Adopting a dog who's been in kennels

[whatcolour2016]

Our beloved rescue boy died a few weeks ago and we are looking to adopt another dog. We have seen a girl in our local rescue (we are abroad) but we are concerned as she is actually in a kennel at the rescue place. Our boy was a rescue pup but he was living with a foster family and so already quite socialised etc.
This girl seems very friendly and sweet but are we taking a big risk (mental problems etc) as she has been cooped up in a concrete run? She's about a year old.
Any advice welcome or experiences of adopting a dog who was in a kennel rather than a foster home...

My old girl was a rescue from kennels and was the most wonderful girl ever. The only issue she had was she would bark at sweeping brushes when I was sweeping up.

Do you know where she came from before she was in kennels? Has she ever been in a home environment before?

I volunteer at a kennels and know many wonderful dogs who have ended up in kennels, some for many months, and transition into home environment really easily, and for others it can be more difficult.

Do you know whether the rescue can give you follow up support if you do decide to adopt? They will have loads of experience with this situation and should be able to give you some good advice that is a bit more specific for the dog you're looking at. I appreciate this may not be the case where you are!

Ddog2, who is currently curled up on the couch between dh and me, came from the Dogs' Trust, and had been in kennels there for a month or more.

She settled down pretty quickly at home - she had previously been house trained, and hadn't forgotten that, and seemed pretty relaxed here from the word go.

That said, she does have her issues. She is very attached to dh - he is her special person - and she wants to be in contact with a person - preferably dh, but I will do, for a lot of the day (and night - she sneaks upstairs and opens the bedroom door to get on the bed between us! We can leave her at home alone (well, with ddog1 and CatBastard), and she will just settle down and sleep - we've never had any issues with her wrecking the house if she's left at home.

We don't know how many of her issues are down to the time in kennels, and how many are due to her previous history - she had a couple of litters, was handed on to another wonder who lived in a city flat, which wasn't suitable for her, as she is a big dog, and was then given up to the Dogs' Trust - after all that, we think she is entitled to the odd quirk.

I assume that any reputable rescue would assess their dogs and would be able to tell you any major issues, and would make sure that the dog was the right dog for you and vice versa, and would offer support post adoption.

For all her quirks, ddog2 is a perfect fit for us, and is a much loved member of the family. I can't recommend the Dogs' Trust highly enough - they were great with us.

Many rescue greyhounds transition straight from kennels to home and these are overwhelmingly successful adoptions. The issue isn't that the dog is currently in a kennel - what I'd be wanting to know is her previous history. Typically, feral street dogs for instance have a much harder time adjusting to adoption than a dog who's previously lived in a home environment.

It's really impossible to answer without knowing more about how the rescue monitor and assess, the knowledge of previous history and believe me there is a massive difference between kennels - some are hell holes, other rescue kennels are absolutely lovely, with massive amounts of enrichment/exercise/training for the dogs.

Thanks all. I don't think they will be much use re details of the dog's background but we will try and get some info! They are an incredibly unhelpful and sullen rescue - the last one where our boy came from was lovely and friendly. Such a shame. (SPA in France but different branches.)

We recently adopted a puppy from a spanish rescue. He had never been in a house as they rescued the mum just after she gave birth to her litter. It was pretty obvious Ddog had not been in a home environment but he had been well socialised with people and other animals. He adapted really quickly and has made himself at home here on the sofa or bed. I think he is a normal, feisty puppy with no issues apart from the usual puppy issues.

Our greyhound was part of a cruelty case - originally kept in a shed with loads of other dogs then in a kennel at rescue. She adapted beautifully to a home environment at 18months old - we already had another dog at home so she took her cues from him (he had been in 2 homes and came from kennels at Dogs' Trust).

I think it depends on the temperament of the individual dog. My foster dog came to me pretty much straight from racing kennels. Apart from a few hiccups with housetraining he adapted remarkably well.

Really good to hear, thank you! Will update when I have news of our new pooch...

Presumably it's fairly local to you? Can you visit a few times, take her out for walks etc so you can assess how she is.

Not a good sign that the rescue people are unhelpful - they should be helping you! Can you at least find out if she was a stray/surrendered/other situation? Is she already spayed/vaccinated etc.

Could you ask another SPA (like the one in Carcassone which is run by British expats, I think) about your branch, see if they know anything, not about the dog, but about the people running it. They may have heard something, stories seem to get around the rescue world!

(Name changed but it's me, whatcolour.)
Sadly it's quite far from us - across a city - and they will NOT answer the phone - I've been trying all day to call to ask if the dog is still available. It's maddening. They never answer emails either.
Individual branches of the SPA don't comment on other branches. Maddening!!