From Romania WITH LOVE

Tracie Hussey has devoted her life to rehoming more than 400 dogs from her Guildford rescue centre. Now some of the dogs have even found a new purpose by providing support to older people with dementia

- Zoe Richards

When Tracie Hussey set eyes on her first Romanian dog in 2016 she made it her mission to save as many of these neglected rescue dogs as she could. Describing herself as “completely and utterly lost” following the death of her brother, it was a tiny pup she spotted online that tugged on her heartstrings so much that three weeks later she had offered Tinkerbelle a new home in the UK.

“After rescuing my first dog, I went on to find a dog for my mum, then my cousin wanted one too,” Tracie explains. Initially bringing the animals over one by one, word spread among her friends and even further afield. Fast forward to today and Tracie has now saved and rehomed more than 400 dogs and has six she calls her own. What started out as a solo rescue mission has grown so much that No Boundaries is now a thriving dog rescue centre, based just outside Guildford, with a team of volunteers and foster carers.

No stranger to the process of rehoming animals, Tracie was a former volunteer for the RSPCA as a home inspector, and it is clear that animal welfare is a top priority. “I work closely with the rescuers out in Romania and I go over once a year in person so I can see the conditions for myself,” Tracie says. She confides that some of the deeply upsetting things she sees and hears about – including heart-breaking stories of dogs starving to death – are due largely to the fact that Romania is known for its poor communities. “In the most rural settings, dogs are treated as vermin and often killed by hunters,” Tracie admits.