina was on Easter holidays in Ukraine, the country where she was born and where her family still lives.  It all seemed so complicated because Ukraine is non-EU, so that dream was just a dream for a long time. Every day Elina and her kids were volunteering for local rescue named Paw Help in Ukraine, walking, cleaning, feeding the dogs.

In summer 2020, spending summer holidays in the village and walking every day to swim in lake with kids, Elina saw a homeless dog living by the main road with small newborn puppies. Elina named this sweet souled dog Naida and started to feed them every day, twice a day.

One day Elina came and found only 3 from 5 puppies. Locals said the puppies died under the wheels of cars just few hours ago. There was no other way than to take the rest of puppies away immediately from this dangerous place (they were already around 8 weeks). Ukrainian rescue Paw Help took care of them and gave to foster, which was paid by Elina (to cover food, vaccinations, etc). Elina left to return to UK and everyday was promoting puppies for adoption for free in local dog lovers groups. But who needs those ordinary puppies, if there are so many abandoned around including pedigree dogs.  

The shelters and rescues in Ukraine have minimal chances of getting at least half of their dogs adopted locally. There are many homeless and abandoned dogs on the streets and the stray dog population is out of control. Local animal rescues receive no help from the government or charities and exist just on public donations.

Elina had known Paw Help rescue for a while, donating to them regularly, collecting non-monetary donations for them in the UK (such as blankets, food, and different dogs’ essentials), and volunteering. But it was heartbreaking to see so many beautiful dogs and unwanted puppies without chances to find forever-loving homes locally, so it was decided to start a partner rescue with a similar name and try to find dogs forever-loving homes in the UK. And among the first dogs who arrived in the UK were those puppies rescued by Elina in the summer. When Elina came back to Ukraine in December for the winter holidays, she rescued their mum Naida, who is now her beloved resident dog.

Why the UK? Elina is British and knows that here in the UK, there is an exceptionally good attitude to pets, where dogs are treated as the best friends and family members. Great Britain is a true pet-lovers kingdom. Unfortunately, this is not how dogs are treated across the world.  In Eastern Europe, there is still a very low level of education toward pets, still a lot of neglect, cruelty and carelessness.

We have to wonder about deeply religious people in eastern-European villages, who consider dog spaying as a sin and at the same time find it fine to toss out 1-2 months puppies in the fields/forests/streets or to kill the dog for eating a chicken, to keep the dog on 1-meter chain locked to a small ruined kennel with NEVER letting the dog out of this chain, feeding with spoiled food, mouldy bread and water and so on, and so much.

This is how Paw Help UK started, representing in Great Britain Ukraine/Poland and later also Belarus Rescue foster-based rescues. The rescues are run by dog-lovers and enthusiastic volunteers (not-paid job) and doesn’t receive any state or other funding and rely entirely upon public donations.

Paw Help UK is not rescuing pets themselves, but they carry out the most essential and most pleasant final part of any rescuing: rehoming.  Paw Help UK mission is to find forever homes for rescue pets of all ages, health, temperaments, and history. All dogs are fully vaccinated and microchipped. Paw Help UK provides livelong RBU (Rescue BackUp) and full post-adoption support and advice.

We invite everyone to enquire about the dogs we have in our care, all of whom are looking for a family who can offer the love and attention they crave. All of them deserve to live beyond the walls of the shelter, to become happy: something that they haven’t known before, being betrayed and abandoned by previous owners or born on the street,  struggling for food and warmth in cold winters.

When you adopt a rescue dog, you’re saving a life. Even TWO lives: the one is the dog you adopted, the other making free space for a new dog in need. Rescue dogs have so much love to give—and they won’t ever stop giving it to you once you let them into your heart!