Traumatised Ukrainian dog who survived war is now frightened by cars and fireworks in UK
Ressi the dog shakes and cowers in fear when she hears loud noises at home in Suffolk.
A traumatised Ukrainian dog which fled to the UK with its owner to escape the war is now frightened of “street racing” cars and fireworks in Suffolk.
Svitlana (Lana) Sushko, 47, says her dog Ressi refuses to go outside even to use the toilet and will shake and cower in fear when she hears loud noises outside her flat on Haverhill High Street.
The 18-month-old dog is triggered and kept up at night by cars racing on the high street below their property, she adds.
Lana has made an appeal for help to treat her PTSD-suffering pet.
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Lana and Ressi witnessed the start of the war in Kyiv last February.
Lana, a teacher of English as a foreign language, said: "I was walking Ressi at 5am when we heard the bombings.
"By 6am we were all huddled in the bathroom- I screamed at my daughter and son to get in there where it was safest.
"The next day I walked Ressi at 10am. There was a loud explosion all of a sudden, probably from the military airport.
"She pulled and I fell over, letting her go as she ran away.
"Two men were walking towards us 100 metres away. I asked her to come back as she ran towards them and then one of them took out a gun.
"I was scared to death that he would kill her, but he shot up straight into the air.
"She whined and turned around and ran straight to me. I dragged her all the way home."
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The same day Lana drove her 15-year-old daughter Evelina, then eight-month-old dog Ressi and her 12-year-old cat Gulia 60 hours across borders to Poland after the rescue dog wasn't allowed on a plane.
She had to leave behind her 20-year-old son Nikita, who could be called to join the army once he finishes his studies.
The family has constantly moved around because of Ressi’s issues with loud noisies before finally settling in a council flat on Haverhill High Street, Suffolk, after moving to the UK.
Lana said she had filed nine police reports about the street racing to no avail, so appealed to the local community to help via a Facebook group post.
There she was put in touch with Tracy Hancock from Dogwarts K9 Academy who’s been helping Reiss get better with positive reinforcement training.
Suffolk police said they hadn’t been alerted to any recent vehicular anti-social behaviour on Haverhill High Street.
They added they were addressing anti-social behaviour with regular patrols and would be working with road policing officers to educate and enforce young motorists on their driver behaviour.
