Emma and Anthony Smith are from Yorkshire. Anthony grew up in a farming family and for the past 25 years has worked as a commercial diver. He has lived in Bulgaria on and off since 2004. Emma worked as a response officer at North Yorkshire police and prior to this was a Sister on the Medical Admissions Unit at Leeds General Infirmary. In June 2013 they moved to their new home in Bulgaria and started their career-break dream. They soon became shocked and saddened with the amount of street dogs in Bulgaria, their suffering and poor treatment, and decided they had to do something to help improve the worsening situation. They knew they needed a long-term solution, and that their main aim had to be to neuter street dogs and work with owners to educate and facilitate neutering their pets. This has also led to them rescuing neglected, injured or sick dogs, as well as re-homing. Anthony and Emma converted their wood stores into kennels and their beautiful garden became a dog haven! Along with the help of Katie Lamb, who became Patron of Street Hearts BG in 2017, they have successfully re-homed over 1400 dogs. They are now an independent Non Government Organisation that works alongside the municipality of Dryanovo, Bulgaria in order to reduce the street dog population in the area.

After crossing paths with author Lisa Cutts, Emma and Anthony asked her to write their story of how they accidentally established their own shelter. Street Hearts was the result!