> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://offbeatshow.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # I’m scared of dogs so I spent a day with 300 of them - URL: https://offbeatshow.com/im-scared-of-dogs-so-i-spent-a-day-with-300-of-them/ - Published: 2026-11-12T17:10:10.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-12T17:26:50.000Z - Description: I thought I knew what a dog shelter looked like. Then I met Nancy, who lives with 300 dogs at Pets Garden in Cairo. Here’s how I ended up there, and a few things about the day that stayed with me after I finished the film. - Author: Tommie McDonald - Tags: Films I was three when a dog bit me on the bum. I’d gone round to the neighbours’ house with my dad. We walked through the front door and what seemed like an enormous dog - a jack russell - came running straight at me. I ran, fell on a plant, got bitten and peed myself. I remember my dad passing me back over the fence to my mum. I was still crying. I’ve been nervous around dogs ever since. The bigger they are, the worse it is. For some reason black and brown dogs are especially bad. Black on its own is fine. Brown on its own is fine. Put them together and apparently my brain thinks I’m in trouble. I know how ridiculous that sounds. It’s like watching a grown man run from a wasp. Knowing you look stupid does very little to stop you running. So out of all the videos I was planning to make in Egypt, this was the one I was looking forward to the least. ## How I ended up there I arrived in Hurghada with almost a month in Egypt and quickly realised I had no idea how to find a story or film one. I’d watched people on YouTube walk around Egypt with a camera, strike up conversations with strangers and come back with a video. I tried it one evening. I lasted about ten minutes before I got embarrassed and put the camera away. I have so much respect for people who can do that. I spent the next week frantically looking for people who could help. That’s how I ended up with Soltan at a horse race in the desert outside Aswan. By the time I got to Cairo, I’d met Mohammed, who was really interesting to talk to and ended up setting up this visit. He told me about women who’d started dog shelters in Egypt. I wasn’t that interested at first. I’d spent enough time in Turkey to get used to seeing dogs on the street, and I thought I knew what happened when they went to a shelter. They’d be in kennels until someone took them home. The bit I was curious about was why so many of the people running the shelters Mohammed knew were women. That was enough to get me to the gate. ## The first fifteen minutes Before we went, Mohammed told me to wear old clothes. Apparently it could get dirty. I didn’t really know what he meant until I saw the noses poking out under the front gate as I’d imagined somewhere a bit like a vet’s. We walked into the front garden and the dogs absolutely mobbed me, Mohammed and his wife. I cut most of that out because I don’t think anyone wants fifteen minutes of me going, “Wow. Wow. Wow.” I’d expected the barking and the chaos to make me want to leave. I still flinched when a dog jumped near my face, but I was so taken aback by how happy they were to see us that the nerves went away pretty quickly. I’ve never had that many animals all trying to get my attention at once. I’d spent years instinctively backing away from dogs, and here I was standing in the middle of a crowd of them thinking how nice it was that they all wanted to say hello. ## The people who live there Nancy told me the dogs were her children. When she showed me her bedroom and told me how many of them slept on her bed, I started to understand how literally she meant it. She’d used her savings and sold her gold and a flat to keep the shelter going. There were cats, birds and tortoises to look after too. She talked about trusting God to provide. What I kept thinking about was how many times she’d had to find a way to provide for them herself. She talked a little about being hurt by people she’d trusted. Normally I’d have asked more. That day it felt right to let her tell me what she wanted to. I did wonder if all the good she's done for animals would have even happened if she didn't get hurt by people? One thing I wish had come through more in the film was how close Nancy is to the two men who work with her, Hasan and Mohammed. This is a different Mohammed from the one who took me there. Nancy’s Christian and they’re both Muslim. You could see how much affection there was between the three of them. They felt like a family to me. Since moving back to the UK, I’ve seen a lot of people online trying to make Muslims and Christians afraid of each other. In Egypt I kept seeing people make an effort to understand and respect each other across those differences. It felt like a conscious effort throughout the country. I feel we could do with more of that over here. ## What happened while we were filming It was pure chance that Nancy’s new landlord turned up that day. I don’t know what was said in the meeting. I remember how different she seemed when she came back. She looked exhausted, and we wrapped up fairly soon after that. She told me she’d been given six months to find another place. I’d spent the morning trying to get my head around how you look after that many animals. I couldn’t imagine having to find somewhere else for all of them to live. After filming I even asked my girlfriend if we could adopt one. If the shelter had been in England, I think we probably would have which is crazy having started the day feeling anxious about going there. I told Nancy I’d share her donation details when the film came out. I hope it brings her some help. ## How to help Nancy If you’d like to help Nancy look after the animals at Pets Garden, you can donate directly by bank transfer. [GoFundMe doesn’t pay out directly to Egypt](https://support.gofundme.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001972748-Countries-supported-on-GoFundMe?ref=offbeatshow.com), so I’ve put the details Nancy sent me below. **Account holder:** Nancy Naguib Riad **Bank:** Banque Du Caire **Branch:** Heliopolis Branch, Nazih Khalifa Street **Account number:** 00703020086312 **SWIFT/BIC:** BCAIEGCXXXX **IBAN:** EG260004107000000703020086312 You can contact Nancy through the [Pets Garden Facebook group](https://www.facebook.com/groups/petsgardenwhenlifegivesyouanimals) to confirm the details or ask for an official donation invoice.