Romanian dog rescue

[Preciousmemory]

I am in an awful situation that I can find no solution to. Please if any one could give me some advice.
i have rescued a Romanian dog which has turned out so badly.
He arrived 10 days ago and has serious problems I am not able to deal with so am asking if anyone can offer me advice.
The rescue have a policy that I must give him back to be rehomed but are not able to find anyone although it is a short time they are describing him on the advert as a dog that loves humans and children and dogs. A huge part of this is not right I have not tested him with a child but as for people he definitely does not like them , only me.
He attacks my husband in the morning, in the evening when he returns home from work and then randomly at any other time. The attacks are getting progressively worse. But yesterday he met my 80 year old tiny dad for the first time which I had also for the first time put a muzzle on him after 7 days of training with it.
The attack was so ferocious on my dad that he was foaming at the mouth leaping as high as his shoulders to grab him but because he was muzzled there was no damage. my dad immediately left. I despair to think what may have happened otherwise. My daughter turned up shortly after the same thing happened. I was thinking he maybe afraid of men but it seems not.
I have constantly tried to work with the Romanian Rescue which could take months for them to find a suitable home, the only option I have from them is to stick this traumatised dog into a kennel which will cause further damage to him, but I am not able to keep him in my home with this level of aggression.
Dog rescues are full up. I have contacted a few that specifically deal with dog aggression. I do not see how this poor dog can just be homed in a normal family environment as this will happen again. He is a large growing powerful dog that could cause serious damage to a person.
Thank you for reading , this is such an anxious problem that I see no solution to.
I am grateful for any advice possible .

Lurchers are the best ❤️

I'm really sorry to read your posts OP.

Thing is once they're human aggressive (not just reactive) then there's just so much at stake it's kinder to pts.

I say this as someone with naughty reactive rescue dogs. It's no life for anyone with an aggressive dog.

I was bitten by a dog a few years ago and it was awful and traumatic. People would always say 'what if it was a child'. What about me? Why didn't I count. This dog came from nowhere and launched at me. It was awful. Why does my safety somehow matter less than a child - aggressive and unpredictable dogs shouldn't get second chances.

The contract has already been broken when they gave her a dog which does not remotely fit the description they gave her. @Preciousmemory phone the emergency vet, tell them exactly what you've said here, and hopefully they'll PTS.

@Preciousmemory If you knowingly pass on an aggressive dog, I think you can be held liable it it attacks someone In it’s new home.

I’d get it humanely pts
There are so many lovely dogs looking for homes who are sweet natured, who don’t attack other dogs or people-
Romanians are making money selling their flotsam and jetsam- Look at the Romanian people on here who think it’s madness to be selling them on.

OP I have to agree with others, these behaviours sound too difficult to get over with training in your situation. I would PTS, with sadness for what the poor dog went through to make them so fearful before they came to you, and thankfulness that they'll never be so scared again.

I adopted a Romanian rescue years ago and it worked out, though we had to do months of patient training before she could calm down her fear aggression with other dogs, and she never fully got over her fear of black labradors. (She never showed any aggression towards humans).

The UK rescues we contacted wouldn't accept either doggie daycare or a dog walker as an option if we both worked. One also said we couldn't adopt if we didn't have a garden with grass and solid brick walls over 6' (we weren't looking for a beagle or anything like that!) and another said we couldn't leave the dog with a sitter or in kennels if we went on holiday - UK dog-friendly holidays only.

At the time I was adamant not to buy a puppy, only to rescue as my family always had rescues before. So the Romanian rescues online felt like the only option. When she died I swore no more Romanian rescues as I had educated myself by then about what these dog traffickers were like (in 2014 it wasn't as publicised!) so for our next dog we bought a puppy from a UK breeder.

I would love to rescue again but I guess it will have to wait until I retire.

As soon as I said that he needed to be rehomed I was told he is no longer my responsibility that they are the owners , they are the ones the chip is registered to so he no longer belongs to me and they are the only one to decide what will happen. This is all in their contract that I am repeatedly being told I am In breach of as I let two of my family come to my house on the 10th day which has put him In a traumatic situation. Despite the daily constant attacks on my husband who he lives with. I very much am getting the blame for being irresponsible yet I have pleaded for help. Sent a video of my husband being attacked to be told for him to give him a high value treat

Honestly- I would prefer to take the responsibility and have him humanly PTS. Although an experienced person/behaviourist who lives in a non family situation probably COULD help him, the reality is that those homes are few and far between and he's more likely to end up in kennels or in another unsuitable home as that is a shit rescue who are not qualified or competent to deal with behavioural issues appropriately.

And fyi im not saying this as agaonst imported rescues especially, our family member has a Romanian rescue that is the sweetest and easiest dog ever.

Hollow laugh-
THIS is so par for the course.

Dog traffickers putting the blame onto the buyer.

They are absolutely shameless.

Jeez, who are these absolute arseholes?

Ring your vet and have a chat with them. They may be willing to PTS if you show them your rehoming contract.

I am so sorry for you that you have been through that. I have never been bitten by a dog in my life but I have to say this has been traumatic watching the attacks on my husband . The one in my dad was 10 x worse but wearing a muzzle he was not able to damage my dad. It could have been so different as I had put it down to also being possessive of me and not liking my husband

There is never no chance of escape. Don't be foolish enough to think so around an animal like this.

I would argue that it might be illegal for you to own an animal like this.

I am usually against residential training but if you're absolutely insistent on keeping the dog, contact a highly highly reputable residential trainer who is willing to work with this dogs massive problems (it may take you a while to find one) and send the dog there. Be prepared to travel a good distance and and put in a lot of time to go to their site and work with the dog. Eventually the dog might be able to move back to your home if the issues can be addressed. Keep in mind it is not a gaurentee, it's not even a gaurentee you will find somebody who thinks they can help.

Having adopted more than 10 “foreign” dogs I can categorically say that no, all “foreign” dogs do not have a problem. All mine have been fantastic family dogs, after some initial settling in. And yes, I also adopt from the UK. For me, it’s not an “either or” situation, it’s a dog that desperately needs a home (we tend to take the older or more poorly dogs, whether from the uk or further afield and we have multiple dogs at any one time)
Op, having said all the above, you are in an untenable situation. The dog you have needs specialist behavioural intervention. If the rescue are refusing to communicate? You either invest heavily in specialist behavioural support, which I totally agree you shouldn’t have to. Or, sad as it is, you euthanise. Email the rescue and say euthanasia has been booked for x date. They will either mobile and sort it, or not. And if not and the dog is not safe? Awful for you but you have no choice.

I would add though (and I am NOT saying this is ops situation) that a lot of adopters are……not truthful about their home situation and despite assuring rescue they are prepared for the challenges that a rescue dog ( from any country!) may present, in reality, they are not.
During the first lockdown I drove 800+ miles to save the life of a dog that the adopter claimed had “psychosis”. The dog, needless to say, had nothing of the sort and has been safely rehomed for years now, living his best life, no behavioural issues at all.
As much as people have bad experiences with rescues, rescues have bad experiences with people.

This shouldn't be the case. I've dealt with this when volunteering for a Romanian rescue. When you receive your pets passport, the chip is in there and you can register it via pet track

I would also have him put to sleep. If you hadn't had the foresight to muzzle train him and put it on for your Dad visiting, that would have been awful, and the dog would be being pts anyway. From what you've said, I don't think the charity have a handle on the seriousness of the situation and I would not be comfortable that they would rehome the dog responsibly. You have a damgerous dog, which right now is your responsibility. I think you need to ring the vet and have a chat, you should have documentation to say you're now the owner. I have a rescue dog, UK charity, it's in my contract that if I rehome I have to take the dog back to them. But for everything else, it's my decision.

Dog trafficking has been mentioned a lot to me now and I feel sick to the pit as feel I have been part of this and really believing this is what it is. There are so many wonderful happy story’s out there to. I just wish that could be the same for all of these doggy’s but the assessment to behaviour seems non existent. I was told today he was happy and lovely in Romania when asking if they was aware of this behaviour . If this was the case then he should have been left to be happy and lovely. My eyes are wide open to late

My (male) friend adopted a Romanian stray dog and said it was tough. She was very shy and timid at first, and showed a lot of aggression to my friend. She slowly bonded with his wife and became very affectionate towards her but towards no one else. She used to growl and hide from him. He said it took a lot of time, patience and treats to be able to get her to trust him. She always seemed a bit friendlier towards females and their animal behaviour therapy surmised that she had probably been abused by a single or group of males. It did take a lot of training but she is now the loveliest, most affectionate dog and she absolutely adores my friend.

Have you tried speaking to a vet/charity/trainer/animal behaviour therapist to see if there is anything that can be done to help him? He must be so scared and anxious. It’s lovely that he has such a loving and trusting bond with you that it would be awful to separate from him.

I really hope you can get some help to address his problems. I would definitely speak to the experts in your area and get professional advice rather than listen to a bunch of randoms (myself included) from Mumsnet who are notoriously anti dog and always seem to choose the extreme PTS option without much thought.

In the contract because I have asked for him to be rehomed they have said only they are allowed to handle this and I know longer am the owner. Also in their contract they write that if it does not work out then I have to keep him in my home until they rehome him. Or put him in a kennel which would just make his behaviour even worse and so cruel

In the contract because I have asked for him to be rehomed they have said only they are allowed to handle this and I know longer am the owner. Also in their contract they write that if it does not work out then I have to keep him in my home until they rehome him. Or put him in a kennel which would just make his behaviour even worse

Just because something is written in a contract doesn't mean it's enforceable or legal. The contract sounds completely unfair.
Just have him PTS and be done with it.

This is so sad to read the poor dog must be petrified, used to a stray life and probably happy and now trapped in a home, in a different country and terrified. Tell the charity you will call the police if they do not collect the dog immediately. I would be very very worried about this dog being homed with children and tell them you will be informing the authorities of this worry.

I would put it to sleep.
It's a lesson learnt.

I had to change the chip details on a lovely young Dog myself so the address and ownership details were up to date in case she got lost for some reason.

Tell them in writing (not on phone) that if you are no longer the owner, they have 24 hours to remove him from your property due to their mis-representation or you will have him PTS. These charities are so crap with this, and they are obviously going to cause you problems, but I’d rather have those problems than serious injuries.

If they do come and take him, I would also make a mission of disagreeing with any social media posts that portray him unrealistically. When they block you, get friends and family members to do it.

"Then do the world a favour and stay away from pets and don't breed. You quite obviously don't have the IQ for either."

@Ooral that's unfair and unnecessary.

The rescue have been dishonest with you. I too took a chance with the rescue but from Hungary and I was vetted to make sure my dog was suitable and could see videos, pictures and updates on him. He came over and he settled after a few weeks and he’s been with us since June. They offered a dog behaviourist as part of the package in case anything came up. There’s a fb group and you can go on and ask for advice. Did your rescue offer this? It does seem like he possibly doesn’t like men.
We also had in our contract that if it didn’t work out then he’d go straight back to the rescue which has a base here and foster carers around the uk (mainly south where the rescue is).