Second chance golden retriever rescue

[lazzaroo]

Anyone have any experience with this organisation? Am looking to adopt a young dog, rather than buy a puppy. These guys rescue from abroad but it seems they stay abroad until adopted so no chance to meet before taking them. They assess them but I have 2 children (aged 9 and 6) so really need the right dog. Just wondering if anyone has any stories of adopting a dog from abroad in this way.

Hello, sorry it was myself that messaged you Cherrypies. I read your post this morning regarding second chance golden retriever rescue and wondered if you did adopt from them in the end or if you were able to find out any more info about the charity? We are in the process if adopting a dog from them, but have found it hard to find out any further information about the dog we want to adopt, we have asked to be sent a video but they dont get back to us & then after reading this thread this morning and seeing some of the other comments, I've started to worry a little?

Hi, they aren’t a registered charity and the support when things go wrong is lacking to say the least.

Sorry Splodge, I never said I was going to adopt as I have two dogs already. What I said is that I have donated to them, through Twitter, as they tweet showing their rescues. So I was a bit concerned, as another poster seems to think they are not genuine.

Do you have a Twitter account, If so I would put your enquiry on there, as I am sure they will get back to you.

They have many followers, and there are a few accounts that have rescued from them, and keep their followers updated with pictures and videos.

Thank you, I will try that. I'm probably worrying about nothing...but just feeling a bit anxious that we have paid £150 and they dont want to send us a video of our dog?

My advice would be to exercise extreme caution - this is an organisation that has many allegations of non-compliance surrounding them. There is a Facebook page with some very specific examples.
Anybody looking to adopt an East European animal should ask for details of the microchip before agreeing to adopt (Romanian chips start with 642) and check it on the Romanian database (google Rompetid). If it does not start with 642 it isn’t Romanian and possibly should not have a Romanian pet passport. Imports from outside the EU require additional safeguards and scammers present animals as Romanian to cheat the system. You run the risk of having your dog seized at the Border.

Let’s face it, a golden retriever is one of the least likely dogs to be abandoned. Uk rescues have staffie types, Dobermans and elderly/ill/problematic dogs. They very, very rarely have nice young family pets like labradors and grs.

So why would a perfect golden retriever be going spare in Europe? Bred to be sold cheaply to gullible Brits who don’t want to (or can’t) pay going rate for home-grown grs which is now at least £2.5k.

I have very grave concerns about this organisation.

I think that at the heart of it, they want to do their very best in helping rescue dogs from living on the streets or in kill shelters, but they’re rescuing more than they can find homes for, and are cutting so many important corners in order to place the dogs at any cost.

We adopted a dog from them, and were very honest about where we live and our living situation during the over-the-phone home check. I sent some photographs, and our application was cleared and we were told the dog was ours if we wanted her. She was a beautiful dog with the sweetest personality, but found aspects of our home environment (that were beyond our control to change) to be very challenging. I can’t be more detailed as we’re still scarred by the way we were treated by the organisation and i don’t want us to be identified.

Suffice to say we did all we could to lessen her anxiety, but it was becoming apparent that the environment was causing our dog to become more and more distressed, and her behaviour was deteriorating accordingly.

We contacted second chance at this point and were told we would have help from the behaviourist, but this took several days to happen, and it was then just pages and pages of information rather than a phone call and tailored support. They only have one behaviourist who was clearly overstretched, but it’s just another example of the organisation not being able to offer the kind of support it promises to its adopters.

Because we couldn’t change our environment, we realised that our dog was only going to continue to get more and more anxious, and that the best and kindest thing to do for the long term happiness of our girl would be to look for another family better suited to her needs.

Once we’d made this heartbreaking decision, we contacted Second Chance knowing that we would need to return the dog to them (having signed a contract to say we would should the need ever arise) and they were absolutely vile to us. Said some very unkind things that were wrong and unjustifiable.

So we had to take our beautiful girl back to the kennel in Wales. I still feel sick when I think about it. They wouldn’t update us on whether she had a new home, their attitude being that we didn’t care enough about her to make the effort to keep her (so far from the truth) so we had no right to know how she was. And I have recently heard that the founder has posted unkind things about people taking dogs back and not making an effort, treating the dogs like they were unwanted and returnable gifts. Which is so, so far from the truth.

But the thing is, if they were more careful and professional, if they placed the dogs with foster careers initially so that they were better informed about any potential issues, if they arranged for home visits before placing the dogs, and if they had professional support in place, then so much of this pain, confusion, sadness and heartbreak, for the dogs as well as the adopters, could be avoided.

Sorry for such a long post, but we still miss our beautiful girl, I still cry ever day, and feel sick at the memory of this entire story.

Curious to know how you got on with this @Spoldge45 if you're willing to share?

Hi @VozzyBear

It’s a very long story i'm afraid.

The story with second chance, is that we saw a dog on the page we really liked a black Labrador called Eva. We were really pleased that after years of searching we had finally find a dog that was both child & cat friendly.

We had to complete a re-homing questionnaire and then we were asked to pay £150 (reservation fee, which also covers the dog to be prepared for travel). We were asked to pay this into a private individuals bank account, in the name of Donna Mcloorne. We did think this was a little unusual but went ahead anyway.

A few days later we asked if we could possibly get a bit more information about Eva (They had stated she had been in the shelter for 16 months, but we didn’t know why for so long?) We’ve never owned a dog before & we basically wanted to know a little more information about Eva’s background and why her 2 sisters had sadly died. We also asked if we could be sent a video of Eva as we had only seen still photos on the FB page and we thought it would be a lovely way to help us bond with her and see a bit more of her personality. Holly at second chance advised this would be no problem and that she would send us a video very soon.

Weeks went by and still no video appeared. I chase after another 10 days and initially 2nd chance were very friendly and said they would get this for us in couple of days but again another week went by and nothing. It seemed odd to us to have reserved and paid for dog but have so little information about her and not a single video, for what for us what a really big life changing event. After further 5 days we chased again and the response from 2nd chance became a little hostile, it was always as though we were asking too much and this initially made me a little upset but after a while it made me question a few things about the process.

I did a little searching online of second chance golden retriever rescue reviews and bizarrely enough it was actually a post here on Mumsnet of all places, that initially made me concerned. I’m sure if you google it you would find the post, but basically this made me concerned and so I posted on another golden retriever foreign rescue dog site on Facebook see if any of their members had any experience of 2nd chance and to say that I was overwhelmed by the response would be an understatement.

To be clear there were some positive stories of people who had rescued thru SCGR and been very happy, but I had a lot of people private message me with negative comments and experiences and many of them had a common theme.

The messages were too many to list, I still have them all on my phone, but the main issues were.

Dogs not having correct passport/paperwork and being forced to stay in quarantine for 4 months.
Dogs arriving with undiagnosed or undisclosed medical problems.
Dogs not having the correct microchip
Dogs country of origin being changed (I didn’t understand what on earth the purpose of this would be, I can only assume it’s because different counties within the Balkans have different rules/regulations regarding paperwork) and maybe they were trying to get around the restrictions? I really have no idea? But several people mentioned this.
Dogs being older than stated
Dogs being ‘bred’ for rescue – this was the one that upset me most
Dogs dying without any explanation being to the potential adopters
Several members commented about negative and threating experiences with a lady called Louise Pittman who, I believe is the chairperson for SCGR and is the one who deals issues when problems arise.

It’s hard to put all the comments into context over an email, but we read some very worrying and concerning things. The main theme was people warding us off SCGR.

To cut a long story short SCGR rescue became aware that I had asked for advice on another site and took great offence to this and said they felt it was in the best interest that we didn’t carry on with the adoption, which as you can imagine was extremely upsetting.

To summarize this whole process has been very stressful and emotional for us. Having to tell our daughter that we wouldn’t be adopting Eva was the hardest thing.

I’m sure if you search hard enough, you might be able to find some of the comments for yourself, it’s probably easier to read yourself rather than me explain but I know one of my posts was removed.

Please make your own judgement as I wouldn’t want to influence you in any way, but we personally have lost confidence in SCGR and wouldn’t rescue thru them. I believe many people have rescued with them and been extremely happy and I also know that people often like to write more about negative experiences than positive ones and I kept this in mind and tried to remain objective throughout the process, but to receive so many private messages just from one simple ‘has anyone has any experience of SCGR?’ post was quite shocking.

We also learnt thru this whole process that there is a lot of in-fighting between different foreign rescue charities. We were just a family who wanted to give a loving home to dog in need and we very shocked at all this. We naively thought that rescue

A couple of members directed me to a page www.facebook.com/barnabyslaw/ Which also makes worrying reading.

I did mention this to SCGR but they say the lady who runs this page has a vendetta against them? We have no idea who to believe, but all of these problems have made us decided that we will only rescue thru a registered charity rescue (which unfortunately SCGR are not).

Goodness me. So sorry you've gone through that. Honestly though, sounds like you've dodged a bullet.

I've heard pretty much all of these things from other adoptees, and had a worrying conversation with them myself earlier this year.

Anyone that's had success rescuing from them has either been very lucky to get a healthy dog, or is happy/unaware of what they've got in my opinion!

I'd urge anyone reading not to go anywhere near this lot, and try registered charities or non-profits instead.

Best of luck with your search @Spoldge45

I have had 1st hand experience of this rescue and not in a good sence!!! . If you want reviews on this place look on the face book page Barnaby and bluebell. 😡

Hello has anyone had any experience with Golden retriever rescue UK please . They rescue from Turkey.🙏

I would like to point out that the malicious messages about second Chance Golden Retriever rescue is coming from a very nasty woman who wants to bring the rescue down and is totally rubbish. I am not going into a long monologue defending the accusations because it’s all invented. This rescue has gone out on a limb to rescue dogs from Bosnia and daily videos and reports from the the shelter there are posted every single day. Everything is honest and upfront . The company are waiting to be made a registered charity which is what this vile women is trying to stop. Please do not believe these awful stories. Hundreds of dogs have been safely recused and fostered. I am proud to be a member and have one of their dogs the same as many many more people. If you are not willing to give patience love and care to a rescue dog don’t even consider it go to a breeder. After care is uppermost with this company with insurmountable support. It’s too easy to write lies and hope these people that have done can live with their conscious.

You need to be very careful when accusing people of lying! The facts are that Second Chance Golden Retriever Rescue have had numerous dogs seized by DEFRA for not complying with UK import regulations. They are not waiting for charitable status, they were refused status by the commission and instead had to resort to setting up as a company having not declared income to any entity for three years. Claiming otherwise is an attempt to deceive.

Absolute nonsense trying to offload problems on somebody with a grudge. These problems have been documented over several years and from different sources.

The difference between charity, being charitable and having charity status.
Being charitable is just that- it’s a way of being. It’s a behaviour. it’s a behaviour that exists inside of a commitment to another being ( two legs or four).
Charity is the consequence of someone being charitable.
Having charitable status doesn’t in any way impact one’s ability to be charitable or to offer charity. It only reinforces the financial issues and paperwork costing money to be put in place!
A gift of our humanity is the ability for us to choose to be charitable at any moment, in an instance.
I don’t need SCGRR to have a charitable status to choose to be charitable in line with it’s commitments. I just need to be a good human and I need to believe in the goodness of others. When charity is met with trust we can save the world.
If I need for an organisation to have charitable status before I choose to be charitable, then my compassion and human is somewhat questionable to say the least.
Fortunately, over 10,000 other members of SCGRR are of the same thinking and are fully aware of the great work it does in rescuing dogs.

Please can we end these tiresome troll like accusations which achieve nothing but to inspire some kind of vendetta. Be kind the world is in crisis. We only want to save dogs in a country without support like the RSPCA.

Why were you denied charitable status?

Why did you lie and say you were awaiting it, rather than it has been refused? @enlight

Just to add, being denied it means you applied in the first place. Thus you paid the costs of admin and application, either in employing someone to sort the forms for you or in your own time. So it's not really a question of lack of funds to apply, is it? You had them, and didn't qualify. Why?

Well your comments about a person you know nothing about are far from charitable! Likewise the bullying and libellous trolling metered out by members of SCGRR. Sorry if you find the truth tiresome!

@FazedNotPhased

Just to add, being denied it means you applied in the first place. Thus you paid the costs of admin and application, either in employing someone to sort the forms for you or in your own time. So it's not really a question of lack of funds to apply, is it? You had them, and didn't qualify. Why?

Exactly! Unfortunately, those running SCGRR make a habit of hiding the truth from donors.

I understand this organisation rescues animals from a number of Countries, including Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Bulgaria. Many of these animals have entered the United Kingdom with Romanian Pet Passports - why?
For example if you are adopting a dog from Serbia (the microchip number will indicate whether it originates from Serbia) rules apply prior to entry to the EU and the UK. Similarly rules apply in all Countries relating to the origins of imports - these rules are there to safeguard basic health conditions. If these basic conditions cannot be met animals are taken to Romania, issued with a Romanian Pet Passport, Romanian Health Certification and pretend to be legitimate.
These animals will not have entered Romania legally and should not be issued with Romanian documents.
No matter what you are told, this is not just bureaucracy, it is essential to safeguard health and to ensure minimum standards are maintained in animal welfare.
If you are told you are adopting a dog that isn’t Romanian and it arrives with a Romanian Pet Passport please ask why?
I am sue you trust your Vet - run this past them and see what they say - you may be shocked.
Lastly, I am not a ‘Troll’ - this applies to any organisation or individual that introduces animals into this Country in this manner.

Has anybody had any experience with goldens4ever rescue?? (Sorry to resurrect an old threat but maybe somebody's as heard of them and has had an experience they could share?)

Anybody thinking of adopting from Second Chance Golden Retriever Rescue would be well advised to check their feedback. I can confirm the validity of many of the comments on the ‘exposed’ site on Facebook. I am happy to correspond by pm and give advice.

Having been a supporter and contributor to many many appeals on SCGR I have over the last week become very concerned at the posts I’ve read here and FB.
But I have been having these thoughts over the last few months; the constant emotive begging posts- dogs dumped, not wanted, will be poisoned, we have to get them off the street etc etc.
My family tried to foster a dog last year they went silent despite pleading for people for days to help. When they eventually replied they said the dog had been fostered. We waited to see photos of the dog in a safe space but they never came and a few months later adoption photos were shared. Which is great for the dog but why push for fostering if you aren’t going to follow through.
I know of fellow group members who adopted and have been contacted via private messenger groups telling them what they are doing wrong.
Their support system is non existent; they are run under a dictatorship which is very worrying for an organisation that states to be about animals.
The person in the forefront is incredibly emotive, unprofessional and intimidating to people.
I will no longer per-sue an adoption or foster. I’d rather go with another rescue.
For us right now there are too many questions, things don’t add up and posting pictures of celebrities with dogs only adds to the whole smoke and mirrors theme.
I’m sure some people on there are incredibly genuine and volunteer for the right reasons; I just think there is something else going on in the background.

There are too many questions surrounding them, look for another rescue eh?