Bosnia-Herzegovina is a country that has had a significant stray dog problem for many years.  In 2012 there were over 11,000 stray dogs living on the streets of Sarajevo city.  Unwanted litters of puppies are still born every day and lead miserable lives on the streets. The country has had a progressive no-kill animal welfare law since 2009, but its implementation had been poor.  With this in mind, in 2012, Dogs Trust launched a long-term programme to support local authorities to implement an animal welfare friendly system of dog population management across the country.

Dogs Trust Bosnia and Herzegovina is committed to working with the local community to humanely reduce the stray dog population, whilst also improving the long-term health and welfare of dogs. Through its programmes Dogs Trust will help future generations of pet owners to better understand and care for the needs of dogs.

Through building veterinary capacity locally, 491 local vets have been trained to provide humane and effective neutering services for owned and stray dogs, and almost 109,566 dogs have subsequently been neutered in our neutering campaigns since 2013. 

The main source of stray dogs is abandonment by owners, and so raising awareness through our events and campaigns on the importance of responsible dog ownership, and about neutering, is critical.

Our Education programme has already reached 412,772 school children through education workshops, and we continue to spread it throughout the country.

Our Dog Schools have been running since March 2016, and have already shown extraordinary results, with 1162 dogs with their owners passing through the programme.  The positive motivation training operates to the same high standards as the Dog Schools across the UK, and continues to improve understanding between dogs and owners which most certainly helps to prevent abandonment!

In 2018 we started a small pilot fostering programme, identifying during the neutering campaigns street dogs that could be adoptable locally.  With our increasing network of excellent fosterers in Sarajevo, we have found permanent homes in Bosnia for 73 dogs so far and are working to build understanding and a willingness of Bosnians to adopt.

Click here to visit Dogs Trust Bosnia and Herzegovina website.