Once upon a time, on an island far away... In July 2015, I, Melina, traveled to the tropical island of Bali in Indonesia. An adventurous one-month backpacking trip was originally planned, but it ended up becoming the greatest love story of my life.

How Nani came into my life

Only 3 days after my arrival on the small island, I found a little dog at the edge of a rice field. Actually, I wanted to climb Mount Batur volcano near Ubud for sunset, but life had a different plan for me. I was riding my scooter when I spotted this little tabby pup who was about to climb down a gully and was obviously looking for food. So I stopped my scooter, lured the little dog girl away from the dip and sat down with her on the ground. Luckily I had a bottle of water with me and the little puppy immediately approached me in a friendly manner and thirstily began to drink. When she was done she played with my scooter key and kept climbing on my lap.

I'll be honest: Back then it wasn't my plan to take a dog home. I was 21, all alone on the other side of the world and still living with both of my parents who were very ill at the time, along with our 3 large dogs. First I said goodbye to her, got on my scooter and slowly started to drive, but when this little baby dog ​​started running after me with an incredible speed, I stopped immediately. I hadn't gone 20m and as my scooter came to a stop this pup immediately jumped into my footwell and fell asleep. I asked every person I found if they knew this dog and ended up hearing the sad story of so many Bali Dogs: 2 days prior a car pulled up on the road, opened the door and dumped her. For fear of rabies, no one wanted to take her in and I was asked to take her with me because a rabies preventive measure (culling) was pending. This would have meant her certain death.

I immediately called my mother and told her that I had found an abandoned puppy and would see if I could place her with an animal rescue. Next, I emptied the entire contents of my backpack into a plastic bag, put the little pup in my backpack, and started driving. On the way back to my accommodation I stopped at various markets and shops and with a lot of effort I managed to find a collar, leash, food and dog shampoo. In the next step, I literally smuggled her into my room.

Nani - yes, there she was. This cheeky little bali dog, who immediately stole my heart. I sat her in the shower, cleaned her up, and then gave her a bowl to eat. I still remember wrapping her in a towel, lifting her onto the bed and resting her on my chest. Not a minute passed and Nani licked my entire face. I couldn't stop her from kissing me more and more and I'm sure it was her way of saying "thank you".

With a queasy feeling in my stomach I went to the animal welfare organization BAWA the next day, but as soon as I got there, I knew that leaving Nani there was not an option. My heart bled at the thought. So I was helped to find a dog friendly guest house and from there the process of planning Nani's entry to Germany began.

From Bali Dog to German City Dog

How do you do that? Bringing a dog from Bali to Germany is anything but easy. At least it was at that point, because the simple exchange of information through social media was not the same in 2015 as it is today and Bali was not yet the island of digital nomads. The first answer was devastating: "It can't be done. You can't take a dog out of Bali." - Well, I'll keep this step short: It works! Yes, it was expensive, cost me a lot of nerves and tears, and getting the information was anything but easy. But it works. Nani was only 12 weeks old when I found her and therefore still too small to leave the country at all, because that is only possible at the age of 6 months. She received all vaccinations and got a microchip, but a blood test is also necessary, which can only be done a month after the rabies vaccination. From the day the blood was taken, the so-called quarantine period begins, which lasts 3 months and during which the dog is not allowed to leave the country. So it quickly became clear that Nani would have to spend some time in Bali before she could come to Germany. Unfortunately I couldn't stay for 3 months due to family reasons, so I organized the best possible solution and found a place in a dog hotel for her, which she moved into from the day I left.

While I was in Bali with her, we traveled to some of the places I was dying to see and spent a lot of time by the sea. Every day with Nani was a great adventure and my love for her just kept growing. When I had to say goodbye to her, if only for a limited time, I left a piece of my soul on the island.

The arrival in Germany

Nani was picked up by my mom in Jakarta at the time of her departure, because I couldn't fly because of exams at university and we didn't want to let another week go by before she could finally come to us. Unfortunately, Nani weighed over 8kg and was therefore too big to fly in the cabin. I booked the best possible flight connection for the two of them and drove to the airport in Amsterdam with my sister on the day of arrival to pick up Nani and my mum. She was a little groggy when she came out of her flight box and to be honest I didn't expect her to recognize me right away, but then when we got in the car and I wrapped her in a blanket and put her on my lap, there was this moment again - just like back in the day we found each other: Her eyes suddenly got really big, her paws were planted on my shoulder and she started licking my face all over again. I knew then that she hadn't forgotten me.

Nani first had to slowly integrate into the pack, but fortunately this worked relatively quickly. She mastered everyday life in Germany super fast.

This is the beginning of our story. Since then 8 years have passed. 8 years in which we have gone through many ups, downs and changes. 8 years in which we were absolutely inseparable and still are. In August 2022, Nani had an Ehrlichiosis outbreak (tick disease). Unfortunately, the blood parasite was never detected in previous blood tests because it was inactive and so it happened that Nani went blind from one day to the next. And this change in life has only made us both even closer: Nani survived the disease and lives with exactly the same zest for life as before her blindness... and so our story continues.