Anyone have any experience of Many Tears Rescue?

[LouiseBrooksLook]

I have met two people who adopted dogs from Many Years Rescue on a local walk.
One had a 7 year old female Westie (ex breeding dog)who was so friendly and affectionate to eveyone.The owner said the dog had been neglected,no human contact or affection etc for her breeding life.It was a very sad story.The owner said the dog was affectionate straight away and well behaved.

The other was a Golden retreiver.Very friendly,similar story.The dog was well behaved but did have a habit of eating soil.
I am thinking of adopting an ex breeding dog from there too.Do you think that a dog who has had no contact and love in the early years would have problems though?Were these two an exception?

They are local (ish) to us and I know a couple of people who do or have fostered for them. Most of the dogs are ex puppy farm breeders but because they use foster homes they will be socialized, on the way to house trained etc before they go to thier forever home.

Some people (me included) don't like the way you have to choose a dog from the internet and then apply for it, you can't just go and find the dog that chooses you so to speak, but that is because of the foster home system. It works for a lot of people.

I have got an ex back yard breeder bitch (not from many tears) who has her issues but bonding is not one of them. In fact she is very bonded to us. She is nervous with strangers but very friendly once she knows you. Unfortunately although she is mostly house trained she still does have a puppy pad for inside, part of this though is she can't hold her wee for long (probably due to the constant breeding).

First off I have no experience of owning a rescue but I would want to understand the health implications of owning an ex breeding dog as I would be worried about high vet bills (unless I could be sure of securing good insurance).

No direct experience of MTAR, but I have heard good things. It's worth noting that they tend not to rehome ex-breeding dogs to homes that don't have a resident dog that can model normal behaviour for them. As they've always been around dogs it would be a bit of a leap for them to become only dogs at the same time as being in a home for the first time.

Not all their dogs are ex-puppy farm breeders, however, so they do rehome some as only / first dogs.

Hi LouiseBrooksLook
I have an ex breeding bitch from MTAR. She has been with us nine months (I already have a bitch of the same breed, however she's from a kennel club approved breeder, serious champion bloodlines and all that jazz...)
My existing dog has really helped her settle in.
She's a total sweetie, very gentle. She's been a lot of work in the sense that she is very easily frightened and had a lot of health problems, eg an ear tumour, missing teeth, poor skin (get EXCELLENT insurance)
Talk to MTAR. If it's right for the dog to come home to you, then go for it.
It's unlikely that they'll allow it if you don't have settled dog. PM me if you want more details.

Showing the newbie how to behave in a cafe.

Thanks everyone for your views.There is a lot I did not consider like the dog preferring to be with other dogs.Love the picture Clementine!

Many tears buy the ex breeding dogs from the breeders. You are therefore supporting the breeding industry.

If Many Tears didn't take the dogs, they'd be shot. They are not creating demand for ex breeding dogs - unlike those who purchase puppy farm puppies. Those dogs will be bred from regardless of whether or not MTAR is there to pick up the pieces at the end.

No one accuses greyhound rescues of supporting the greyhound racing industry; this is no different.

Haha! What utter rubbish

Many arrears don't bloody buy the dogs. What a ridiculous notion! And the argument that somehow in rescuing them they are 'supporting' puppy farming...think about that. Does the existence of social services, foster care and adoption for abused children 'support' child abuse in the original home?
What utter crap.

We adopted our first elderly Staffie from many Tears, he was a stray found on the streets of Swansea, not an ex breeder. We went to their headquarters to meet him and found him in a lovely big indoor kennel on his own, warm and snug with heating. They were lovely people to deal with and very pleased to see him housed as he was ( to be honest) not the most beautiful of dogs. He was beautifully behaved, and well trained and after a little while we came to think he really was beautiful (though a bit threadbare and warty) Sadly he developed leukaemia and was only with us 18 months, but he was much loved. My brother has a Golden Retriever from them, born with a front leg missing, he had a good experience with the adoption too.

In my experience the staff are VERY rude and not trained in customer service at all. They have a VERY strict adoption process, and if your face dosnt fit then you won't be able to adopt. My view is that they want to keep these dogs.

@ClementineWardrobe

Showing the newbie how to behave in a cafe.

Aww what polite diners, so gorgeous.

@nicolabuff1

In my experience the staff are VERY rude and not trained in customer service at all. They have a VERY strict adoption process, and if your face dosnt fit then you won't be able to adopt. My view is that they want to keep these dogs.

This was my experience too. We are experienced dog owners with particular breeds, but they kept trying to give us one dog of a different breed who wasn’t suitable for us. They clearly wanted rid of that one rather than the 2 or 3 who would have been much better fit for us.

We went elsewhere.

nicolabuff1

Why would they want to keep the dogs? Wouldnt that increase costs to feed them rtc and reduce donations from adopters?

What other info can you give Re the poor service?

My friend has a dog from Many Tears. A small poodle who is an ex breeder. She was very very shy at first. My friend came around the other day with her dog and she was just the sweetest dog ever. Friendly,(even sat next to my husband who is not a dog lover). She was so lovely that I found myself offering to dog sit.

I believe it true that they like you to have your own settled dog.

My SIL has two MT dogs. One of them is a classic puppy farm bitch who had zero positive human interaction, and just been kept in her own waste in a barn churning out many litters. The other was 'luckier' as she wouldn't stay in whelp and so was only 2.5 when she was handed over. The first one is incredibly damaged, and though she's extremely bonded to SIL, this is to the exclusion of everyone else. She doesn't understand other dogs at all. The second is a sweetheart but has taken a huge amount of work as well

We had a dog from them for 12 years, got him about 14 years ago - so I can't comment on the current staff friendliness.

He had been rescued from a breeder but hadn't actually been used to breed yet, just kept in a cage until he'd be big enough. He'd had a year and a half with the horrible breeder and a year in foster care when he came to us. He was a lovely dog, great with humans and very keen to play with dogs. He wasn't great at "speaking dog" though, often running too far when playing chase and always trying to play with the border collie who was absolutely not interested in anything but his ball.

We found that they were a lot more open to different family set ups and people who hadn't previously owned a dog than Dogs trust, for example. Both DH and I grew up with dogs, but as young adults there has to be a way to get a first dog and the expectation of having had one meant most rescues wouldn't touch us. We gave our dog a lovely life and missed him terribly when we lost him.

Very upsetting experience. We rehomed and had to return a dog from them who had behavioural issues never disclosed to us. A visitor was nearly badly bitten, please think very carefully if you have children. When we collected the dog it had just been spayed, had no cone/hygienic protection in the kennel and soaked in its own urine. Something just felt ‘off’ about MT all round. I have heard suspicions from others that they are in cahoots with puppy farmers taking surplus/stock with medical issues therefore encouraging puppy farms. We would now only use a rescue that is a member of ACDH which interestingly MT are not.

We are about to adopt from Many Tears.
Put in online application for little dog “ in Northampton”, 4 days later chap phoned (fosterer) from Banbury.Very informative. Then we received a call from lady from MY asking us to video our home/property & resident dog, and photo of Drivers License for Id/address check. Asked to send via WhatsApp to mobile number. We did this. Bit unsettling to be honest, to provide such detailed info to ? via unsecured WhatsApp…Foster chap also asked for cheque payment (£320) or cash, not bank transfer. We hope we have done the right thing and look forward to collecting our new little dog…No further communication from MT yet…

Just curious whether you managed to adopt the dog from MT

I had a similar experience. As an older person I wanted to adopt a specific dog (Gael, 8yrs old) The fosterer contacted me & offered to deliver her to me - altho they shouldn't - as my oldie gets very stressed with car journeys. Fosterer arrived with Sweet dog which did not look like the photo on the website. The fosterer mentioned the name Molly and I thought she was referring to her own rescue dog, but I said I was adopting Gael and she wrote it on the Vax card. The next day Pettrac emailed to say that 'Molly' was now registered on their Database 🤔I checked the vet vax card again and noticed that the dogs age was listed as 5 1/2. Alarm bells rang. I contacted the fosterer who said there must have been a mistake - really? She came back and collected the dog. I contacted MTAR about it who were quite offhand . I have since applied to adopt another rescue dog with them - different fosterer - but as yet no response.

I had a similar experience. As an older person I wanted to adopt a specific dog (Gael, 8yrs old) The fosterer contacted me & offered to deliver her to me - altho they shouldn't - as my oldie gets very stressed with car journeys. Fosterer arrived with Sweet dog which did not look like the photo on the website. The fosterer mentioned the name Molly and I thought she was referring to her own rescue dog, but I said I was adopting Gael and she wrote it on the Vax card. The next day Pettrac emailed to say that 'Molly' was now registered on their Database 🤔I checked the vet vax card again and noticed that the dogs age was listed as 5 1/2. Alarm bells rang. I contacted the fosterer who said there must have been a mistake - really? She came back and collected the dog. I contacted MTAR about it who were quite offhand . I have since applied to adopt another rescue dog with them - different fosterer - but as yet no response.

It's really sad to hear some of these experiences because they are really not typical of MT at all. Rescue dogs can sometimes show different behaviour when they have settled in a home, that was not shown before. However, they never hide any negative behaviour from potential adopters and you can see the write ups on available dogs clearly state were there have been behavioural issues. In addition, potential adopters have to sign to say that adopters must never pass dogs on to other people and they must go back to many tears if it doesn't work out or they can't keep them in the future. The means there is no benefit for them to hide things to move dogs out of the rescue, because they would just come back and they genuinely want the best match for every dog rehomed.
They employ a huge number of kennel staff. This ensures that all the dogs get walks and/or time in the play yards everyday and that kennels are constantly being cleaned. Having said that, when you have multiple dogs in a kennel, most of which aren't house trained, there are times when there is mess visible when people are shown around and this is unavoidable. Regarding a dog being soaked in urine, the puppy farm dogs are not house trained and often wet in the beds, however staff can't physically stand over them and act immediately they go to the toilet and so it may be that the dog had been on a wet bed? If she had just been spayed she may have been more reluctant to move and so ended up lying in a wet bed but no dog would ever be knowingly left in a wet bed, with all kennels cleaned and bedding changed daily. It sounds like an unfortunate and upsetting experience, but definitely not typical.
People do get turned down and those people can be very vocal about a bad experience but dogs only go to what are considered suitable homes for they breed, age and character.
The issue about the wrong dog going to the wrong adopter is very odd and the foster process usually runs like clockwork, with a detailed process including microchip checking and cross-checking vet cards and adoption paperwork. I can only assume it was a new fosterer and down to human error. It is also strange that there was an offer to deliver a dog to the adopter because that is something they would never do, unless exceptional circumstances, so I wonder if MT were aware of this. Every adopter should go to wherever the dog is (resuce or foster home) for a supervised meet and greet with their own dog. They rehome about 3000 dogs a year and so inevitably very occasionally things won't run smoothly and errors will be made, but this whole circumstance seems totally abnormal.
Finally the point about them being in cohoots with the puppy farmers is a nasty rumour, spread by other rescues. In over 20 years of running, MT have never exchanged any money for any adult dog or puppy they have taken in. The rescue was set up because of the dreadful outlook for all the unwanted dogs from these awful places, with a particularly high number in Wales. They do take any unwanted breeding dogs or unsold puppies that are 'past their sell by date', to give them a chance of a better life. The alternative is to leave them to be disposed of by the puppy farmers (what happened previously) and surely no-one thinks that's a good idea. While puppy farms are still being licensed, it is the only chance these dogs have. Dogs trust also take these dogs, but for some reason don't get criticised for it.
I'm not denying anyone's personal experience but MT has been set up by someone who has given their life to dog rescue and the only aim, regardless of whether people agree with the processes or not, is a permanent loving home for every dog them re-home.

I don't have experience of Many Tears but before she opened it, and over 20 years ago, the founder, Sylvia Van Atta ( then Sylvia Wragg) also founded a rescue centre in Kent called Last Chance. It was there l met her when l adopted my beautiful 2 year old GSD, Zara.
I found Sylvia to be compassionate, committed, knowledgeable and hands on, and she obviously lived for the dogs she rescued.
Zara had arrived with her sister Kizzy from a home where there was domestic violence and she was shut down and confused as her owner had been forced to part with the 2 dogs at speed. Both dogs were beautiful, with gentle natures, and l struggled to choose between them, but Sylvia made the choice for me as she felt Zara was a better fit for my family. How right she was! After home checks we brought her home and Zara proved to be the most fabulous family dog, she literally never put a paw wrong. She was my dog of a lifetime and all thanks to Sylvia.
I'm sure Sylvia runs Many Tears with the same passion, and with the welfare and rehoming of all rescue dogs as her lifes purpose.