Anyone any experience with wags n wet noses dog rescue?

[BettySweaty]

Just that really.

We are supposed to be adopting a dog from them soon, but I've just seen a strange review of them on line. Granted the review is from one man, and all the other stuff about them had seemed fine, but its got me thinking...

Anyone else had any dealings with them?

It's weird. I'm always suspicious when I spot bullshit.

I work with genuine local rescues and I know what I'm talking about.

I'm not sorry if that offends.

OR, maybe, just maybe we are genuine people who genuinely care about the work of this group of philanthropist ladies. Just stop and think for a minute please about how your hateful comments may prevent a few dogs finding their forever homes. I wish I knew how to post a photo on here. I could show you hundreds of photos taken of my rescue since November. She's a big softie. Gorgeous.

I have never, ever known anyone involved in rescue who doesn't support the principle that a new owner should be absolutely confident and sure before getting a dog. If the OP is starting to question the source then they should not proceed.

Frankly "maybe we are genuine" would not cut it for me. I would want to be sure.

@debjane77 I might be convinced they are anything but a sham rescue profiting from the suffering of animals if they were a registered charity or non-profit, if they didn’t cut corners by bringing dogs in with falsified documents, if they didn’t lie to adopters about the origin of their dogs. There is no transparency and they should be investigated by HMRC and DEFRA!

Did someone leave the shill cage door open again?

But none of those things are true...you should get to know them

PLEASE DON'T ADOPT A DOG FROM ABROAD, THERE ARE LOTS OF DOGS IN UK SHELTERS LOOKING FOR A NEW PERMANENT HOME.
WHY THE NEED TO IMPORT UNKNOWN DOGS WITH UNKNOWN HISTORY - MEDICAL AND SOCIAL???

@debjane77 they are absolutely true! They are not a charity, there is no transparency, dogs are from Serbian yet enter on Hungarian passports and adopters are told they are Hungarian. If you believe otherwise then I am truly sorry as they have hoodwinked you. There is plenty of evidence out there from adopters.

Our "Sandy's" chip matches his passport. His temperament and personality exactly matches the wags 'n' Wet Noses description. I have absolutely nothing to do with Wags, except as an adopter and I can verify that all of the other posters on 1st and 2nd March are also bona fide adopters - the reason they have appeared here is because I asked them to as Wags is getting slated unfairly.

@debjane and @sterrett I'd give up now if I were you.

Suspect the OP has decided against it and you are just compounding things every time you post.

Yep, the obvious 'ringer' posts are written in exactly the same style- funny that. Hopefully nobody has been fooled by this.

Sad really - I don't know what people have got against Wags but those that are putting out false, malicious posts about them should be ashamed as you are condemning good dogs to an unspeakably horrible death. You say you "know what you're talking about" but, if you did, you would have empathy for the poor dogs on death row.

DEFRA do check on many of the adopted dogs and, guess what, the chip always matches, the veterinary stamps in the Pet Passport always tally. Surprise, surprise the dogs are always in excellent health unless there is a declared issue, such as heartworm, where the 9-12 month treatment is well-established and the new adopter commits to continuing the treatment, at "Wags" vets' expense, and obtaining two "clear" test results after adoption.

Why rescue dogs from overseas when so many are in UK shelters? I'll tell you - (a) the RSPCA took 6 weeks to respond to one enquiry. (b) Battersea Dogs Home - very little suitable for small children (school age maybe, but not younger) (c) Dog's Trust -here in Berkshire is the "sin bin" where their problem cases end up (d) Blue Cross - more demand than there are dogs.

I have always had rescue dogs but since Paul O'Grady's TV excellent programme "For the Love of Dogs", demand for rescues has gone through the roof.

I will quit now - I hope the haters are proud of themselves.

I can verify that all of the other posters on 1st and 2nd March are also bona fide adopters - the reason they have appeared here is because I asked them to as Wags is getting slated unfairly

So you chose to bump a thread that was nicely dead, buried and forgotten about just to remind everyone how dodgy they are, then compound it by inviting a bunch of first time posters with zero credibility to make supportive posts that make them look even dodgier.

Are you sure you're a supporter?

Wags could address the issues quite simply, they could decide what they are and adopt a formal legal identity - either a charity, limited company, community interest company, etc. That would give them credibility, enable them to access more funding, and remove the suspicion whenever individuals are asking for "donations" to be paid to personal bank accounts.

@sterrett of course the chip matches the passport, they couldn’t enter the country otherwise. The point is, they bring in dogs with Serbian microchips but Romanian or Hungarian passports to avoid the required health checks and documentation involved with correctly imported dogs. Therefore, you have dogs entering with microchips starting 688 or generic codes starting with a 9 but with Romanian or Hungarian passports. If you don’t care about this or that a woman is raising undeclared funds with no transparency simply because you are happy, that’s your prerogative but others have the right to speak out. So many more dogs could be helped and shelters abroad could be build to spey and neuter abroad if donations were used for this purpose instead of lining the pockets of scam ‘rescues’. Before anybody claims this isn’t a scam ‘rescue’, look at the fundraiser for a supposed kill shelter rescue in December, over £3,000 raised! Again, no details of where the kill shelter is or specifics of the country or dogs this is for. Certainly not in Hungary where they claim to rescue dogs from as Hungary doesn’t have kill shelters! There really needs to be a regulatory board to license and monitor the hundreds of foreign rescues operating on social media these days.

There's an enough ambiguity here that I would look elsewhere tbh.

And that isn't "preventing dogs finding their forever homes" or whatever emotive language you want to use. That's just meaning a different dog gets it instead.

But then I've lived in a country where street dogs are often 'rescued' and, quite frankly, while life on the street can be dangerous for them, the dogs there seemed far far happier then those 'rescued' often were.

Hungary doesn’t have kill shelters
I'd be surprised if that's true. All countries euthanise stray dogs. Thousands of unwanted strays are euthanized in the UK every year, which is one of the reasons I despise the rescue organisations that tug at the heart strings of people who don't know any better by using terms like "kill shelter". I'm also deeply suspicious of shelters with absolute No-Kill policies, the Dog's Trust has already been mentioned and they are well known as the shelter of last resort for dogs with unsolvable behaviour issues.

If you want to reduce animal suffering in other countries the most effective means of using your donation is to support programmes to neuter pets and to provide humane euthanisation for unwanted animals that can't be re-homed. The cost of relocating one animal could have helped dozens.

Hungary doesn’t have ‘kill shelters’ as used in this context . Animals are euthanised as they are in the UK and it is regulated. In Bosnia there is a no kill law and yet rescues still claim to rescue from kill shelters. They claim animals will be killed with bats and no sedation and imply there will be a mass slaughter if people don’t donate. The emotive language and manipulation is common with many foreign rescuers when the reality is very different. Yes animals need help and more intensive SNR campaigns are required but in Hungary the problem certainly isn’t how Wags paints it but then many of their dogs aren’t actually from Hungary....

So what your saying about being suspicious cos weve had a great experience youde find dodgy , I cant realy understand your logic , surely if your so happy with your experience and see someone saying different you want to defend them , the one person that got a dodgy dog did not get it from wags and ended up paying lots of money for quarenteen , so now has a bee in her bonnet and is out to destroy all good rescuers because shes to ashamed to say she did not do her research and got done .... I look at all the good that's being done for these beautiful souls , but you get one dog one and that's all that ppl talk about , it a bit like everyone telling you what a lovely person you are but one person says your not nice , who do you dwell on all the ppl.who like you or the one that doesn't,,,,easy answer "the one that doesn't like you " , cat amongst the pigeons . I've got proof my dogs are legit my vet was impressed with how well they do things and what good condition the dogs are in .....all wags adopters can say the same , but those who want to stop dogs coming in from other countries have NO proof what so ever that wags are not legit ...., you should be ashamed of yourself if you believe one or 2 nasty ppl that want to destroy a great rescue team , why dont you get in touch with defra and report them if your concerned for the safety of the poor dogs , I know for a fact Defra will tell you other wise and that everything what wags do is above board and comply to all the needs and conditions to bring the dogs into the UK and every one gets checked by Defra before they come out of the country and checked again when reaching the uk before letting off and out of the euro tunnel ....

I don't understand why the supporters who keep flushing up a dead thread reminding everyone of how many people are sceptical of this business?

With friends like those, who needs enemies, eh?

It's too funny.

Guys if you are trying to put people off, you are doing an excellent job.

Thanks!

I contacted Wags n Wet Noses some time ago about adopting a particular dog and I received a call to say that I could have her and she would be delivered to my house. I was warned by friends and family that it was possibly a scam so I carried out some online searches. I found the blogs posted by Barnaby Longdog, which appear to be supported by evidence of some 'iffy' texts. I also found a post saying that the rescue were being investigated by the Dogs Trust. My searches also brought up posts regarding vets abroad accepting 'bribes' to falsify paperwork and chips not matching up to the paperwork. I contacted the rescue and said that I had concerns after speaking to my vet. All I can say is that their attitude completely changed towards me. I was told that my vet didn't know what he was talking about and that it was my loss as the dog would be snapped up. I followed their posts for some time and know that she wasn't. I have no definitive evidence either way, but I wasn't prepared to take the risk.

Good for you doglover.

If there's doubt, there is no doubt - as my Dad would say.

Hello , first time poster here for all the sceptical people! I only registered to defend Wags n wet noses who are an amazing bunch of compassionate people. We had our dog with them last November and she is amazing. We were kept informed every step of the way and she was perfect when she arrived. If I need advise they are only a click away. Hoping to adopt another dog in the near future. Dont listen to the sad haters, I would 100% recommend.

We looked at 'wags n wet noses' and after doing some research asked a few questions that were answered. Asked s few more delving questions and got no response. One of our biggest concerns was the statement that they could get specific breeds like retrievers or dachshunds etc. That doesn't sound right to me so we walked away. Agreed that there are horrific kill shelters and some genuine registered charities doing amazing work. There are also unscrupulous people bringing dogs in for profit.
The decisive words 'happy bus, fur babies and earth angels' are enough to put me off. I won't even look at dogs and puppies being sold on the free ads. Just do lots and lots of research first or you could be handing money over to puppy importers, dodgy 'rescues' or greedy back street breeders.

We adopted from Wags over a year ago now, messages were friendly and helpful and we were kept up to date on where our new dog was in regards to transport. Our dog arrived with an ear infection, which we thought nothing of as he had spent 3 days on a transport van with other days and was easily treated by our local vets.

Then the recent events transpired, we had a weekend camping with family for my LO's 2nd birthday. When my step dad arrived (who our dog had met previously and got on well with) Our dog became very aggressive, Barking loudly and pulling on his lead. When my step dad turned his back to walk away our dog leapt and bit him at the top of his thigh from behind. While the bite was significant we considered it lucky that our 2 year old was sleeping at the time and wasn't in the middle of this.

We contacted Wags to give our dog up as we couldn't take the risk of his next bite being our 2 year old.

This was when our issues started, the messages we received in reply came across as very accusatory, that the dog had bitten because during lockdown he had come to see my step dad as a stranger (even though we've been on many socially distanced walks with him during lockdown). Examples of the messages we were sent
"We can take -dog- back if you are not confident you can train any fear out of him" We had the dog for over a year and was having success training recall and sit and paw etc.
"He was probably guarding your little one" little one was asleep in the car and had been for an hour, car was at opposite end of campsite to introductions

Issues continued with messages regarding the sending of the passport, while we were away camping and didnt have it with us.

Then we get to the post to rehome the dog where we were almost certainly personally attacked and proper information wasn't given.
"He was adopted into a family who has very sadly given him up due to a personal situation that arose and not because of anything that dog did wrong."
"He's a lovely boy, really lovely, just needs an understanding home where people don't expect a perfect dog from day one"

Nowhere in the post listing him for adoption have they mentioned that he has bitten somebody, yet are willing to home him with children again. Having said in messages to us they wanted more information to train him in kennels they have not specified that this would be done before he was available to rehome.

All in all, when you are adopting a dog from them they are your best friend, but if anything goes wrong it is all made out to be your fault.