Four-legged mascot of Moscow rescuers: How a "psychologist" dachshund Marusya helps to cope with stress

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

There are dogs helping to detect illegal substances, there are dogs helping to find people, and the dachshund Marusya, who now often travels with Moscow rescuers, helps the department employee with stress. She was nicknamed “freelance psychologist” and “little piece of happiness”.

As Elena Epur says, her dachshund spontaneously joined the team - just one day Elena took her with her on a weekend to the training ground, where the whole team of rescuers and firefighters was engaged, and everyone was delighted with communicating with the pet. Elena herself works in the press service of the Moscow Department for Civil Defense, Emergencies and Fire Safety, and who knows how difficult and hard the work of a rescuer is. And communication with a friendly dog turned out to be very useful at such a job.

“Later I came to this idea philosophically, that, probably, every dog, like a person, has its own purpose,” says Elena. Some dogs help rescue people from the rubble, others look for those lost in the forests and mountains, there are dogs that help rescuers on the beach. There are therapy dogs available to help children with autism.

“And Marusya's mission is to give people joy and love. It relieves stress, tension, brings relaxation to the mood. After all, it is very important if a person is in strong tension, that there is an opportunity to be discharged,”says Elena.

Together with her mistress, Marusia began to visit various departments, and these are 32 fire and rescue teams, 24 rescue stations on the water and the Moscow Aviation Center. There are many people, and the dachshund has not yet had time to meet everyone. However, Maroussia is so friendly that wherever she appears, people's mood instantly improves.

Now Marusya has even got an Instagram account, where they upload photos of her everyday life: here is a dog in his trademark lifeguard overalls sitting behind the wheel of a car, listening to what they say on the radio; here he participates in a role-playing game; but he even sits in a helicopter.

By the way, about the overalls - Marusya has several of them, and all are made especially for her, with the words "Rescuer" and the company logo. And for the cold winter time, Marusya has a real hat with earflaps.

In addition to psychological assistance to Moscow rescuers, the Marusya dachshund also helps to draw attention to the problem of street animals. “We are subscribed to a huge number of shelters. And we really hope that people who, perhaps, have not yet become imbued with love for dogs, after Marusya appeared and became such a “star”, perhaps, they will treat their four-legged friends differently,”says Elena.

In our article "No fee for a fee" we talk about a museum in Germany where a dachshund dog will be met better than its owner.