The Book

Renzo, The True Story of a Stray Dog is the story of the Romanian puppy who, against all odds, manages to survive and finally find security and his forever home with a Swedish family who adopts him.
  He turns their lives upside down with his heart wrenching plea for love and his crazy antics.
  It also reveals how the 20th century communist dictatorship in Romania drove the dogs out into the streets and what life is like in a temporary dog shelter.
  Through the winding codes of the internet’s ones and zeroes, the picture of the miserable dog, bitten, scruffy, dirty and with an infinite sadness in his eyes, pierces the heart of Mathilda, a teenage girl.
  Sneaking away from a boring family dinner, surfing the web, she finds the website for a Romanian Rescue Center for street dogs.
  Under the picture, there’s a plea: “Renzo needs help fast! Do you want to adopt him?”
  She shows her father, Johan, the picture, and much to her surprise, he says “YES” right away. The family is going to adopt Renzo!
  That’s how we get to follow the heartwarming, sad and hilarious story of how Renzo’s fate became intertwined with the fate of the Wallman family, when the traumatized dog storms into their lives.
  Renzo knows how to create chaos…
  Their lives become difficult, a lot more difficult.
  But, also richer and more fun!
  It’s not easy to patch up a wounded individual, but with lots of love, big buckets of time and patience, and some unconventional methods, it is possible.
  Charlotta, the mom of the family, Mathilda, the teenage girl, Max, the little brother, and the family’s two poodles, Oliver and Athena, watch in wide-eyed amazement as Johan, among other things, sleeps with Renzo in the kitchen pantry for a whole week.
  Renzo’s unbelievable fate is depicted through the eyes of different people.
  His life story begins with the Romanian man who saves him when he finds him floating in a half sunken cardboard box on the dark and cold waters of the Danube River.