Importing rescue dogs

[Tonemeth]

I keep wondering this and have just seen another facebook post about it.

Why do we allow dogs to be imported into this country as rescues? The only reason I can see for it is so people get the dog breed they want which they wouldn't get in the UK through a rescue. Otherwise surely they would just rescue from a local centre?

I'm curious what people think of it, I find the concept a bit bizarre but not sure if I'm missing something. It seems to be a really recent trend.

I adopted a dog from Cyprus I saw her on their website, they answered all of my questions thoroughly and I was home checked thoroughly by a local volunteer their rescue is a home based one and has lots of cats on site too so she was used to cats, she was a Cypriot hunting type hound and over there at the end of the hunting season hundreds of them are shot or poisoned she had been a breeding bitch so had lived her 8 years in a shed pumping out litter after litter of puppies and when she stopped producing pups she was just literally dumped on the street in the village where the rescue is, when she came over yes she had issues she was scared would flinch at affection, not too bad but not totally housetrained, but after I had gained her confidence she was the sweetest dog ever she loved the cats (my little girl cat used to bully her not other way round) I had her for just over three years and sadly the abuse in the past meant her health went far too young but the three years I had her I don't regret any of that time or the money I paid for her adoption and transport costs yes for the money I paid I could have got a pedigree dog but didn't want one with all the inbred problems a lot of pedigrees have, rescues in the uk are a lot of staffies who fab dogs as they are too powerful for me and see cats as lunch on legs, I love greyhounds but once again as most of the rescues in UKare ex racers too high prey drive with the cats

Btw we've had 2 rescue staffies. Still got one, as well as my spanish dog. Nothing against staffies at all, but most uk rescues will not home them with children.
I do understand why UK rescues put restrictions in place, but sometimes they are really OTT.
Rescue places that deal with foreign dogs still have requirements. I had my house checked. My garden, my fence, my area. They checked how my children were with the dog. They checked how my cats were with her.

I cant understand why its anyone elses business where my dog comes from.

I took on a Romanian Rescue from our local rescue centre. I was probably lucky. Mine was house trained, and had obviously lived in a house before. Whether she was thrown out once she stopped being a cute puppy, or got loose who knows?

In the early days she was certainly looking for someone.

I have had very few problems with her. She was dog aggressive in the early days, particularly with treats and food. However always totally reliable with puppies.

She has grown into a friendly, delightful pet.

Perhaps I was lucky, or the fact I am fairly laid back helped. The only rule I have ever really insisted on is no using her teeth in anger. She is also totally food driven which has helped with training.

I am currently working abroad and rescued a dog almost two years ago from the street. His leg was broken into three pieces and he lost most of his teeth in a vicious attack from a person in the street but he’s turned out to be the most gentle, obedient dog I’ve ever met. He never leaves my side even when we go out to the park, he walks to heel and gets tons of compliments from passers by! Even when he was in lots of pain he never once snapped at me or my boyf.

I’m so glad I found my dog because as a full time worker in rented accommodation I know I would have been refused a dog by shelters in the UK even though I have a dog walker. Now I’m preparing his papers to take him back to the UK

Many rescues here won't rehome to people with kids, or who live in flats or have a job. The foreign rescues are a lot more accommodating

What you are basically saying is that they have lower standards when it comes to finding an appropriate home.

@cafesandbookshops he is GORGEOUS 😍 what a happy ending to an awful start. Jesus bearing the teeth out of him, makes my heart so heavy to read that.

Good luck to a happy future with him 😊

@Oilyoilyoilgob Thank you so much! I can’t imagine my life without him.. he is as sweet as he looks. I just hope our flights aren’t cancelled.. they’re at the end of July

When travelling on the Dublin>Holyhead ferry we were behind a Dogs Trust van bringing strays to the U.K. The children went over to look and according to the driver ( who was very kind a showed the DC his cargo of hopeful characters) it is a weekly occurrence. Apparently the rules and time before dogs are euthanised in Ireland if not rehomed is quite short so the U.K charity brings over any they can save.
I thought it a bit strange to import rescue dogs but judging by the responses here it's fairly prolific.

*Are these rescues really taking in street dogs and training them? Really?

I strongly suspect in at least some cases it's a front for puppy farming.*

I work with dogs and foreign rescues do not act like puppy farmed dogs. Puppy farmed dogs are often fearful of many things, people, and resource guard. In extreme cases of course.
Bitches used for puppy farming are often untrusting of humans and nervous.

Foreign rescues on the other hand are usually more ok with people (more so than ex puppy farm dogs anyway), as that is how they got their food previously. But they take time to adjust to other areas of domestic life and sometimes need some help.

In regards to the original question, I think people go for foreign rescues because there aren't so many rules about dogs only going to homes with no children, no fill time workers, etc. That being said we adopted a wonderful rescue dog when both working, so I think it also depends on the adopters.

People rescue dogs from abroad because the street dogs in places like Romania are treated like vermin and they just want to help. Street dogs are frequently abused and killed or they end up being kept in very poor conditions in shelters. Rescuers over there struggle for funds.

Romanias problem with stray dogs stems from the country's communist period when some people had to move into apartment blocks that did not allow pets, and so had to abandon their dogs. Street dogs are rounded up and placed in kill shelters where they have 14 days to be claimed or they are killed. Not always in a humane way.

Local rescues try to help as many as possible but they are struggling for funding and conditions are often not great. The attitude to dogs over there is not like here and those who care feel like they are fighting a loosing battle.

I have adopted 2 dogs from the same local rescue. 1 is a romanian street dog who was found as a pup and brought over (they have specific romanian contacts who they try to help). The other was a local dog who was given to the rescue aged 5 months. The rescue take in mainly uk dogs and the. from time to time when funds allow will bring over a few romanian dogs who are usually fostered with a view to adopt at the outset. Sometimes these are puppies, sometimes older dogs. They offer lifetime rescue back up (something not available if you adopt direct from abroad).

When looking for our two I didn’t give much thought to where they were from. Now I know more about how dogs are treated in Romania and how the situation came about, I completely absolutely understand the desire to help as many of them as possible.

You don’t understand the difference? Really....?
UK laws, RSPCA, cultural aspects, wealth (relative wealth I mean) and social responsibilities are all factors just for a start.

We do not have dogs just living on the streets here, we do not tolerate animals being abused, beaten, disregarded etc - some countries aren’t equipped to do the same, whether that’s through wealth of the general population, cultural influence or otherwise.
So therefore whilst of courSe you can adopt from UK rescue centres lots of people find the plight of the seriously upsetting treatment of animals abroad more pressing and decide to go down that path.
I’ve adopted dogs from UK and abroad. There is no difference to the dogs - it’s just about helping where was needed at the time.

I can’t understand how you’d not understand that without having to ask? Like saying why do we give foreign aid to Africa when we have people on welfare here....

Why?

Because it’s near bloody
Impossible to rehome a dog from a UK shelter these days if you have kids or a job however part time.

Because I abhor the pedigree industry and all it stands for.

Because we like dogs.

Because suffering is suffering.

Because we had a good home to offer.

We have a Romanian rescue. We got him through a rescue centre that takes UK dogs but also specialises in rehoming dogs from Romania. They work closely with a charity over there and DEFRA to bring a small number of abandoned and often mistreated dogs here safely. Romania has a huge pack problem dating from the fall of the Communist regime. The dogs on the streets of the UK don’t compare to the 60k+ dogs on the streets in Romania and the UK doesn’t have to PTS a percentage of those by law.

We were stringently vetted by the rescue centre. We were home checked, our DD met our dog over the course of a few weeks. We did find that they were far more realistic when it came rehoming dogs than say, Dogs Trust. We did visit a local centre similar to Dogs Trust and found that the staff didn’t know they dogs well, just read facts off a piece of paper and a screen, were dismissive and cold, whereas the ‘Romanian rescue’ knew all their dogs, had an army of volunteers working with them and genuinely wanted to get to know us too because they loved him.

We’re still in touch with the rescue which now has a large community of adoptive families of dogs from the UK and Romania. We give to the charity and help fundraise at an annual event. Rescuing a Romanian dog and helping a charity that supports UK rescues don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

Yes they have less stringent standards, but also much higher standards than for those buying a puppy from a breeder

I think it's just this generations version of international adoption. It used to very fashionable and worthy for white Brits to adopt an Indian baby girl for example. People love to demonstrate their virtuousness.

Then they can say, oh he was a Romanian Street dog found as a pup. Much more romantic than, well his elderly lady owner had to go into a home.

It's a big industry now I think

There’s nothing romantic about our rescue. He’s butt ugly and must Have at least 50 breeds in him

When people ask about him I just usually tell them he’s a rescue. I don’t feel the need to mention his nationality. If I’m being really honest, the only reason we chose him was because he was the best fit for our family out of the others that were there and that’s all there was to it, which IMO is how it should be.

Jeez, its no more romantic or of interest to anyone than any of my other animals.
If people would rather adopt a rescue rather than buy an overbred expensive puppy then bloody good.

We adopted a leggy little puppy from Spain, quite by accident
We had been looking to rescue an older dog, but absolutely nowhere would entertain us as we have 6 children, peacocks, 2 cats, and lots of wildlife.
Despite the fact we live on a small holding ,with 7 acres ,and I stay at home to look after the house etc
Someone shared a post about dogs that needing rehoming, I followed the link , I found out these young dogs , some barely 2years old but lived a lifetime of hell, were from Spain.
Long story short, the lady I contacted told me she wouldnt rehome an older dog with me as I had everything mentioned above but a puppy would be ideal.
We hadn’t really considered a puppy as we wanted to rescue an older dog as puppies here get snapped up quickly in rescues
The next thing we knew, she sent me pictures of this beautiful little girl who had been found in a box at 2 weeks old approx, she had been hand reared and was now ready for her Forver home.
They will not let them come to the UK before they are 16 weeks, this is so they have been fully immunised, Mediterranean disease checked, microchipped, acquired a passport and a full health check via a DEFRA vet- if they are old enough to be spayed
/Neutered , that would have been done too.
The support is on going, they have foster homes in place incase for any reason the dogs don’t work out with the new homes
My girl is beautiful. I have no regrets . There are no regulations in Spain to prosecute people for animal cruelty- and let me tell you , the cruelty that goes on over there and is accepted as Normal, is the stuff you read about in the papers here with absolute horror.
I never set out to rescue a dog from Spain but I would do it again in a heartbeat