 Welcome to Pure Dog Talk. I am your host, Laura Reeves, and I have a very special guest today. This is literally Breaking News Pure Dog Talk edition as we all watch the developments in the Ukraine and in Europe. And what many of us dog breeders automatically go to is the dog people and fear and concern for our friends in a sport that is entirely global these days. And so my thought was to reach out to Europe's answer to Pure Dog Talk, and that is Talking Dogs with Auntie. And this is Auntie Lutzi. And I am very thrilled to have Auntie join us. And we are going to talk about what's happening in Europe on the ground. You're about 1,000 miles away. Is that about right? I am very badly geographic, so don't ask me. I looked it up on Google. Yeah, don't ask me how far I am, but I'm quite far away from you, that's for sure. OK, from the Ukraine, though, from the... From Ukraine, well, it depends. Ukraine is a very big country. Yes, from the Western part of Ukraine, where it's safe still sort of. We are, I think, if I read correctly in the newspapers, the nearest place in Croatia is about 300 kilometers to the nearest place in Ukraine. Still, it's not one country where we know, when I normally go a lot, but I know a lot of people there. And obviously at this point of, you know, when the situations are like this, dog people connect very, very quickly. And then you try to, you know, to help in any possible way. So I'm really happy that you have invited me. I appreciate it. And if both you and me with our dog shows can make a difference in helping, I'm very happy to do it. Well, Auntie, I talk about here in the US, and I believe it is global, our tribe. Dog people, we stick together in an emergency. And I think that's what this is. So I wanted you to talk to my listeners here and around the world about what is happening, specifically on the ground, what you know, what you can share and anything that we can do to help. Well, you know, the thing is that in situations like this, you know, it's always very difficult to say anything because of course, this horrible emergency situation has connected a lot of people, a lot of dog people from all around the world. But then of course has made a lot of, you know, different opinions and fights and everything. So we're not talking politics. We're just talking, what can we do for dogs? Right? Yeah. I wanted to say just that when it all started, I said the same like you, I'm not interested in any politics. Politics is not something that interests me. I want to help people. If there is a way to help people, here I am. So what we have actually tried to do is that, you know, we have tried to place as much as possible information on our Facebook group, try to connect directly with the people who are still in Ukraine, try to find out what is that they need. Then of course, I'm repeating again, Ukraine is a huge country. Of course, there are still places which are, you know, not affected by the war, but there are places which are heavily affected by the war. And one of them is obviously the capital city, Kiev. You know, and there is a lot of dog people in Kiev. For your viewers who maybe don't know it, Ukraine is quite famous in Europe as a very professional organizer of dog shows. And they are supposed to have the World Dog Show, FCI World Dog Show in 2023. So, I mean, they are a country with a lot of experience and a lot of good dog people. Unfortunately, at this point, things are quite difficult because in the places which are affected by the war, at the moment, it's impossible to move. This is the biggest problem, you know. There are still a lot of dog people and there are still a lot of people in general who would like maybe, you know, to go away from the war, at least children and women, because obviously for the men, it's not allowed to leave the country. But unfortunately, when this all started, even if, you know, everybody in newspapers, media, they were talking a lot about this, but actually it happened like a surprise to everybody. You know, people who really managed to escape in the first, let's say 48 hours, they had managed. But the rest of the people are now very limited with the options which they can do. So what we are trying to do at the moment, and I'm not going to say, you know, that it is personally me doing this or whatever, I'm more really trying to, you know, to connect all the people. Coordinate. Yeah, because I think that's the most important thing at the moment. We are trying to see who needs help, where they need help and what kind of help they need. What has been happening in the last, let's say 48 hours, I know a lot of dog people from the neighboring countries like Hungary, Romania, Moldova, you know, they were driving till the border with Ukraine. And the people from Ukraine were finding some kind of ways, you know, to send their own dogs. I have just read the story maybe one hour ago about 40 English cocker spaniels arriving to the border with Hungary and all these dogs were like literally in half an hour, you know, people found home for them in Poland, in Hungary, you know, to keep them until the breeder can catch them. But of course there are people who are not lucky enough, you know, to be able to... Hang on a second. Say that again, Angie, our internet wavered a minute. Okay, from where to start? The, there are people who still can't get to the border, is that correct? Yeah, yeah. So the thing is that there are unfortunately now, a lot of people who cannot come to the border or who cannot organize the transport for their dogs till the border. I have read a lot of posts today where people are begging, you know, to find any kind of transportation, if not for humans, at least for the dogs because the dog people are really, and you said it in the beginning, and I'm going to repeat it 100 million times, dog people are amazing when it comes to these kinds of situations. And in any country, in any border that people are being able to send their dogs, you know, we find people who will go there and who will catch the dogs and who will put them in the nice homes and everything, and the same for the people, you know, there are like in my group, there are hundreds and hundreds of messages from people from all around the world who say, we can take dogs, we can take people, we will help as much as we can. Unfortunately, I go back to the fact that unfortunately, now the people who are there mostly will have to stay there for some more time. And what is now, let's say emergency, is the dog food. This is what I was talking with a lot of breeders in Ukraine, I was talking with Helen, who is the vice president of the Canine Club. The dog food is a big problem. So what we are trying to see at the moment is, we will try to connect tomorrow with the Red Cross to see if there is a possibility to send some amounts of dog food with them. And then I have contacted almost all the big distributors of different pet food brands all over Europe. And there are few more who have some food still in Ukraine. At least two, I know that they have some food in Odessa and in Kiev. So we are trying to see if tomorrow there is a possibility that we collect the money, that we buy off all these food which they have there or obviously they would give us as best as possible price for it. And then the dog people could collect money. But the problem again is the transport. How do you get it from Odessa to Karkiv, say for example? I mean, that's a long way and there's people blowing things up. Yeah, the transportation at the moment is the biggest problem. But we cannot give it a try. We cannot just stay and say, okay, now it's impossible. So it's really, and I'm going to say it again, not only me personally, hundreds and hundreds of dog people all around Europe and all around the world who are trying to find every possibility to help. So at the moment, I want to say also to your viewers, what people in Ukraine need the most is the dog food. This is why we are going to try at this point to collect money to try to buy, well, if it will be possible, this food which is still in Ukraine, but then also try to connect with the Red Cross or with any people who will possibly go to, till the border and take from there because there are obviously still some men who are driving women, children and dogs till the border. So whenever we find somebody like that, when we manage to organize that somebody takes the dogs, we try to send back some dog food with them back. So I mean, it's a lot of organization. It's not easy, but it's amazing how much people want to help and I think that's great. And I think people in the US want to help, people around the world want to help. So we can send people to Talking Dogs with Angie, your Facebook page, yes? I'm sharing almost all the information that I can get. I must say there are also some groups which are specialized already now for the transport and these things, these groups are mostly in Poland because Poland has a big border with Ukraine. Obviously there are information about this page, it's also on my page. So we are trying to send the people in all possible directions where they can find the information how to help. It's a lot of people who are writing to me and say, please give us some account. We would like to send the money. I would not like to deal with that personally, but we are trying to see that there are obviously some breeders who have asked for the financial help and I have published their stories and their account numbers or PayPal accounts or whatever in my group. So people, if they want, they can do private donations to them for the top food or whatever. But then I hope that in the next few days we will manage to have some kind of account maybe organized by the Canon Club in Ukraine or something like that, where people will be able to give donations and help them to put this money on the places where it's needed and to help some of the breeders on the ground because that's what we want to do. Right, and Anteus, you mentioned the Canon Club in Ukraine. It is a very well-known group of people. Are they trying to organize something there within the Canon Club, within those people to do what you're talking about, make a central depository that people can support and work within the country? Obviously they are. I don't know how... The problem is this, in Kiev it's impossible to move at the moment. Everybody's hiding in a subway. I mean, I just can't even... Yeah, I mean, I'm a child of four, unfortunately. And even if in my city where I was born, we had the bombing just for one day, I remember how horrible it is. But when you are in a situation like this, you cannot do anything. You are in a shelter and that's it. You cannot move. So I'm sure they are trying to organize the things, but whenever we go in one direction and we think, okay, this could be done or that could be done, it's always the transport, which is a problem. So obviously they are working and whichever information they will have or whatever they will manage to organize, it will be shared. But then there are, as I said, private breeders, private persons all around Ukraine who are themselves trying to help to other breeders. And it is working in a way that whoever has the possibility to help or a way to help gives us the information and then we try to organize it. Is it easy? But we all hope that this madness is going to stop as soon as possible and because it is just devastating to watch all this news. So, Angie, you are in Croatia. Yes, and so you said you are a child of war. I assume the war in Croatia. People in the United States and many of the Western countries don't have that experience. They just don't understand it. And so I wonder if you can help paint that picture for them, that just sheer devastation. You know, first of all, I must say, as I said to you, you know, my country was heavily bombed. My country has been passing difficult years of war, but not so much in the city where I was born. This is the lucky thing for me. But of course, we have all experienced horrible news and everything. And I mean, when we had this one day of bombing in Split, I was 12 years old. But, you know, I can think of it like it was yesterday, you know, this fear and panic of my mother and my grandmother. And, you know, you, at that time, we had one pet dog, you know, and we took this one pet dog to the shelter with us. But I'm thinking of myself now when I have more dogs. You know, if something like that would happen, what would I do with my dogs? How would I deal with the situations that my dogs don't have food? You know, I mean, it is just horrible even to think about. That's what these people are passing just now. And I think we just need really to try to help as much as possible. And I'm repeating the same like you, like I'm absolutely not interested in any politics. Leave me away from this. I'm not part of it. I don't want to be a part of it. Let's just see how we can help with these people. Because you know it from your side. I know it from my side. You know, if at this point, you know, we would be in that kind of situation, we would really appreciate that our dog friends from all around the world are trying to help us. So I think that's the, I mean, that's even- It's all we can do. Yeah, yeah. Even if sometimes, you know, maybe some people, you cannot reach them, you know, when you cannot help actually at this point, almost anything, this kind of support, and you know, saying to them, listen in a second when it's going to be possible to help, there are 200 people standing in the line who want to help you means a lot to them. I agree. Can you talk a little bit? This is absolutely your area of expertise. Talk to us, share with people outside Europe and outside the Eastern Europe, particularly. You talk about some of the breeders in Ukraine. Talk about some of the breeds they have. Talk about, I saw one report with a woman that had 50 Labradors. I can't even imagine. So can you talk, share some of those really specific stories about people and help people feel that? You know, it's difficult to, you know, to share someone's private stories, you know, and even, you know, to try to explain to someone what are they passing right now? I have a very, very good friend, you know, when we have been at the European dog show in Kiev, she has been helping us with accommodation and everything, and she has been showing her dogs many times in Split at the shows that I'm organizing. You know, she has two small kids and she has great days, you know, and great days are not easy dogs, you know, not to feed, not to, you know, these dogs at this moment, they cannot go out. They cannot, you cannot do anything like what you normally do. And then, of course, you have children which are, you know, there and so, I mean, these are horrible stories from people and it's just, you know, we can try to, you know, to think what they're passing, but I don't think anybody of us can really understand, you know, because it is, the problem is that that in these kind of situations, they have no idea what the morning brings, you know, they have no idea what is going to be in the next one hour, they don't know, you know, what the life will bring and how the things will go and we can only just really pray and hope that this will end as soon as possible, nothing more than that. And at this point, you know, thanks to all the dog people from all around the world who are trying to help in any possible way, because I think that means a lot. I believe it does too. And I think that I can certainly pass on from myself and from my listeners at Pure Dog Talk all around the world as well as here in the US. Anything that we can do to help, we stand ready to help as individuals. And that is all we can do. Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, you know, from my side to say thank you to you and to everybody, you know, who is trying to help, I don't know, you know, how much we can help, but whatever we can help, it means a lot to these people. So as I said in the next few days, first of all, we will see in which direction all this will go. People are still trying, you know, I think maybe people who in the beginning didn't want to go out of the country, maybe they are thinking that now this is a good way because nobody knows for how long this will go on. And the only thing what I can say, you know, from the other side of the border that anyone in Ukraine who wants to find a home for their own dogs or for them or for their children, as soon as they arrive to the border to any country, Poland, Moldova, Romania, Hungary, there are dog people waiting for them, you know, with open hearts, and all we can do is to pray that most of them will manage to save their lives and the lives of their children and their dogs. That is an amazing vision, and I believe absolutely true. So thank you. You know, Laura, I will say just one more thing to you. You for sure know, and I mean, we know, we don't know each other personally, and we never spoke before. You know, we all know that the dog world can sometimes be a cruel world, and you know, and there can be all kinds of things in the dog world. But I said in the beginning, this sport, this hobby, however you want to call it, these people who love dogs, they are, whenever there are situations like this, they are always ready to help. And they don't ask any questions. There are people literally in every corner of the world, the dog people who are ready. Now in this moment, you know, to help two people they have never seen in their life only because they're sharing the same common love for the dogs. And I think that's absolutely the best part of this sport, absolutely the best part of it. It is what makes it all worthwhile. And it is absolutely real and absolutely mind-boggling to me on a daily basis how much this is a tribe of people who takes care of each other. And so I, and everyone I know stands ready to help in any way we can. And that's what we're doing here. Listeners, viewers, be sure to check out Talking Dogs with Angie, you can find it on Facebook. And she will be continuing to keep that updated. And anything that we can do to help, I think is gonna be available there. And as much as we can, let's, like you say, kind of try and consolidate so that people can really help in a specific place. And I think that this is what we are trying to do. We are trying to put on one place people who can help, people who need help to tell, because there is no need that we send to people, things that they don't need. So it's a good way to know which people need, what they need and which people are the nearest to them that could help. I hope we can all help as much as possible in the days to come. Absolutely, well, this will be shared on Pure Dog Talks Facebook page and on Pure Dog Talks website and on Pure Dog Talks podcast. So we will get the word to, as many of our 200,000 listeners as we possibly can. Yeah, thanks a lot, Laura. I mean, it really means a lot that we can try. Somebody wrote a few hours ago, it's nice when the people who have a power to send the message to other people, use their platforms to help. So this is what we are trying to do. And from my side, I'm first of all, maybe a little bit sorry that you and me, we didn't meet in a nicer circumstances. And that the World Dog Show next year would have been much better. Yeah, absolutely. But I'm sure it's going to be time also for that. And I want to thank personally to you and to everybody of your viewers and listeners who will connect and try to help the people in Ukraine in any possible way. Any possible way. Thank you very much, Angie. Thank you, Laura.