Getting Our First Dog in Poland

Kasia and Nuna getting in some quality time in before bed.

I grew up around animals my whole life - mainly cats and dogs. I like cats but I am a dog person at heart. My last dog, Zoey, died eight years ago. I remember my mom told me after I came back from a trip in 2014. We were eating at a restaurant and I asked her, “how’s Zoey?” The way she looked at me, I knew right away. My mom told me that she found her in front of my bedroom door. I went to the bathroom in the restaurant and cried for 10 minutes. I had such a connection with that dog. It broke my heart but as time passed sorrow turned into gratitude. I was lucky to experience such a connection.

Zoey, the dog my mom and I adopted when I was in high school.

After Zoey, I never thought seriously about getting another dog. I still held her close to my heart and I couldn’t imagine the thought of another dog replacing her. When Kasia and I moved to Warsaw in 2019, all of a sudden we both started to feel the urge. Warsaw is a dog-friendly city and we live in a great neighbourhood in terms of park space, so it felt like the right time.

Kasia follows a lot of Instagram accounts that share photos of dogs up for adoption. For fun, we would go through all of the account’s photos and dream about adopting, but we never acted. Then, one day Kasia sent me a few photos of a litter of puppies. Two family dogs from the Polish countryside that weren’t spayed and neutered ended up having puppies and they needed homes. The dad was a Black Schnauzer and the mom was a Maltese. Kasia told me that the place is a four-hour drive and that we need to make a decision now. I looked at the photos and one of the pups made an impression on me. Turns out Kasia and I thought about the same dog so we got into our car and made the drive - an eight-hour roundtrip journey.

The first photos we saw of our sweet Nuna. It was love at first sight.

When we got there, Niunia was the last puppy waiting to be picked up. She was running around outside with her mom and another Maltese dog. She had a lot of energy and seemed happy and playful. The family had a young daughter who clearly bonded with her. I felt bad when we left because I knew how sad she must have been when we drove away.

We stayed at the family’s house for around an hour playing with the dogs outside but eventually we got back into our car and started the drive back to Warsaw. Kasia sat in the back to make sure she felt safe and I drove back excited about our new roommate! I don’t know if that first long car ride influenced her love of cars, but she gets amped when she knows she’s going for a ride.

The name given to her by the family, Niunia, translates roughly to someone who is a ditz. We decided to make the oh-so-subtle change to Nuna. For English speakers, this change in pronunciation is imperceptible but for Polish speakers, it’s a different name.

The first couple of months were more challenging than we expected. I forgot about the puppy years. It was like having a baby - up all night cleaning pee and poo, planned visits to the vet for checkups and unplanned visits because our dog loves to eat things that will kill her. But soon, Nuna was well trained and due to Kasia’s hard work, she learned quite a few tricks. Nuna is the first dog I’ve had that knows how to roll over. I was beyond proud when she mastered that command.

The golden hour amplifying Nuna’s cuteness.

Nuna and her pal, Sasha.

Nuna’s lived with us for nearly three years. We got her just before the pandemic which was heaven-sent. She brought us a lot of joy during the uncertain initial months of the pandemic and she gave us a reason to get outside for a walk. Nuna has also played a major role in us getting to know our neighbours. I have developed some close relationships thanks to walking Nuna and striking up conversations with fellow dog owners. For better or worse, I’m always up-to-date on the latest neighbourhood gossip which is hilarious because my first year in Warsaw was completely different as Kasia and I didn’t know our fellow residents at all.

Nuna was very content on this floaty. I was dying of laughter.

L: Nuna’s favourite way to ride in the car. R: Embarrassed by her mom’s wardrobe malfunction.

Behind our block of flats, there is an amazing nature reserve where you feel like you’re out of the city. We often take Nuna for walks there. There is a little stream where she first tried swimming. I was thrilled when I found out Nuna likes swimming because I am a fish. She will follow me out when I swim but because she’s not the biggest dog - she’s only about 7 kg - she doesn’t have too much stamina.

Nuna is a great friend who loves to play with other dogs and humans. She’s independent but at the end of a long day, she wants nothing more than to chill on the couch with her humans. When we first picked up Nuna, the family told us she wasn’t the most affectionate dog. I will let the photos speak for themselves.

Our dog likes to know what we do all day staring at our computers. It remains a mystery to her.

The classic lean pose from Nuna. She’s always more than happy to sit on the couch with her humans.