Meet Miro

Miro's Story

Miro came to us from Bulgaria through a woman we’ve taken multiple dogs from before. In fact, he’s the reason we started taking in dogs with bite histories or aggressive tendencies—because according to his previous owners, Miro was a man-eater.

At two years old, this hound mix (we’re not sure exactly what kind) was said to have bitten numerous people, tried to attack his owner, and had an overall reputation of being dangerous.

But when we got him? He was shy, reactive, but not aggressive at all. In fact, Miro is incredibly friendly—he adores people, gets along beautifully with other dogs, and even loves cats.

So, what was the truth?

We later found out that for the first two years of his life, Miro lived on a one-meter chain (that’s about three feet for those in the U.S.). His owner’s son would “play” with him—by using him as a tetherball. He would beat Miro with a stick, forcing him to run in circles until his chain wrapped so tightly that he was pinned to the stake.

Miro endured this for two whole years before he finally snapped.

In my opinion? That wasn’t aggression. That was justified. Frankly, I don’t think I would have lasted two years. Credit to Miro for his patience.

Today, Miro is hands-down the most popular dog on the farm. Every single person who meets him falls in love.

But there’s a catch.

Despite being 99.9% fantastic, Miro still has triggers—especially around men who don’t quite give off the right energy. He doesn’t tolerate being shooed away or having hands or objects waved in his face (understandably). Because of this, even though so many people have wanted to adopt him, his bite history makes it too risky to rehome him.

The biggest surprise, though?

I assumed Miro would never be able to be around children after everything he’d been through. But when I was living in Bulgaria, one of our workers had two small kids. I always told him, “Don’t let them inside unless I know first, so I can separate Miro.”

One day, I came home to find the kids inside… with Miro.

I ran in, convinced I was about to walk into a bloodbath.

Instead?

Miro was lying on his back, on the kitchen table, legs in the air, absolutely loving life.

One child was drawing on his belly with a Sharpie.
The other was feeding him snacks, God knows what.

Miro was in heaven.

To this day, I have never met a dog who loves children more than Miro. If he even sees a child, he starts crying because he wants to be near them so badly. How that happened given his past? I have no idea. Credit to Miro’s golden heart.

That said… Miro is also a pain in the ass.

He is a Houdini. No fence has ever contained him. He cleared our three-meter electric fence in Serbia. Twice now in Italy, the police have been called on us because of him.

• First time: He let himself out, visited a neighbor, and knocked on another neighbor’s door.

• Second time (Easter): He broke into a neighbor’s house, opened their kitchen door, and stole their Easter lamb steak.

Miro is unadoptable because he is uncontainable.

But he has a good life here on the farm. He sleeps in my bed, roams freely, and is one of our best success stories.