Want a rescue dog, offer a lovely home but ready to give up!

[Chimcha]

We have a lovely 9 yr old dog, DH and I have both had dogs all our lives and very experienced with animals. We want to get another dog so started looking at rescues. We offer a wonderful family home, where dog is walked twice a day and have a small farm and woodland which we visited every day with our dog. So far, before even meeting us, I have been declined by four rescue charities, because of the following reasons 1) we have children under 14, 2) we don't have a 5 ft fence going round our garden, 3) we don't have a 6ft fence going round our garden, 4) we don't have someone at home all the time (though we've never out for more than 4 hours anyway because of our current dog, and if we on the rare occasion are MiL pops over!!). Our garden is very secure with a big hedge and stream and then backs on to farmland, we re not on a road (at end of a track), have a big garden, have our own small farm where we take the dog every day as well, and MiL pops in whenever we are out. Not one of these charities have met us, we just didn't fulfil the checklist. It's frustrating. We rescued our current dog when she was a puppy, and would offer a wonderful home to a second dog. I completely get the need to have criteria, please don't think I'm disputing that, but I feel it is so tight that they turn away potentially good people because they didn't tick a box, rather than having any flexibility. I wonder if we keep looking at rescue charities or instead get a puppy instead.

I know that not everyone agrees with adopting from other countries, but there are UK based rescues like https://www.facebook.com/Paws2Rescue/ Paws2Rescue that happily rehome a dog from Romania to a family in your situation. Cyprus has similar charities.

The reason they do it is because conditions over there for strays/abandoned dogs is really dire (much worse than you would find at an RSPCA centre) and most of them will be put down. The rescues do their best to find which dogs are suitable for rehoming and get them out of the country and into fosters in the UK.

They will likely have issues like many dogs from rescues- but they come vaccinated and with all the right paper work, and definitely appreciate a second chance.

Ok, my link to gratuitous puppy photos didn't work, but google Paws2Rescue and there are more gorgeous dogs than you can shake a stick at.

We faced a similar situation - we live very rurally so according to conventional rule lists we aren't suitable.
Three larger rescues turned us down and wouldn't even discuss it with us as we had failed the check list.

We found a small local rescue who were willing to come and look at our home, as soon as she arrived the home check lady declared our setting to be a dog paradise and we were able to re-home our lovely boy.

You sound like an ideal family for a Visla.

This charity rescues puppies and older dogs from Hungary and rehomes them in the U.K.

www.facebook.com/VizslamentesUK/

Have you also tried Last Chance Rescue in Edenbridge? I don’t know their policies but their website lists some dogs would be ok with kids 6+ etc

Maelstrop I have had 3 dogs from Many Tears. Yes, all of them were rescued from so-called puppy farms and no, none of them had been house trained etc. But to hint that MT is some sort of a front for these places is so far off the mark. Have you any idea of the fate that befalls the many hundreds of dogs that MT aren't able to rescue? Do you think really that puppy farms would cease to exist if MT wasn't there?

My last girl from MT spent the first 6 years of her life alone in someone's garden shed. Literally alone, no human or animal company apart from the puppies she was used to produce. No walks, no socialisation. And judging for how long it took me to gain her confidence, the "human" who owned treated her appallingly. Thank God MT rescued her.

I don't know how Sylvia, the woman who runs MT does it, but she goes around these dreadful places, persuading them to let her take animals. She deserves praise not condemnation for so doing.

Depending on where in Kent you are, try Viking Oak, we've had two wonderful sight hounds from there.

manytearsrescue.org/display_mtar_dog.php?id=21940

I know exactly what you mean. I have rescued two lurchers and I have a cat, two young children and no 6ft fence. But I had the same issues as you.

Rescues are run by very big hearted and motivated people but they can be over zealous.

Try Lurcher Link or Find Furever Homes or GAL. They are much better. Please keep trying. Sighthounds are so wonderful.

OP I completely sympathised till you mentioned you were looking for a Lurcher. That is understandable by the rescue groups if your fences are too low.

YANBU they really do make it so difficult to rescue which is why people go and buy instead. I adopted a rescue kitten yesterday and it was really easy but some of them do make it incredibly hard and then put up begging posts asking for things and saying they are running out of space for more but won't rehome the ones they already have. They can't have it both ways. Good luck finding a dog I hope you find a rescue willing to let you adopt without having to jump through a million hoops.

I currently have a foster lurcher (so if you’re still looking in a month or two let me know!) and she, in the year and a half I’ve known her, has never jumped a fence. The breed doesn’t matter, it should be done on a case by case basis. I work with dogs and I’ve only known 2 dogs to scale fences, and neither would have been stopped by a 6ft fence anyway.

I'm in Kent and know loads of rescue people, you're better off trying the smaller rescues as they look at your whole situation rather than sticking to the blanket rules.
Feel free to message me if you want and I will ask my rescue friends if they have any dogs that they can match to you x

Try Tag Pet Rescue in Kent.

YANBU, the rescue here won’t rehome a dog to someone who is out more than TWO HOURS a day. So enough time to do a grocery shop and come home basically. Absolutely ridiculous

Have you tried last chance animal rescue in Kent? Check out luigi he's gorgeous!

I believe there are loads of lurchers and similar breeds desperate for homes in Ireland. Perhaps you could make a brief trip there and pick up a couple. Good for you choosing a rescue dog - we once had an abused rescue St Bernard and he was much loved.

Or have you tried lord whisky animal sanctuary? They've got some nice looking sighthounds on their page.

We had the same issues and ended up getting a puppy. We chose a reputable breeder and he knows our set-up and is more than happy to let us have one of his pups.

He comes home in two weeks!

Have you tried Pupsneedinghomes?

They're East Sussex but have fosterers further afield, my mum lived in Kent and her two puppies came from there via pounds in Ireland.

Dogs Trust are in Canterbury and surprisingly lenient we found. We have a Collie mix and she was advertised as for a family children 8 and over, need a 6 foot fence because she has springs in her legs and although they had on her blurb not to be left longer than 4hrs they confided her previous owner used to leave her 12 hours and she was completely fine. She's a complete Muppet of a dog.

Other dogs we looked at again the sign said one thing but they bent the rules on meeting us based on their knowledge of the dogs

I have been having similar problems op. Rescue centres seem to be very very selective, some insist on a house visit before they'll consider you. It's fair enough I mean with very young children you need to be cautious and you can't be sure of the dogs history.
At the same time they have dogs that are desperately needing homes and some have been at the rescue centres for years and yet they won't consider us. It's a shame.
We are getting a puppy.

They're picky because they don't want the dogs to be in and out of rescue centres due to poor rehoming practices. Rather be strict and home once than lenient and have a dog on a bungee cord.

Have you looked here www.lurcher.org.uk/dogs-to-adopt ? There is a mumsnetter who works for them and I'm sure they adopt out on a case by case basis. Have a look on the Doghouse section as I can't remember the mumsnetter name.

Kent greyhound rescue are worth contacting if you want a lurcher.

Please try Lurcher Sos. They are based in Surrey but have dogs in foster all over and are quite open to matching people to the right dog