On the first of November a dense fog covered the city, turning the morning into a muted scene. It was a Sunday, and a small crowd of people gathered from various parts of Chișinău at the edge of an asphalt road on the city outskirts. In front of them stretched about a kilometre of muddy ground, making the route difficult to travel. At the far end of this path more than eight hundred dogs, their heads and tails visible, waited. The assembled participants appeared ready to engage in an activity involving the dogs, though the exact nature was not described. The atmosphere combined the chill of early November weather with the anticipation of the crowd and the multitude of dogs.