Written by Octaviah Rajchl
Professional photography by @Strike a Pose Photo / Video
I’ve been involved in rescue and fostering for years. Somewhere between 60 and 70 animals have come through my home and, until Ava, I’d never once officially foster failed. I say “officially” because the moment I met her, I think part of me already knew she wasn’t going anywhere.
How Ava Found Me
Ava and her sister were abandoned on the street and rescued by the Foundation of Animal Protection in Füzesabony (FAPF), a rescue organisation in Hungary, where I was living while studying veterinary science.
Ava was desperately ill with parvovirus. If you know anything about parvo, you know how terrifying that is. She almost died. But FAPF made sure both sisters were safe and treated, and against all the odds, they recovered.
After her recovery, Ava moved into fostering, and in September 2024, she moved in with me. I’d fostered enough animals to know that every dog is different. But Ava?
Ava was something else entirely.
Everything We Went Through Together
The months that followed weren’t easy – and I mean that in the best possible way. We worked through potty training, crate training, learning to be home alone without destroying literally everything, walking calmly on a leash...
Most importantly, we worked on trust. Ava had every reason not to trust people, and watching her learn to do it again was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever been part of.
And then I’d leave for a university summer holiday, come home, and find my chaos child had essentially reset to her anxious, destructive self – due to being passed around by babysitters and having so many different rules, or people passing her around because they couldn’t handle her. She was once even left outside in the snow because she had her first heat.
We’d start the training again. Every single time. And every single time, I did it without question, because I’d do it all again for her. I still would.
She’s the most special dog I’ve ever met. I know people say that, but with Ava, I mean it in a way I’ve never meant it before. I was a South African in a foreign country where I didn’t know the language, despite having tried, and although I’d made the most amazing friends, you never really feel the warmth of “home”.
And that’s what Ava became to me.
After a long tough day at university feeling alone, overwhelmed and feeling like you have no one to turn to, then opening your front door and seeing those floppy ears and wagging tail, Ava made my apartment a home; she filled it with so much love, warmth and the feeling that everything’s going to be okay.
The Dream: Bringing Her Home
As I came to the end of my studies, the plan became clear in my heart: Ava was coming home to South Africa with me. My mom and my fiancé had met her by this point, and they were just as smitten or they could tell how happy she made me. They agreed to help with her monthly costs, but getting her there was on me.
That’s when she moved from a foster to officially adopted. Signing those adoption papers has been one of the highlights of my year; she was mine, never to be passed around again, never to be let down again, to be completely loved with all her perks until the end of her days.
The costs involved in bringing a 41kg dog from Europe to South Africa aren’t small.
Between her flight, a travel crate (has to be custom built due to her size), import permits, veterinary documents, mandatory blood tests and treatments, and the company fees to handle everything, we were looking at around €3,000. That’s around 60,000 to 70,000 South African Rand. As a veterinary student managing my own relocation and living expenses, and with the South African Rand not being strong against international costs, I knew I needed help. So I asked for it.
And then the war in the Middle East made everything more expensive by a minimum of 1,000 Euro. I still refused to leave her behind. We pushed harder, more fundraising, crowdfunding, her own Instagram page, more raffles, collecting plastic bottles for recycling money, cutting every personal expense I possibly could.
We got close. We kept going.
The Crisis I Didn’t See Coming
We’d done everything right. Documents were submitted to her importers well in advance. Everything was set and ready. And then I found out that due to their own internal problems, the importers hadn’t submitted Ava’s permits on time. They told me the permits could only arrive mid-June – and then every e-mail after that kept pushing the flight out until the worst case scenario was in August.
That wasn’t an option. I was flying home on the 7th of June. My job started in July. Leaving Ava behind, after everything, was simply not something I was willing to accept even with jobs, relocations down to the Cape for work, family pressure to come home, the expenses associated with pushing my flight to be with her until her flight.
After around 20 working days of trying everything I could through the importers and them promising me they were “doing everything they could”, I posted Ava’s story publicly on a few Facebook groups and asked if anyone could help navigate the import permit process.
What happened next genuinely moved me.
People from everywhere got involved. They e-mailed. They phoned. They used every contact and connection they had. I really felt the power of community; I was blown away by how many people were willing to help a random Hungarian street dog have the life she deserves.
Within a single weekend, Ava’s permits were secured. The same permits her importers had said would take weeks. It only proved that they’d not been doing everything they could for her – but the community had.
When I think about everything Ava has been through, it’s a lot. She was let down by the people who bred her. She was left in a drain. Potential adopters came and went. Her importers failed her. A war drove up the cost of getting her home. And through every single one of those setbacks, she just kept going – tail wagging, trusting a little more each time, giving people chances she had no reason to give them.
Now she had a whole community on her side. And she was coming home.
Ava Comes Home
Ava’s journey to South Africa did have a few hiccoughs. After I left her in the capable hands of her amazing babysitters, her flights were cancelled twice. Ava was supposed to land on Wednesday and only ended up arriving on Friday night. In between, she spent almost two days waiting at the airport. But she was finally here, where she was meant to be.
She joined a home full of rescue dogs: a Great Dane-Pointer cross sister from GSP Rescue, a Weimaraner brother who became part of our family when he couldn’t stay with his original owner, a Ridgeback brother from Ridgeback Rescue, and a Ridgeback foster brother who’s still looking for his own forever home. And she’s settled in unbelievably well – as though she’s always been part of our pack. (The only thing she still needs to get used to is sharing her side of the bed with her dad!)
My mom takes the animals’ wellness very seriously – there’s a designated treat drawer in the fridge, fresh bone broth made daily, probiotics… the works. They all sleep indoors, and in winter they each have their spot in front of the fire. Ava now has all of that.
From there, we’re relocating to Cape Town for work, where she’ll join my fiancé and our other Ridgeback from Ridgeback Rescue. She’ll have a garden, long walks on the beach, and a family who’ll never, ever let her down.
I hope her story inspires people to not give up on their dogs when they’re relocating; to start the process even earlier than what the importers/exporters say; ask for help, do your research, do the admin, because at the end of the day, the only person fighting for your dog is you, so show up for them and don’t leave them behind.
Over the last few days, she’s proven that bringing her home was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Her new favourite place is the garden. I don’t think she can quite grasp the fact that she has an entire garden to roam, run around, sunbathe, and explore whenever she wants. It’s no longer up to me to decide when she gets to run or play, it’s all up to her now. She finally has the freedom she never had before.
I’m incredibly grateful that my girl made it home safely, and even more grateful to everyone who played a part in her journey. Thank you to every person who helped, supported, encouraged, and cared for her along the way. We couldn’t have done it without you.
Welcome home, Ava.
