A love story
A stray dog and a boy with a broken heart
Door Veronika Bajnokova
By Veronika Bajnokova
Veronika Bajnokova
A grey and white dog is nestled on the couch of psychology student Jakub’s apartment in the Groningen city centre. She has the eyes of a puppy and the sleek body of a fox. You wouldn’t guess it to look at her, but three years ago, she saved him.
She was there when he was at his absolute lowest. Everything in his life had fallen apart at the beginning of the Covid pandemic and he was stuck in Mexico trying to get home, feeling miserable. ‘I was sitting on an empty dog crate with Iskra on a leash in front of the Mexico City Airport. I thought, what am I going to do? I was sick, I didn’t have any money, and my phone wasn’t working. But she gave me the strength to push through.’
It’s been three years since the twenty-six-year-old Slovakian found the dog starving on the streets of Mexico, where he had been travelling. He clearly remembers the moment they met. She was just one of the many dogs begging for food, but he knew he couldn’t leave her there alone. Now, they have become almost inseparable. The only thing he needs to ask when making plans is: ‘Can I take Iskra with me?’
Closed borders
Their story started in 2020, when Jakub went on his dream trip across America. He travelled solo all the way from Canada, where he had moved for work after high school with his then-girlfriend, to Mexico. ‘I always wanted to see the great monarch butterfly migration. All the butterflies travel from North America to spend the winter in the forests of Mexico.’
She gave me the strength to push through
But what was supposed to be a six-week trip turned into a five-month stay in a foreign country, as Jakub missed out on his last opportunity to return to Canada before the borders closed for leisure travel in March because of Covid. With very little money left, Jakub sought shelter at a dog sanctuary in San Cristobal de las Casas, where he worked in exchange for food and accommodation.
He was staying in a stone cabin built into the hillside, dogs running around everywhere. ‘With each week, I started to learn their names. I got to know all of them quite well.’
Mesmerising eyes
While he made many dog friends at the sanctuary, he was determined to return home alone. ‘It just felt stupid. Why would I bring a dog from Mexico, when there are strays everywhere else? I didn’t feel ready to have a pet and I was already running out of money.’
But then Jakub spotted Iskra on a trip outside of San Cristobal. ‘I saw a small creature in the distance. She didn’t even look like a dog.’ Jakub had his doubts about chasing down a flea-ridden stray, but his friend encouraged him to run after her through the traffic.
The things that worried me about getting a pet suddenly became empty sentences
‘Her black eyes were so mesmerising. My heart started pounding and I just felt like I should get her.’ Once he had chased her down, the fear in the dog’s eyes disappeared and within seconds she was licking his face. ‘All of those things that worried me about getting a pet suddenly became empty sentences. I was taking her home for sure.’
Iskra had a hard time at the shelter with the other dogs, though, and after a couple of days, she ran away. ‘I felt I was forcing her to stay and I was sad she had left.’
That same day, Jakub’s girlfriend broke up with him. ‘It was a strange experience’, he remembers. He was going through a heartbreak, he was confined to his bed because he was ill from drinking contaminated water, and he was unable to search for Iskra. ‘During all of this, I talked to Iskra in my head. And it was similar to what I would have liked to tell my ex-partner in so many ways.’
Back to Slovakia
Imagine Jakub’s happiness when his friend returned to the shelter with Iskra after finding her wandering the streets of San Cristobal. At this point, Jakub knew he was not going to return to Slovakia without Iskra. ‘I didn’t have much to go back to. Nothing was waiting for me in Canada.’
Going home proved to be no easy feat. Getting plane tickets for him and the dog at the last minute in the middle of the Covid pandemic wasn’t just expensive, but also difficult. One flight was cancelled, another one turned out to be a scam.
When he finally made it to his last stop-over in Madrid, he wasn’t allowed to board the plane to Slovakia. The dog crate didn’t fit the standards and Jakub had to wait for the next flight in three days. Instead of travelling for sixteen hours as he had planned, Jakub spent seven days sleeping at airports, without knowing when he would get home. All that time he got sicker and sicker. ‘Iskra was the main thing that kept me going. I found myself more worried about her than me.’
Quarantine
Even when he reached Slovakia, the trials weren’t over, as he had to quarantine. ‘I still hadn’t seen my family and I was lonely.’ He also found out he was at risk of liver failure. Trapped in isolation for a whole month, Jakub’s mental health deteriorated. He started seeing a therapist, but he wouldn’t have been able to cope without Iskra, he says. ‘It was the hardest time of my life. I feel like she saved me.’
I’m having a mental breakdown, don’t make me laugh!
The dog helped Jakub to get his life under control again. ‘If I get a panic attack and start to cry, she tends to lick my face like crazy,’ he says. She makes him chuckle every time by sticking her tongue into his nose until he can’t breathe. ‘At some point, I just find myself giggling, holding her and telling her: “I’m having a mental breakdown, don’t make me laugh!”’
So of course Iskra came along when Jakub decided to move to Groningen in 2021 to study psychology. A friend helped him find a place where dogs were allowed, and only now he realises how lucky he got. ‘If that hadn’t happened, I don’t know if I would have ever found something.’
Iskra still is a cornerstone in Jakub’s life, he says, and he feels like housing should be more accessible when it comes to something as important as a pet. ‘Dogs aren’t a luxury, but a necessity for some people’s mental health.’
Elvina
Iskra even helped Jakub to meet the love of his life. When Elvina, a Lithuanian girl, moved into his house, Iskra would often sneak into her room. ‘Oh darn, is my dog in your room again? Yes, I’ll sit down’, Jakub laughs.
Soon, Elvina began accompanying them on their walks and Jakub noticed a special connection between them. ‘Iskra chooses her favourite people, and sometimes I let her guide me’, he says. It didn’t take them long to fall in love and after a year they were looking for a new home for the three of them.
As he pets Iskra, who’s lying with her head on his lap, she sighs contentedly. Jakub gets off the couch and puts a leash on her. It has finally stopped raining: time to pick up Elvina from work.