Does anyone have a rescue dog from Romania? Bad idea?

[ThisIsNotAIBUPeople]

Me again! We are thinking about getting our first dog. We have 2 DS aged 10 and 15, and 2 cats. I am at home Mon, Tues, Weds and out of the house 8-4 Thurs Fri. I can come home in my lunch hour for a quick walk or let out in the garden, my Dad will also come and give it a walk on the days I work.
I'm looking at rescues in the area and found this one which rescues dogs from Romania
https://www.dogswalkthisway.com/dogs-walk-this-way-rescue.html
Its really important that we find the right dog to fit in with our family, I really want to get it right and can't risk ending up with the 'wrong' dog, that would be worse than no dog. This rescue seem to be good at knowing the dog's personality and whether they are children and cat friendly. Any thoughts? Really bad idea? All comments and advice very gratefully received

There was a huge thread on here about UK rescues and how few posters had managed to adopt from there - usually because they are at work during any time / have children / have another pet / fences aren’t high enough

No wonder people go to these other rescues which have much less strict requirements

zafferana I don't dispute that there are many shitty rescues abroad but that doesn't negate the point that there's a reason people want to rescue dogs from abroad.

Many rescues in the UK won't consider homes where the owner has kids or works full time or doesn't have a garden. It's little wonder people adopt from elsewhere.

I will have a search for that thread Shirley

I agree that its difficult to home with children from uk rescue because understandably its not something that a rescue wants to get wrong.

Equally its worth noting dogs from abroad arent always properly vetted. What about a dog thats never interacted nicely with people, thats had things thrown at it etc lends it to being a good match with kids?

We see all kinds of dogs with all kinds of back grounds being pushed into homes with kids.

Nope, not contradicting myself at all. From the article I linked to, which you clearly didn't bother to read:

Not everyone approves of bringing Romanian strays to Britain. Paula Boyden, veterinary director of the Dogs Trust, the UK’s largest dog charity, says there are diseases in mainland Europe that we don’t have in the UK. With the pet passport scheme, a dog coming from any EU member state has to be microchipped and vaccinated against rabies and tapeworm. That is to protect humans, but there are plenty of doggy diseases that aren’t protected against, and she mentions a few scary-sounding ones: babesiosis, which is tick-borne; ehrlichiosis, which affects platelet cells; a heart worm called Dirofilaria immitis; and leishmaniasis, which is incurable and can potentially affect humans. “It’s a huge worry because we really don’t want those diseases in the UK.”

That was for @limitedscreentime btw

@ThisIsNotAIBUPeople here it is:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3659582-To-think-that-dog-charities-are-so-fussy-about-rehoming-that-they-drive-people-to-buy-from-breeders

Our dog is a Romanian rescue, from a centre who bring them over to the UK then keep them in kennels or foster here before rehoming so they know their temperaments.

Our dog is very laid back considering his background (he has the scars to prove his hard life) he is not food aggressive which quite a few are, he did used to go bin raiding for food but not anymore. He gets on with other dogs snd is generally ok with people although he doesnt like small children touching him (luckily we dont have any but we do have to be vigilant when walking him that small children dont try and stroke him)

I think the biggest downside with our particular dog is he is very used to being alone so although he loves his walks and a little bit of a stroke he does tend to keep himself to himself, he doesnt curl up on the sofa with us, he doesnt play with toys, he doesnt play fetch etc so apart from the lovely walks we go on it is more like having a cat than a dog. In fact my cats probably cuddle with me more than the dog.

It is very hit and miss though and other dogs from the same centre are either a lot more hardworking or a lot more sociable.

If you are not willing to compromise on your expectations of life with a dog it is probably not for you. For example I would love a dog that plays fetch and cuddles up on the sofa but the fact that Ddog doesnt isnt a disappointment for me he is who he is but I'd you would resent the dog for having issues then dont do it.

I think its worth noting again though, that trying to settle any dog into a home that works full time its really hard.
I dont know why people think with a romanian dog its easier
Let alone a new dog, who is scared of the washing machine, who just wants to get out etc. Often with an abroad dog your responsibile for training every inch of the life of a british dog into them, from lead manners, to house manners and toilet training.

I wouldnt want to attempt that whilst being out of the house full time

"Its really important that we find the right dog to fit in with our family, I really want to get it right and can't risk ending up with the 'wrong' dog, that would be worse than no dog"

So go to a UK shelter. Your children are old enough that they shouldn't be a problem for UK shelters. You're presenting a good solution to the Thursday/Friday problem if your father can commit to coming round to walk them.

Don't be swayed by talk of "kill shelters" - these exist in the UK too. Most UK shelters will put down an animal if it's not re-homed. Thousands and thousands of healthy dogs are put down every year in the UK because they haven't been re-homed.

How would a Romanian street dog have been vetted as being good with cats? I can’t see how you’d be able to be confident about that.

I don't work full time, its in my OP.
Thanks Shirley I will have a read.
Very thought provoking thanks all. If anyone is willing to PM me a link to a rescue they have had success with, I would be really grateful.

Our shelter does a cat test (they rehome cats too!).

Some UK rescues with a more flexible policy on children and working are mentioned in the AIBU thread linked above - look near the bottom and I think the OP summaries them.

Sorry to give you loads more reading OP but there’s also a good thread on MN about UK rescues that are more relaxed than others

(Can you tell ive been researching a lot myself?!)

Here you are www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_doghouse/2513532-Rescues-who-will-rehome-to-families-with-young-children

And in reply to the diseases - the dogs either carry them or they don't. If they do, then those diseases will already be here in the uk!! Our dogs regularly travel to Europe with us on holiday as many other peoples do. I know dogs who regularly fly long haul. It's really not fair to hold European rescue dogs to account.

@ShirleyPhallus you've been really helpful, thank you! I take it you are looking into getting a dog too? The thread about the strict rules of UK recsues mentioned a Spanish rescue, I will have a look at that too.

I have a friend with a Romanian rescue dog, she is a lovely sweet natured little thing. She was very shy when she arrived and hid in her crate for weeks, it took ages for her to learn to trust them.

Now, about 18 months in, she's happy and loving and loves her walks, especially romping around with other dogs. Strangely she never ever barks, I don't think they've heard her bark. I don't think she'd be suited for a rowdy house with young children. But other than that she is the perfect little dog.

It's absolutely 'fair' to protect the people and the animals of this country from diseases from OS that we don't have here. By being really stringent about this we've managed to avoid having rabies in this country, despite it existing on the continent.

If you have a pet passport then your pet is seen regularly by a vet and is checked the day before it travels to make sure it's not exhibiting any signs of illness. Bringing in street dogs from countries that have diseases that we don't isn't the same thing at all!

My sister took in a rescue dog from a Spanish charity. It was a complete disaster.
She and he family had already had two dogs of this breed so were experienced, but they had to give this dog back. The charity lied about the dog and it ended up attacking BIL. Through doing a lot of digging, they found out the dog had already been rehomed twice before for being aggressive.

If you want to help a dog, get one from the UK, from a well known charity.

I have one, and he's the best sweetest, stupidest, laziest dog I've ever had. I did have to train him not to be scared of things at the start, and he's still scared of random things, but he's not aggressive at all,think he's just happy to have a home.
I might have been lucky though....

Mine came from a local rescue though, who have links with overseas rescue. I Didn't go directly with an overseas rescue, he just happened to be there at the rescue centre when I was looking to adopt

I wouldn't, l have a rescue Beagle who is typical of her breed being very very friendly to anything with a pulse basically.
I started to take her to a local secure field dog meeting (before l recall trained her so she could get some off lead exercise) lt was run by a local charity that rescues dogs from Romania.
She got bitten twice, making puncture wounds so l stopped taking her. Her crime was to get to the tennis ball first, they had all got on beautifully up to then and the Romanian dogs were all rehomed, assessed and trained and most even had their bronze good citizen training award.
I may be wrong but l think it was because of their street background and had to get there first to survive, so racing for a tennis ball this clicked in again l suppose. Then some idiot stood in middle of field with an open bag of treats and one attacked another for same reason, they got there first.

If you have a pet passport then your pet is seen regularly by a vet and is checked the day before it travels to make sure it's not exhibiting any signs of illness. Bringing in street dogs from countries that have diseases that we don't isn't the same thing at all!

All foreign street dogs must have a Pet Passport before they come to the UK so surely it is exactly the same thing?