It’s not an unfamiliar story: a twentysomething taking a year off school to backpack around Europe falls in love.
And so it was with Kelly Wasylyshyn, who met Zing in the spring.
“I don’t really know what it was with him. I guess it was just his personality. He’s the goofiest, happiest guy ever,” she reports of her special connection.
Wasylyshyn grew up near Canyon Heights, just up from Edgemont Village, where her parents still live. Her brother Adam just moved back into the area as well. Taking a break from university to travel after earning her undergrad degree in Zoology from the University of Guelph, Kelly is working and volunteering at various locations, and is currently based in France.
In November of last year, Kelly volunteered for a month at PAWS Pelion Rescue, a farm in Argalasti, Greece, that houses and rehabilitates rescued dogs. There she helped feed, walk, and socialize the animals, and enjoyed her experience so much she returned in the spring.
That’s when she first met Zing. He had been picked up on the streets of a nearby town at the beginning of the year. When he was brought to the rescue group he was emaciated, was missing half his fur, and had a bad case of mange. It took a week before volunteers at the rescue centre could coax him out of the carrying crate he arrived in.
A foxhound mix, he was estimated to be about two years old. Despite the rough shape he was in when he arrived at the rescue farm, by the time Kelly met him in May she discovered a friendly, well-adjusted dog, who enjoyed spending time with people.
“It’s really amazing to see how they can make such a turnaround with the right care,” says Kelly of Zing’s recovery.
After her volunteer commitment ended and it was time to return to work in France, Kelly couldn’t stand the thought of leaving Zing behind. She knew Zing was in good hands at the centre and would probably find a home thanks to his appealing personality, but she had bonded with him.
So she took him back to France with her, but knew she couldn’t keep him. She couldn’t commit to caring for him long-term because she was still travelling and plans to return to school in Canada to complete a veterinarian’s diploma next year.
So she put the word out on Facebook asking family and friends if anyone was interested in adopting the pup. The message travelled through the friend chain and eventually reached Mary Vincelli and her husband Bob Hughes in Edgemont, family friends who knew the Wasylyshyn family since Kelly was a little girl.
But although Zing’s story was touching, Mary and Bob didn’t immediately decide to adopt him. Just a few weeks earlier, their golden lab had died of cancer.
“He went quickly and we were heartbroken,” says Mary. The couple wasn’t sure they were ready for another dog so soon.
Back in France, Kelly waited and hoped. And then she got an email. It said: “We’ve already fallen in love with him, we’ll take him. He’s special to you (so) that means he’s got to be a great guy.”
Mary says she and Bob didn’t anticipate they would say yes so quickly, but once they thought about it, they knew they wanted to bring Zing home. Knowing Kelly and how much she cares about animals, they felt comfortable with the situation.
“It just felt good,” says Mary.
Kelly was ecstatic. It was a perfect match in her mind. “I was so excited. There’s no better family I could think of for him,” she says.
The logistics of getting Zing across the pond weren’t easy. Both Kelly and Mary say the process was expensive, and there was an added challenge of finding a flight that would take him because he would be travelling alone in the luggage compartment and that is not allowed by some airlines due to luggage restrictions and/or safety concerns during the summer due to heat.
So Kelly got on Facebook again. This time she asked everyone she knew if they knew anyone travelling back to Vancouver who could accompany the little dog who never outgrew his big puppy paws.
It wasn't long before the message reached a woman named Camille who was travelling back to Delta from London on Air Transat. If Kelly could get the dog to London, Camille would get him to Vancouver. So Kelly drove 14 hours, including ferry time, with a friend to London to deliver Zing to Camille at Gatwick Airport.
“It was really amazing,” says Kelly of the fact that this stranger was willing to help get Zing to his new home.
But handing him over was tough. “I didn’t realize how hard it was going to be. I knew he was going to a great place but it was hard after having him for three months sending him off,” she recalls.
Mary and Bob arrived early at Vancouver Airport on Aug. 1 to meet the new member of the family.
Mary and Kelly had been texting and emailing throughout the journey as they waited for Zing to land. The entire trip was about 12 hours, including the flight and getting through customs, before Zing emerged in arrivals.
“You could tell that he didn’t know what the heck was going on but he certainly wasn’t timid, he just wanted to go out and explore,” says Mary of their first meeting. She didn’t know what to expect but was impressed by how he handled being in the carrying crate for so long. “He was a trooper. He was a champ.”
Kelly waited anxiously for an update and then the pictures arrived via email: Zing with his new family. “I was so overjoyed,” she says.
Zing adjusted quickly to life in Edgemont Village. “Sometimes I think he was looking for Kelly but they (dogs) adjust really well. And he’s got just such an open attitude toward everything,” says Mary. “He’s fantastic.”
She reports that Zing has already made friends with many dogs in the neighbourhood, but his housemate Bean, a 14-year-old “cross of all sorts,” is still getting used to his new brother. For now, “he tolerates him,” says Mary, but she expects they will be buddies soon enough.
Zing is strongly scent-driven, he is a hound after all, so he is still doing some off-lead training in an enclosed yard as he learns not to follow his nose everywhere it wants to take him.
“He’s very cuddly and he’s going to be a wonderful hiking dog, I can tell. He’s got all kinds of stamina,” says Mary.
Kelly has been asked by some acquaintances who have heard Zing’s story why she would go to the trouble of finding a Greek dog a home in Canada when there are many dogs here looking for homes.
She says she is well aware of the issues and has volunteered with many rescue organizations over the years. But in this case, she just felt like Zing was part of her family and she wanted him to have a forever home with people she knew.
“It was one of those instances where you don’t really pick the dog that you fall in love with. It just kind of happened,” she says. “It’s just different knowing that he’s with people that I know back home. He’s in a community that I know and he’s going to have everything that he could want and need there.”
