Which rescue.... bearing in mind we have a v young child?

[legallyblond]

This cropped up on another thread I started, so I thought I would ask the question specifically...

We are (I hope!) getting a dog in the next few months when we move into our new house. We had been thinking of a rescue dog from Many Tears. We're first time owners, but grew up with dogs. DH is a stay at home dad, and will be for a while, so we thought the time would be right. Only "issue" (well, I don't think it is!) is that DD is only 16/17 months (and we're likely to have more children, fingers crossed!), although she is pretty dog savvy and currently lives with my parents' dog (we're living there for 5 months)...

On my other thread, I was offered some advice re avoiding re MT - apparently they charge for post-adoption behavioural advice etc.

Any thoughts on Many Tears?

What other rescue or rehoming organisations might be suitable? (near-ish Devon!)
Thanks! ... sorry for being such a lurker here even though we don't actually have a dog!!

Oh, and one of the things we liked about MT when looking at it (online - haven't been there), is that we would be able to choose a dog who is being fostered, so proven with children and we'll know what we're getting re housetraining as well. We don't have to have a puppy (in fact, we think a little older might be better), but we still want a dog young enough to "grow up" with DD, so under, say, 2 years...... all advice v welcome (even advice saying we're crazy fools!)

Any Greyhound rescues. Greyhounds are excellent dogs for young children. Very laid back and don't need tonnes of exercise so you don'y have to drag a moaning toddler out walking for hours at a time.

Scuttle will be able to tell you more about better hound rescues.

Oh, yes please scuttle (you gave me the advice re MT!).

Before we came across MT, we considered a greyhoud as they seemed, from my online research, to tick our boxes: good with kids and other dogs (will need to socialise quite a bit with my parents' dog), happy with a shorter walk or two (inc in urban areas - we live on the edge of town), but equally capable of a proper hike (which we love!), no known breed terrible habits/features(!) like bad, bad shedding or being what I would term "terrier-ish" (anyone who has lived with a terrier knows what I mean.... think the entire population of furry animals from the field brought in as (dead) gifts!)... am I along the right lines?

Also, as an aside, what are the personality differences (beyond just bad training I mean) between greyhouds, whippets and lurchers...?

Lurhers it would depend on what they are mixed with. My parents have three, shaggy lurcher boy (we think crossed with a wolfhound or similar) very placid, calm, obedient, practically perfect. Bull lurcher (AmBull/Greyhound) a bit iffy with other dogs but superb with children and people. Whippety x - a bit snappy but she was cruelly treat before my parents got her. They're all calm in the house and excellent with children, even the snappy one draws the line at snapping at children, although her main issue is fear aggression and possesiveness which is not something the children would cause issue with anyway.

Whippets are often known as the 'snap dog' because of their ability to snap, quickly, precisely and without warning, however this is normally towards prey not people. In the house they are just like mini greyhounds, placid, easy going, sleepy. Mine has a habit of 'air snapping' if you wake her suddenly but never makes contact with you.

A decent sighthound rescue will know of any foibles the potential dog might have and will make you aware of it.

Sighthounds in general are normally laid back, lazy and good with people. Good first time dogs for people. And then, of course, there is collar porn. It's better than property porn because it's affordable.

Oh, and just to add.... to anyone else who wants to know a bit more in order to give us good advice... re DD and dogs: despite her tender age, she is used to my parents' VERY, VERY BOUNCY dog (some sort of lab x collie they think - from dogs trust) and is constantly knocked over and licked all over by him, complete with tail in face etc etc. She laughs and thinks it is all great fun! He is very tolerant though, so lets her pull his ears etc. If he wants space, she knows to leave him alone on his rug... although points to him and stares at him saying please until he sighs and gets up to lick her again!

We had a great experience of MT, and have a lovely now-11 month old pup (and two young dds).

To be fair, I've never tried to get post-adoption anything from MT - I sort of assumed contact ceased, at least officially, once I had my pup. If there had been any major problems, I suppose I'd have contacted them, though.

That said, pup's foster mum was the owner's daughter - and very very nice. We texted photos to her, and progress reports, as she was very fond of our pup and sad to see him go! So we did have that kind of contact, just nothing 'official' with MT.

I think if you find a dog that has been fostered with young children, you will get an accurate reading of how he/she will be with your dd....personally, I wouldn't have considered any pup that hadn't been fostered for that reason (unless they were re-homed from a place with young kids, for all the right reasons).

Are you near Dorset Dogs? Would that be another site to check out?

ps I would make sure new dog has a safe place to go to get away from dd if he wants to - ours did do a few air snaps before settling down and relaxing/realising the dds were not pups themselves! Now he's really chilled (they are a bit older though, 5 and 8, and don't pull ears).

Good to hear that Many Tears worked out for you!

It's so confusing! I thought MT would be the answer.... I def want somewhere that fosters so we can get a dog or pup that is proven with young children. Not an easy task!

Oh, and she pulls ears becasue we know he lets her... she mostly just gently pats and (much to my horror) gives him wet sloppy kisses.... mouthfuls of fur... nice.

As you are in the South West, Greyhound Rescue West of England is one of the best greyhound rescues around - highly reputable, very solid indeed. Most of their dogs are in foster homes before adoption so you will be getting a good picture of the dog's behaviour. Website here - I've just had a quick look and they have several greys and lurchers who are fostered with young children and are looking for family homes. If you decide to go with this charity you will be in very safe hands indeed. I should stress that I don't volunteer for them myself, so not biased as I'm in Wales, but most of the sighthound rescue community get to know each other (help with each other's dogs and so on) - they are very highly thought of.

THANK YOU SCUTTLEBUTTER! As you can see, I am working very hard at work today....

And to clarify about fostering. Each rescue will have its own mix of foster/kennel dogs. Some rescues are all foster but the trouble with this is that you are then limited by the number of foster homes you can find, and there are issues of travelling, lack of centralisation for vet treatments etc.

Some rescues (often pounds) will be all kennels - smaller rescues who have kennels will still be able to make very good assessments. The Dogs Trust have kennel premises but they also have a VERY thorough assessment procedure with properly trained behaviourists, lots of volunteers for walks, training and socialisation - all in all, very well managed.

Many charities (including the ones I volunteer for) operate a mix. Foster homes are prioritised for dogs that are very elderly or sick, or need TLC in other ways (pregnant bitch for instance). Where possible foster homes are preferable but kennels are great as a back up and every effort is made to do lots of work with dogs including assessments on their interaction with other dogs, other animals, people, children etc.

MT themselves have a mix of foster carers and dogs in kennels.

I certainly wouldn't reject a dog or a rescue on the basis that a dog had been in kennels - it's much more nuanced than that.

And please, whatever dog you adopt, make sure your DD does NOT pull their ears.

I'm sure you are on your lunch break!

Also, just seen that GRWE are having a meet and greet at Exeter PAH on 3rd of march - perfect for you.

We adopted a failed gun dog from MT. It emerged after we adopted him that he had fear aggression issues. We contacted MT who arranged for us to meet with the owner's daughter who is a dog trainer and behaviourist. We spent several hours with her and were not asked for any payment. In fact, I asked her about payment and she said we could make a contribution to the charity if we wished. No amount was specified and the distinct impression was that it was voluntary. Good luck with your search!

As I said in my original post, the introduction of the charge by MT for behavioural advice is a relatively new introduction. Their website gives details of this service.

Also, they are not a charity.

We rehomed a dog from the Dogs Trust, three weeks ago, and we found them to be very helpful and supportive. They seemed to know the dogs well, and were very diligent about making sure that the dog we chose would suit us and our family and our other dog, as well as vice versa.

We were sent home with a collar and lead, a big bag of her food, a DAP collar (to help reduce any stress), and 4 weeks PetPlan pet insurance - and Petplan then contacted us when that was coming close to renewal. We also had an individual preadoption class with one of the centre's staff, to talk through how best to settle a rescue dog into a new home, together with any specific issues for the dog we'd chosen - and we were told not to hesitate to ring for a chat if we needed any more help or support. I can't recommend them highly enough.

We have a pure-bred chocolate lab, and our new dog is a lab cross (we're not sure what with, but just going on looks, we wonder if there is some wiemaraner in there). I think labs are excellent dogs to have with children - our chocolate lab is incredibly laid back and placid, whilst the lab cross is more of a live-wire, bouncy dog - but both of them are very affectionate, 'people' dogs - they love to snuggle up with us, and enjoy human contact.

Yes, DT have an excellent record for adoptions. A lot of care is taken. I think all their prospective adopters are required to do a short half day course on the responsibilities involved with dog ownership and key welfare issues - an excellent idea. DT also fund and participate in a great deal of academic research into dog rehoming and rehabilitation and their behavioural staff are all professional and very highly qualified. I occasionally get frustrated when I am bombarded with letters/appeals/raffle tickets, but on the other hand I see regularly how much excellent work they do, for instance funding neutering/spaying for pound dogs, working with schools to promote responsible pet ownership, working with social landlords etc. That sort of proactive stuff is vital. I am currently working with their Bridgend team on a big event in the summer which is going to benefit four local dogs charities, including them.

SDTG is one of those with those dangerously cute lab puppy pics I defy anyone not to melt to a gooey puddle on viewing that chocolate gorgeousness....

Thanks Scuttlebutter for pointing out the Exeter meet..... we won't quite be moved down to Devon by then, so maybe we'll try the one in Sidmouth, a week or two later. It would be good to sort of register interest and find out more, even though we can't adopt until July! Meanwhile, DD gets more and more used to living with a dog and he'll be a few months older (so hopefully, more sensible!).

Oh, and my parents got their dog from DT a few years ago and he is a HUGE success.

WoodRose, was that Leah? She's lovely isn't she

Its true, they are not a charity (nor claim to be, to be fair) but several people I know have been there and volunteered for them in their holidays, and are impressed by what they've seen. I remember Val saying that, too.

Regardless, there are many excellent rescues - and the main thing is to make sure you (and your dog) are happy with your experience, OP!

I've put a couple of pics of the new dog on my profile too - she's about 4 years old, so we missed out on that puppy cuteness, but she is a gorgeous dog.

We didn't have to do a half day course before rehoming her, but maybe that's because we already had a dog. I do know that they spoke to our vet about us before we got the OK to rehome her.

The funniest bit is that she thinks she's dh's lapdog - if he sits down in the armchair, she just climbs up onto his lap - and she's not exactly a small dog!! Apparently it is a bit uncomfortable when a full grown lab sized dog steps on your Special Place!

I adopted my dog from Many Tears in August of last year. I have three children, the youngest was 3 at the time, and they had no problem at all with this (well one member of staff did but thats another story)
The home checker seemed to see the kids as a positive as the garden was already childproofed so great for a dog, we were used to mess and sleepless nights etc

I have found their post adoption support fantastic. My pup became ill a few days after we brought him home, and of course this had to be outside of normal working hours so I had trouble getting in touch with a vet. I called the centre in the evening and spoke with the owners husband who gave me a lot of advice and arranged for Sylvia to call me back when she returned home.

She was more than helpful, offered to take him back so she could care for him herself while he was ill if I was unable to do so and to arrange for their vet to see him and for them to cover the costs. I was happy I could care for him (and there was no way I would have let him leave me) so she insisted I call her if he got worse, even if it was the middle of the night. and asked me to call in the morning to update them. This was even though her mother was critically ill in hospital at the time

I ended up going back to the centre with my pup the next day to get probiotic paste as this was recommended by my own vet but I couldn't get it from the vet's easily (bank holiday weekend)

I actually took my dog back to the centre about three weeks ago to be castrated, and spent most of the day there helping out while he was in surgery and recovering. I walked several of the dogs and spent time just sitting in the pens with some of the others just stroking and cuddling them while they were being cleaned out. I can honestly say that all the dogs are extremely well looked after, and all the staff, although rushed off their feet, genuinely have the dogs best interest at heart.

I would definately recommend them.

Oh and after that essay I forgot to say that my dog is AMAZING, he is absolutely fantastic with the children and adores them. He was 10 weeks when we adopted him, and came straight from the centre, not from foster.

He has never, even as a tiny puppy nipped or snapped at the children or anyone else, he was perfectly gentle from the start. He has never growled, except when he's heard something in the garden.

We got a crate for him so he could have somewhere to get away from the kids, but he has never done that. he prefers to lie as close to them as possible, whether they are being calm or crazy. He will happily sit outside the school surrounded by 2 and three year olds and accept kisses and hugs, and lays on the floor for them to rub his tummy.

Even directly after his op, when I warned the kids to keep away and give him space, he followed them around the house with a waggy tail

He is 8 months old now and totally part of the family. My youngest was not dog savvy when we got him, she was actually just getting over a major fear of dogs, so you are in a better position than we were, but they are now best of friends and she loves all dogs. It was the besat thing we have ever done for her

I did look at the Many Tears website when we were looking for a second dog - I was particularly drawn to the labrador bitches who were in the rescue after having been used as puppy farms. They were fostered out to families that already had a dog, so that the foster dog could learn how to interact as part of a family, because they'd never had that sort of human contact.

What struck me most was the pictures that the fosterers put on the website. Almost invariably, the first pictures showed a dog who was over-weight, poorly groomed and who you could see, had no spring in her step or spark in her eyes - but after some time with the foster family and their dog, the pictures show such a difference - glossy coat, slimmer, and obviously so much happier than they were initially.

It's only the fact that Many Tears seems to be based in the south and Wales, and we're in central scotland that stopped me going to them to rescue one of these beautiful girls.