1st Advent & Brownie's story

This year we wanted to help you choose sustainable gifts for your friends and family, so we had the idea to drop a small collection of giftable items every advent. For each week a different theme:

Friends appreciation, Home appreciation, Family appreciation, and last but not least - appreciation of Yourself.

The very first advent we want to think of our friends, and here we have a very special story to tell... Meet Brownie, a new Re-Nou jewellery model and Anastasia's best friend who came into our lives last April. Brownie was about 7 months old when he was transported out of Ukraine, Kharkiv, when the region was bombed heavily. A group of brave volunteers organised themselves to take shelter dogs out of war and into new homes.

We don't know much about how Brownie grew up, only that he was on the military base and some soldiers were looking after him before an animal shelter took him in. What we found out later was that he grew up with only little contact with other dogs and humans. So while he is a very brave dog, who likes people and playing with other dogs, he never learned how to do it correctly.

Since I know Anastasia, she always wanted a dog. I swear, multiple times a day, every day, she would tell me that she wants a dog. This love for dogs and the dedication to being a good dog owner is what made it possible for Brownie to adapt and for her not to despair. No matter how much you are prepared for everything that is coming your way, you will never foresee all the difficulties.  Poor Brownie had health problems, anxiety, lack of understanding of how to socialise, but now after 6 long and exhausting months he overcame the biggest challenges and is getting happier and more relaxed every day.

Looking back it seems like madness to adopt a shelter dog from a war zone without any relevant experience! But love wins and Anastasia and Brownie are absolute best friends now. There is still a lot of learning to do, but we all couldn't be happier to have a new Re-Nou member with us.

OUR FRIENDS ALWAYS SUPPORT US

...and we want to support them. For this drop, we want to donate 50% of our profit to the group of volunteers who brought Brownie to us and continue rescuing animals from Ukraine. Thank you @petners.berlin and @petners.barcelona!