About Us

Hungary Hearts Dog Rescue is a Registered UK Charity, which was founded in 2012.

It started to rescue dogs on Facebook and was known as ‘Rescue Hungarian Dogs and Puppies for Adoption’ created by Hilda Zilahi Barabas. This developed quickly into an active rescue page, moving on to becoming a small charity in 2014 and a registered charity in 2016. Our aim has always been to find loving homes for abandoned and neglected dogs on Deathrow in Hungary. Hungary Hearts Dog Rescue was born out of a love for ALL dogs, no matter what their shape or size, with people who want to make a difference all around the World. Dogs don’t understand borders and neither do we!

We are proud to say that as from 2012 we have saved, homed and rehoused almost 2500 beautiful fur babies in loving forever homes and we will continue to rescue as many as we can with the help and support of the many dog lovers around the World.

In Hungary there are about 12000 dogs living in non-Government Organisation shelters and about 20,000 dogs living in municipality pounds. Taking a dog into a shelter is helpful and the intentions are good, but many shelters are overcrowded and the rescued dogs are still living under bad conditions with poor diet and poor sanitation. Approximately 50,000 animals enter shelters and pounds each year and tragically, 35,000 of those animals are killed, many using atrocious and ‘cost saving’ methods. Our vision is to end the cycle of unplanned births and resulting deaths by neutering all the animals we rescue.

All animals are medically and behaviourally evaluated as they arrive with us and receive the medical care and rehabilitation they need to be readied for adoption in the UK. Our volunteers are compassionate, companion animal welfare advocates dedicated to contributing their time, skills, finances and experience. In turn, their dedication helps save the lives of the abandoned, abused, homeless, neglected, orphaned, rejected, stray and surrendered dogs in Hungary and in the UK.

We are committed to rescuing and re-homing these dogs regardless of their breed or circumstance. We are motivated by the dire need to educate the public about the effects of irresponsible breeding practices, while helping the community by alleviating overcrowding in area shelters. We are not a shelter and unfortunately are unable to accept dogs from the public, however we can always offer advice. We select our dogs from the killing stations and streets in Hungary, where healthy, adoptable dogs are destroyed every day. A dog selected into our rescue program remains in our care until adopted. Only when we are able to secure the best match between dog and new caregiver(s), will the dog be released from our program. We offer lifetime support to all our dogs and their owners.

We prefer all our dogs to go straight to loving, forever homes when they arrive in the UK. However, we also provide foster homes to enable behavioural observations and modifications if required, along with training within a safe and loving environment. Fostering creates the opportunity to see how the dog interacts with human family members and furry family members.

Please note: Adoption fees are considered by the charity to be donations towards the rescue and care of further dogs. Therefore, all fees are non refundable.