I got Nova in fall of 2019. She was crawling around in the dirt, disabled from CDV when Karuna rescued her. My partner and I teach special education, and as soon as I saw her I knew she was our dog.
Nova has some PTSD, but with love and energy work she has come so far! Adopting her was one of the best things I have ever done - she is so endlessly loving, and she truly is my dog soul mate. Any dog coming from this situation will require some extra love and work - but it is so beyond worth it!

My family and I talked about getting a dog for a long time and we were originally going to a breeder; we paid a deposit and got on the list. At the same time I was learning more about international rescue and dogs from the meat trade. I started to feel so guilty about buying from a breeder. One day Karuna rescue posted about the lab puppies, who were born at the vet's clinic to a mom that was pulled off the meat truck and lived in horrendous conditions. The post said "there were many inquiries but not a single application". I applied right away and Jenny approved us! I lost my deposit but it was the best decision ever. Zoe flew home to us in January 2020 and has changed our lives since! She is the most confident, friendly, playful, naughty girl who is also the best traveler! She's had many adventures, including cross country drive from CA to FL and was the best traveler! We absolutely love this baby!

I was so fortunate to have the opportunity to find and adopt Sparky from Karuna. When he first landed at the airport, he was one of the few dogs that wouldn't leave his carrier. He stared at me, shaking in the back of his crate, and I took him home so he could come out on his own. After a few hours he was playful and licking my face. Shiba Inu's have a reputation of being independent, aloof, and lacking in affection. However, Sparky has been a little shy loyal companion of mine since April 2021, and stays by my side even as I type this note. I'm truly grateful for Karuna's efforts with Sparky and all dogs, it has made a difference in my life (and Sparky's!) that will forever be a part of me.

I have 3 rescue pups (2 dog meat trade survivors and 1 street dog survivor). Two of my dogs came from Karuna Rescue in China. I adopted Ginny in July of 2019 and waited until October to meet her. It felt like forever but I eventually found my own flight volunteer who was willing to bring Ginny to Canada. I drove 5 hours to Toronto, Ontario, Canada to pick her up and drive her to Ottawa. Upon meeting her, I noticed that she was people friendly but slightly wary of bigger dogs. She was ok with my first rescue and I worked hard at socializing her. Ginny was a street dog who was found with a massive hole under her armpit as a puppy. A kind shop owner would let Ginny stay in the store during the day to beat the heat, however, at night, Ginny had to find a place on the streets to sleep. Some nice people would buy food for her so she'd have something to eat. A kind volunteer found her and brought her to Karuna's shelter for treatment.

As soon as I saw her photo on Karuna Rescue's Instagram account, I knew she was mine. I applied for her right away. I kept her name because it suited her. Ginny sounds like "Jīn nī" which means "Golden Girl" in Chinese.

A year later, I adopted Kyubi. My heart still ached for my first dog who was a Shiba Inu. When I saw that Karuna had rescued 40 Shibas from a slaughterhouse, I inquired right away. Karuna sent me the profiles of 4 Shibas and it was so hard choosing between them. My eyes kept going back to #1214 though. I finally asked Karuna to send me whichever one they thought would integrate best with my little pack. To my surprise, they chose #1214! Of course just being a number wouldn't do, so I named him after a character from one of my favourite animes. His name means "Nine Tails" in Japanese, after the nine-tailed fox deity (Kitsune) in Japanese folklore. I figured, "Nine tails= Nine lives".

It wasn't long before Karuna Rescue informed me that they had a flight for him but they couldn't get him into Canada, he'd have to fly to the USA. This was during the height of the pandemic. The Canada-USA ground border was closed to all non-essential service. It took a lot of effort and some crowd funding to coordinate getting him home to Canada. Finally the day came where Kyubi was flown into JFK Airport in NY, USA. A volunteer picked him up from the airport and drove him 4 hours to Syracuse, NY. From there, a second volunteer shuttled him another 2 hours to the Ogdensburg, NY border entry point where a pet transporter transported him through the USA-Canada border and home to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Kyubi fit into the family perfectly as if he has always been with us. He gets along great with my other two and absolutely loves all people including babies and children.

I can honestly say that adopting my dogs from overseas were the best decisions I've ever made. I strongly encourage anyone who is wary of adopting from overseas to put those worries away. The dogs are no different than dogs you would adopt in your home country. You save their lives and they will be forever grateful.

We adopted Lily back in January 2021 after Karuna saved her from a slaughterhouse. Prior to her freedom flight, we chatted on the phone with Jenny for nearly an hour (despite the time difference) to help us prepare for Lily. She told us Lily was shy, understandably so with her past, but we were excited to give her a home and hopefully foster a safe space for Lily to be herself and enjoy life.

We were lucky enough to pick up Lily about a month later at JFK but first she had to travel a 15 hour flight and deal with 5 hours of customs. When we were finally able to open her crate, she was cowering in the back of the crate nervous to come out. It took a minute but she she eventually took the leap of faith and walked out to greet us. She continued to shake nervously but let us pet and comfort her. During the 3 hour ride back to Rhode Island, Lily started to settled in and snuggled into our laps and mostly slept.

With every single day, Lily has gotten more comfortable and transformed into a silly and wildly outgoing pup! She starts to prance up to every person on the street to greet them and seek out some ear scratches, chases every bird or bunny and will wake us up on the morning with sweet nudges and kisses.

Lily is the absolute best thing in our lives and we are forever in gratitude to Jenny, Sachin & the rest of the Karuna team for caring for Lily and all the other pups.

Scout is the calmest, most adorable corgi you will ever meet. She's an absolute sweetheart who loves meeting people, exploring the world, trick training, and nose work. Considering the conditions she came from, I was prepared to take a year to slowly build trust with her. But by the time Scout arrived in the US, she had already begun to acclimatise to the world. At first she was a little nervous, but she was willing to trust me. It only took a few months to see her blossom into the confident cuddlebug she is today. Scout's progress is all because Karuna set her up for success. She is a happy and loving dog because of the compassion, patience, and generosity of Karuna's staff, vets, volunteers, and foster family. Both our lives are so much richer because of Karuna's rescue work. We love and thank them for all that they do.

When Peggy came to us she was just skin and bones. For the first two weeks all she did was sleep, except when she was eating. After the second week we gave her a bath which gave her a new lease of life and she ran around the house trying to dry off. She really came out of her shell after that moment and was so playful and much happier. She had so many open wounds when she arrived and her butt and tummy were bald. Her wounds have now healed, she's got a lovely silky coat and she's gained more than 5kg. Looking back at the photos now, we can't believe how much she's changed, she's like a new woman! 

She settled in very quickly and looked so relieved to be somewhere safe and warm. She also responded really well to training and is very obedient. Peggy is such a character. She's playful, sweet and sometimes thinks she's a lap dog, despite weighing nearly 15kgs. She loves other dogs and can run like crazy but also loves to snooze with Ivy the cat. Peggy is very popular with the locals and she knows it. We feel so lucky to have found Peggy and can't thank Karuna enough for rescuing her.

Davis is the sweetest and most mellow dog. He had a rough start: he was not housetrained, extremely timid and then broke his legs.. Fortunately, his legs have healed after three months and we are starting to enjoy adventures out again.

He loves napping, cuddles and snacks! He also gets along well with his roommates, two rescue rabbits!

Watching Sita integrate into our family of 4 plus 3 other dogs has been nothing short of amazing. She should have no reason to trust anyone after being stabbed, starved and abused. The rebound she had made is nothing short of a miraculous. Today, 7 months after joining our family, she trusts and loves unconditionally. She knows and trusts her place in her pack and knows she is finally home. It's a miracle none of us expected or can believe. It's the most beautiful thing we've ever witnessed.

Where do I begin with this little pup? When we first saw him at the shelter in Shenzhen we instantly fell in love with him. He followed us and played with us right from the off. He has been in our home since January 2021 and we have seen him grow in confidence and in his ability to act like a dog. When we first brought him to our home we realised how traumatised he really was. We don't know what he went through, but we could see it had had a lasting effect on him. Even to this day there are sudden loud noises or bikes passing him too closely that clearly make him uncomfortable and give him an instant urge to run. In our home it's a totally different story, the confidence and playfulness that we first witnessed in the shelter is out on full show. He has made a real connection with both of us and will happily run around the house with you chasing a ball, sit on your knee and crave your attention or sleep like Aurora herself. Best. Dog. Ever.

This is Gulliver (formerly Pompeii) who now lives with his two little, yet senior, brothers. As soon as we landed in Chicago after his long journey from China and got settled in the car, he looked at me and put his paw on my hand is if you say "this is it. I'm safe. I'm home." He adjusted in NO TIME! A bit of an anomaly, but he immediately acted like he had lived in our house forever, while being so curious about the new sights, and greeting each new friend with a bear hug and Samoyed smile. He is so happy and such a love. He has a life of adventure and being spoiled ahead of him!

Lemme tell you a little thing about Miles. When I first fostered him. He was an arsehole. That's right I just called him an arsehole. He would pace my studio in the middle of the night for no reason, his little feet tapping on the floor constantly keeping me awake, nothing settled him. He was like this for about 2 months. He was the biggest pain to walk cos this sniff monster would keep him nose to the ground and need to stop at any and every crevice and mark. He showed no emotion or attachment to me. Coming or going he was so indifferent. I would come home to a dog who would just look up at me then go back to sleep. The only thing he would do is sleep at home. No play. No cuddles. Just a boring house plant! But somewhere along the line... My little fat meatloaf slowly but surely came out of his shell. Morning cuddles are a must, he's muuuuuch better on walks now, he stopped pacing. He plays at home with his toys and my shoes (I leave him the crappy ones to play with, the Jimmy Choos are stored above the wardrobe faaaar faaaar away) he actually shows genuine love and concern like where have you beeeeeen! I think the first time I realised I really loved this boy was a couple of months ago, I took him to the dog park which is his heaven. He's a dog's dog. He loves nothing more than to go to the dog park and play with all his friends. So I badly needed the toilet and asked one of the other dog mum's to keep an eye on him while I go. (It's a gated safe dog park in shekou and I knew the lady) so as I'm walking back, I see his little face sticking out between the two fence polls and he had this big smile on his face. She told me he just waited there the whole time watching you walk away and waited till you came back. That shocked me because he doesn't usually look for me or come up to me while we are with all the dogs so the fact that he waited for me instead of playing with his friends I just knew. I knew we were friends. So, Pengyou is officially mine! 🙊🙊️️