She could have chosen to live a comfortable life as a retiree after a successful logistics career back in her home country, but Barbara Janssen chose to do the unexpected: use every cent she had and her precious time to care for and shelter stray dogs.
Today, she’s the founder of the Penang Animal Welfare Society (4PAWS) shelter in Teluk Bahang, one of the state’s largest dog rescue shelters and she has no plans of stopping anytime soon.
How 2 dogs changed everything
Speaking to WeirdKaya, Barbara said she moved from Hamburg to Penang in 2005 under the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme to spend her retirement.
However, little did she expect two stray dogs to entirely change the course of her life.
“At that time, I had just bought an apartment in Batu Ferringhi and was celebrating the signing of the Sale and Purchase Agreement (S&P).
“That was when I saw two puppies running on the roadside where there were a lot of cars zooming by. So I immediately rushed over and rescued them,” she recounted.
Barbara said she later found out that the puppies actually did have a home but were abandoned by their owner, who had moved out quietly and took only the mother dog with him.
“I was very, very angry when I found out about this and I decided to take the two puppies in and named them Linus and Tiger.”
Cares for hundreds of dogs
Not long after rescuing Linus and Tiger, Barbara found herself rescuing another stray dog from the beach. However, she soon realised that caring for three dogs while living at an apartment was untenable.
“The management didn’t allow residents to keep dogs as pets, and my neighbours were rather skittish about having them around. So I eventually sold the apartment and moved to my first ever landed property.”
Over the course of four years, Barbara found herself caring for 24 dogs and was shown a piece of property in Teluk Bahang in 2010 that would not only allow her to care for existing dogs, but also rescue more stray dogs and not cause unease to neighbours.
From there, it led to the founding of 4PAWS, which was officially registered as a non-profit organisation in 2011 and currently houses more than 700 dogs.
No turning back
In August 2024, Barbara suffered a mild stroke and this led to her having a pacemaker installed in her chest due to irregular heartbeat.
Despite this, she isn’t letting it slow her down or dampen her efforts to rescue and care for more stray dogs.
When I asked Barbara why she chose to spend her retirement caring for stray dogs instead of enjoying life, she had this to say:
I think sometimes you cannot choose what you want to do. It comes to you by itself. And I feel very happy with what I’m doing. Regrets? None at all.”
Land challenges
In the face of all the good 4PAWS has done for the stray dog population, it is now facing one of its biggest challenges after the landowner expressed their wish to take back the site where the animal shelter currently operates.
This has since forced Barbara to look for another piece of land to house the dogs and she came across a nearby 0.8ha plot of land which will cost RM1.2mil to relocate the shelter.
According to 4PAWS’s vice-president and Barbara’s adopted grandson Murugan Janssen, he said a total of RM700,000 has been raised since May 2025 but it is still RM500,000 short of the RM1.2mil target.
On top of that, 4PAWS has to pay a 10% deposit of around RM120,000, with the balance payable over the next eight months.
“We hope the public will continue to support and donate to 4PAWS so that we can purchase a permanent land for the dogs. Once we achieve this, we can continue to take in more dogs who are injured or abandoned,” he added.
If you wish to contribute to 4PAWS, you can donate to its Maybank account 507143333153 or visit its website to learn more.
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