A green paradise for street dogs

It was one of the biggest jobs the Swiss advertising film company Stories has ever had. The shoot for the Swisscom campaign with the claim "More in it for you" in 2011 lasted ten days, and the filming location was the large MediaPro film studio in Romania. Not only film stars like Rachel Weisz, Shia Laboeuf, Christoph Waltz and Sam Neill went in and out here, but also street dogs, of which there were over 50,000 in Bucharest alone that year. Stories co-owner Tobias Fueter recalls, "I naively took photos of the hearty dogs and sent them to my wife." Noëlle Fueter-Stahel, a dog trainer and dog sitter by profession, was horrified by the suffering of the emaciated animals. The Zurich native was on site with the next plane - and to the shock of the local film producers, began feeding the catering on the set to the dogs.

Came upon the Bahamian silver fox

Noëlle had already infected her husband with her love of dogs a few years earlier. Actually, the commercial filmmaker was a convinced cat person. On the farm where he grew up, there were only cats. As a child, he was chased by a dog. And in the streetcar he asked dog owners to keep their dogs with them when they came sniffing. But then a little black puppy with bat ears ran after the couple on vacation in the Bahamas. "I realized that if I wanted to stay with my wife, I really needed to change my thinking," Tobias Fueter says, laughing. So the street dog came with him to Switzerland and captured Fueter's heart. On walks, he proudly told people that little Dillie was a Bahamian silver fox. Today, the Zurich native thinks: "I misunderstood the loyalty of a dog for a long time. I thought they only follow you because they need you. But today I know that it is an expression of unconditional love, which we can learn from them."

Educational dog park instead of sad dog home

Today, this vision is a reality. When the film studio closed in 2017, Fueters used this change for a new start. Together with the two partners of their association Citydogs4Streetdogs, they bought two hectares of land in the middle of Romanian nature. With volunteers, they built an animal shelter of a kind that had never existed before. 200 shelter dogs have a home here. Divided into six groups, each dog has a lockable place to sleep. But when the doors are opened in the morning, they romp around in a pack on the lawn.

The novel shelter bears the name Dog Rose. Named after a species of rose that grows in the wild, the shelter is not just intended to be a reception center. The team, which also includes a pair of veterinarians and a dog whisperer, is pursuing the goal of improving the situation of street dogs in Romania from the ground up. "Some people say that the people have to get better first so that they also look at the dogs," Fueter says. "But that's not true in my opinion. Developing a basic empathy for another living being helps the development of every human being and has nothing to do with being poor or rich."

The positive visual language runs through all means of communication. From the playful logo, designed by Winterthur illustrator Celine Geser, to the Facebook page with touching before-and-after photos, to the colorful website where you can adopt cute dogs or support them with a sponsorship. Dog Rose benefits from Fueter's advertising knowledge. But the advertiser benefits from Dog Rose the other way around, too. "Giving something back does mega good," says the successful businessman. For him, that's the dogs now, but everyone can just give something back, in an area for which their heart beats. "When I visit Dog Rose, I come back balanced. I remember again that there are more important things than the single commercial, the single image and the single voice-over."

When Tobias Fueter and his film team travel to Romania today, it will no longer be to film for Swisscom. But for the annual Dog Rose film, with which he wants to appeal for donations. Even cameramen who have little connection to dogs are enthusiastic about the energy in the dog park. Even a colleague who had a panic fear of dogs has made friends with the four-legged friends. Tobias Fueter smiles with satisfaction. "With Dog Rose, we've created a place where you do good, receive the love of dogs, and from which you simply come back more satisfied."

Advertising mature chicken skin images

The pictures of these meetings keeps Fueter in charity films for Dog Rose. And they provide chicken skin. There are children and dogs cavorting in blooming meadows. The children are laughing and beaming, while the dogs cuddle in their arms or give dog kisses. What seems like staged advertising images is reality. "We didn't want to show how cruelly bad the situation is in Romania," says the 46-year-old. "As an advertiser, I'm convinced that many people don't want to see that. Instead, we show what good we do."

For Tobias Fueter, working with the dogs is a meaningful balance to his advertising work. He and his wife Noëlle have adopted two Romanian dogs themselves: first Roma (right), later Pipa (left) (all photos: zVg).

So Tobias Fueter couldn't resist when his wife took two orphaned sick puppies into their hotel room during said film shoot in Romania. One of the two survived. The couple christened the foundling Roma and took him to their hearts just as they had already taken Dillie. A Romanian helper offered to help get the dog back to health so that they could take him to Switzerland later. Fueters also bought dog food for the dogs on the film set and fenced off part of the area as a dog shelter. They placed other dogs in Switzerland. And on the ground, more helpers joined in. People from the nearby city brought new street dogs. Soon, the temporary shelter on the film lot counted 120 dogs. The cornerstone for Fueter's commitment in Romania was laid.

The larger the pack became, however, the more the Fueters realized that the reception center on the studio premises was not a permanent solution. Not only because of the dependence on the studio. But also because dogs need space. "When you lock up dogs, they bark at you when you walk by," says Tobias Fueter. "A lot of people think they're monsters at first because of that." He made the observation at several animal shelters. "But as soon as you open the doors and they can run, they are the most loving animals in the world." Thus solidified a vision of a home where dogs are not caged, but can run around and play freely.

Therefore, in Dog Rose children and dogs come together. In entertaining lessons, a team member explains how to handle the animals. Theory is followed by practice and the children meet the home dogs. "In the beginning, only the brave ones come in and the others watch." But in the end, so far, all the children have still overcome themselves and made contact with the dogs. "Even socially disadvantaged children who have trouble talking to adults respond very well to the street dogs and vice versa. They feel the mutual respect and so amazingly form an invisible bond with each other right away."