To expect to be able to re-home a rescue dog when I have two children?

[Wadingthroughshit]

Two children, We live in a rural area, have front and back gardens, my youngest starts school this summer, my eldest is nearly nine and I work PT. There are kennels are dog walkers in our area which are reasonably priced. We are a quiet home, there isn't much comings and goings. I think a dog would be hugely beneficial to all of us, especially my eldest who can be slightly anxious.
But, I have been looking for over a year, and I have not been able find dogs at any of the rescue centre which don't don't state 'adult only or older children'. I absolutely understand there is a reason for this. Should I give up looking and give in to buying one? We'd quite like an older dog, well, not a puppy at least.

We rescued our beautiful lab collie from Many Tears in Wales. We live in London. They did a home visit first and then we were good to go. Our children were 3 and 5 at the time.

StCharlotte awwwww 😍

We ended up buying a puppy as well. I had a 15 year old springer spaniel who sadly passed away when my little girl was 1. She was an amazing dog, we used to do agility with her until she became too old.
I tried for over a year with various rescues; I have always had a dog since being young and hated having an empty house and like you lived rurally, worked part time with a large garden. I couldn’t find a single dog in that time that they would place with us and I searched country wide with rescues, was willing to travel and didn’t even mind what breed they were.
It got to the point where we realised we were never going to be allowed to rehome until Lo was over 8 but I wanted her to have the experience of a dog best friend that I had growing up as she is an only child and will be staying that way, so we bought a puppy instead. It wasn’t what I wanted, we’ve always re-homed and I wasn’t particularly keen on the puppy stage but now 2 years later LO and the dog are best friends so it has worked out well in the end.

Sounds like a lovely plan, @Wadingthroughshit, & if you follow some of the suggestions here have no doubt you can find a suitable new family friend ...

However, if this is going to be your first dog ...? - may I politely offer a couple of words of caution, which I genuinely don't mean to come over as patronising or scolding?

GARDEN
Yes your dog will need & enjoy your gardens, but make sure at least one of them is 100% secure. Dogs are great at escaping & will follow exciting scents through hedges - & some of them can jump far higher than you may imagine.

PODENCO/GREYHOUND
Gorgeous dogs & lovely natures but please beware of their exceptional prey-drive. Highly likely to chase cats/squirrels/livestock & this is not a trait anyone but a full-time expert could hope to train out. Unsuitable around small kids for this reason - you can imagine the conseqences of dog dashing over roads etc or even on lead jerking you/kids off your feet to chase perceived prey.

TRAINING
You come over as measured & thoughtful so please excuse this one - but unless you can make a regular once-or-twice weekly timeslot for this & stick to it very long term, maybe rethink or postpone the plan?
It needs to be a fun activity for you & the kids, with an experienced APDT-recognised trainer. The trainer is there to train you & ESPECIALLY the kids in how to guide, manage & control your new pal.

Outside of those formal classes, 'training' has to take place every day - in the same way that we are constantly monitoring & iyswim 'stealth-training' our children. It takes patience, consistency, kindness & stamina ... & if you are happy with that, these are great things to instill in your children.

ANXIETY ISSUES
Gruelling for you & your child. Totally agree that having a dog to love & be loved by can absolutely assist with this.

I hope this works out for you & you all get to enjoy the fun, learning, & emotional security that comes with welcoming a dog into your family!

I've never regretted getting my dog. I hate leaving him to go to work, he's my constant companion in times of sadness and a constant source of love and fun. (And smelly farts and fur shedding I should add)

Yes it's ridiculous. It seems these places would prefer dogs to remain in kennels indefinitely or even put to sleep rather than rehoming to a perfectly suitable family.

Greyhounds - Gorgeous dogs & lovely natures but please beware of their exceptional prey-drive. Highly likely to chase cats/squirrels/livestock & this is not a trait anyone but a full-time expert could hope to train out. Unsuitable around small kids for this reason - you can imagine the conseqences of dog dashing over roads etc or even on lead jerking you/kids off your feet to chase perceived prey

That's why you need a rescue that knows their dogs and will match to the right family. My greyhound had a low prey-drive which is now non-existent. I would have found it very distressing if she had chased and killed.

Agree with Besthound, not all sighthounds (greys/whippets/lurchers/podencos etc) actually have that high a prey drive. Some absolutely do, and a retired grey has spent their life chasing small furry things round a track for example. Others however are not that bothered - my boy loves sniffing things but wouldnt actually chase anything, he is too much of a woose! Probably why he was abandoned by his hunter in Spain as he was rubbish at hunting!

I second the Oldies website, it is a brilliant place to look, and please don’t be put off by potential age or greyness - we found our lab on there six years ago and they had massively overstated his age - he was just a bit grey around the muzzle! He’s as fit as a fiddle!

I'm in Scotland and work at a vets. Try giving your local ones a call. We often know of dogs for homing .

Fivebyfivesq I would definitely get an older dog again. They tug at my heartstrings more than puppies do! I want to adopt them all 😍

My lurchers live with cats and chickens quite happily. Ddog1 gets chased off his bed outside by the chickens, and one of them pecked ddog2 for looking too closely at their meal worms this morning so he ran away. Of all my foster pups, only 2 have had to be rated as untrainable around cats/chickens.
We get a lot of bred for coursing pups relinquished/dumped around 6 months when it becomes apparent whether they are totally lacking in prey drive, so it really isn't a given at all. Greyhounds bred for racing are the same (but you just don't see the pups as they disappear), so those retired from racing have been strongly trained to chase (in the most horrible way in some cases)

Thank you everyone. I will reply properly later, currently walking along the beach with a friend talking about dogs. Really appreciate the responses.

I do think rescue criteria is far too strict, tbh.

Yes it's ridiculous. It seems these places would prefer dogs to remain in kennels indefinitely or even put to sleep rather than rehoming to a perfectly suitable family.

They would also like to minimize their potential liability for a fatal incident involving one of the dogs they placed and a child. Any litigation of this type could ruin some of the smaller charities.

I personally think the criteria for adoption of dogs is way too strict. I am not advocating for it. I am simply explaining the rationale for their decision. Most organizations tend to adopt risk adverse policies.

And whilst I think a discussion about adopted children is unnecessary and takes the thread off course, to answer the pp, in the UK at the current time, should you adopt a child that has been removed from its parents (in this day and age parents tend not to simply have children and voluntarily put them up for adoption) it will almost certainly have experienced trauma given the threshold for removal of the children. This may not be the case in other types of adoption, but this is the common type in the UK.

I can understand the criteria though. They can’t risk a dog with unknown issues harming a small child - for the sake of the dog, the child and also as the rescue organisation could then be liable. Totally understand the OP’s frustration as well however. We were incredibly lucky that our dog was looking for a home when we were looking for a dog.

Good luck Wadingthroughshit I hope you do find a dog, and hopefully a rescue Labrador ! It sounds as though you would give the right dog a wonderful home. Let us know how you get on 🙂

Yeah, defo come back and tell us what happened. We all want to know what dog you get in the end x

Different situation but similar issue here. I'm a mature student living in a house share with 5 other students in a dog friendly area with a large enclosed back garden and plenty of parks and walking routes. Yet we're not able to rescue a dog because it's not a 'family home'. Despite the fact that it would mean that there is always someone in the house, someone to walk/feed and care for the dog 100% of the time and there are no issues with finances so no worries there. We're renting the house on a rent to buy scheme so it's not like it's a rotation of people and we have written permission from the current landlords stating we're fine to get a pet. The house has plenty of room and meets all of the criteria yet we're not good enough apparently.

Loving the pictures! Very cute. For those who work outside of the home, what do you with your dogs during the day? I digress again so apologies, but I am capitalising on the great advice! Many of my friends with dogs say they sleep all day. But I know you shouldn't leave dogs for periods of time.

Well, I can understand that one Imposter ... what is the long term plan?

Not RTFT but have you tried Dogs Trust. They do it on a case by case basis. If you email them and explain about the children they will let you know when they have a dog in that would suit your house.

Not sure if it’s been mentioned previously but I’ve heard brilliant things about blackretrieverx rescue on Facebook. A friend rehomed from there and has children.

I sympathise OP. We are having a similar issue with cats. We have now given up with rescues and are contacting breeders. I grew up with pets and want my young daughter to do the same. I really hoped to give an unloved pet a home in the process though.

As others have said, try the retired greyhound trust. They specifically told me that they rehome to families with children (though obviously depends on the dog).

Greyhounds are wonderful dogs.