Bruno Jelovic

Born in 1989 in Travnik (Bosnia), Bruno Jelovic fled to Switzerland with his parents during the Balkan War. There, he lived and worked, building a livelihood as a fitness trainer before founding the project «Save The Dogs bih» in 2018 to provide help for stray dogs and to give them affection.

Why do you think are you so successful? What brought you so far?

I would narrow it down to one word: perseverance.

Perseverance in difficult situations, in hopeless situations, situations where I did not know what would happen next.

My perseverance keeps me going, no matter how bad it gets – whether it gets unbearable or even mean – hat I always keep going and don’t let stop me. I think that’s my strongest trait, bringing me to where I am right now.

I think without this perseverance, I would have failed long ago.

And the dogs made me humble. Before I started this project, I always thought that I needed more money to solve my problems and to have a better life and so on.

The dogs made me realize that we already have everything. We have clothes, we have food, a roof over our heads, and we are healthy. What else should we want?

And I have had everything already for a long time. The dogs actually have the real problems – they are in distress, not me. I was certainly modest before this project too, but never in the way I am now.

The dogs opened my eyes, they made me aware of how to see myself, how to reflect, and, above all, how to look at life in general.

I’ve realized in this project, in this whole process, that I’m exactly in the right place. It is a life where I can go to sleep with a calm conscience.

I’m a person who likes to give a lot of love, and I’m happy to give.

And here I can finally give my love to someone who doesn’t take advantage of me. All these dogs don’t take advantage of me.

I’m a person who has a lot of empathy, who likes to give – this makes me happy.

Here and now I can finally give all my love and caring to someone who does not take advantage of me. The dogs are happy and appreciate this love. All the dogs here, they’re all peaceful, they wag their tails all the time – no fights.

How do you live here?

Me, Sara, and our son – we live on the same property as the dogs, we live together with the dogs.

It’s not the life I ever wanted. I’ve always said that if I ever had my own house and the opportunity to keep dogs, then maybe a maximum of 10 or 12 dogs – that is a manageable amount, so that I still have my private life and can retreat and not have all the restlessness and barking all the time.

But there’s no other way. We have so many dogs here that I can’t really leave them unattended.
There are also so many dogs here that are ill or handicapped. I can’t just leave them out on the range. The special ones – I have to guard them 24/7 as best as I can.

Of course, I can’t do that 24/7 completely, but maybe 20/7.

Then I’ll get there roughly. It’s very important that I guard these dogs, that I’m there, that I show presence – especially with Pitbulls, Staffords, and dogs like Cane Corso.

They need guidance, they need a person they respect. Because if they are left completely on their own, you run the risk of them harming other dogs, and that would simply be unacceptable.

I never wanted to live the way I do now, because we have no peace and quiet. In the night, one dog starts barking, then everyone starts barking. We can never actually sleep through the night – there’s always something going on.

In the beginning, I didn’t have the experience to distinguish what the barking from the dogs meant. Were they barking because they heard something, or were they barking because two dogs were attacking each other?

At the beginning, I ran out all the time. Now I can distinguish the barking – it’s become a routine.

It’s not a dream life, but it is a necessity that I live this way, because the dogs need it that way – not because I need it that way.

But I don’t want to complain either – I chose it that way, and I think it’s okay.

Sometimes I need a chance to take a break, in order not to get overwhelmed. But I think I can do all this because I am mentally a very strong person.

When asked, do you give advice?

So many people are looking for solutions in their lives because they are not where they want to be. They have to compromise at work and everywhere. People see themselves so much trapped in systems, in jobs, in habits that they don’t dare to live the life they would really want to live.

But it’s so important to live a life according to your passion; you are best at the things you really love to do. Besides, you never know how much time you have left. People take so much for granted – a long life, for example. But how do you know?

If you don’t do it now, when then? If you want to go to America, then just go to America. If you are unhappy with this job, just quit this job and find another one. So many waste their talents; they don’t dare, don’t risk anything. They get so much pressure from everywhere: to go for security…

But sometimes you just have to do it, just go for it without thinking too much, without having a perfect plan for everything.

If I had known what I had to do to be self-employed back when I registered, I would never have become self-employed. I would never have started.

Do you have a utopia for your personal life?

No. I’ve stopped having ideas in that direction. Not completely stopped, but I prefer to have goals.

Do you have a vision for the «Save the Dogs» project?

I would like to create something where I could show people my ideas and my concept – so that hopefully, some ideas from here will be adopted and lived out.

For example, I want to generate as much reach as possible with my presence for the project, so that I can ideally create imitators in this world – to inspire people to start their own «Save the Dogs» projects.

In Romania, in South America – it doesn’t matter. The main thing is to do it, to start.

That’s something I’m really hopeful about.

If I can generate a wide reach on social media, that will inevitably create imitators – people who will do the same for their animals, wherever they are.

It doesn’t have to be just for dogs – it can be for all animals. Farm animals, for example.

Also here, we could bring pigs, cows, donkeys, and horses – take them out of slaughterhouses. That is one aspect: to expand the range of animals.

And the other aspect is that we’re going to focus on education and information here at the school.
We had preliminary talks with the school, and we can start after the summer break.

Without education and information, nothing is going to change – not now, and not in the future.

I want to create an example, I make this city an example and then I expand this concept throughout the entire country of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The whole country should become an example.

We create an example here, make this an exemplary country, and then transfer the concept everywhere.

When other countries see that change is possible here, they will realize that it is possible everywhere.

That’s how we achieve global change.