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

We adopted from a Romanian rescue. I love our dog dearly, but I wouldn’t recommend it or do it again.

We waited until our youngest was 8, then spent nearly a year trying to get a suitable dog from a UK charity. Despite having a large garden, working from home and bring prepared to consider older dogs we always seemed to lose out to families without children at the final stages. I understand it, you have to place the dog with the best home, but it was hard. I think our problem was that our sole criteria was that the dog be small, and small dogs are very popular with retired people who obviously make more appealing adoptive families.

Anyway, when I saw our dog on Facebook he was advertised as an 8 year old much loved pet whose (vet) owner no longer had the time for him and had begged the rescue to bring him to England and rehome him. He was in kennels in the UK where he was apparently struggling with the rougher street dogs. I had ruled out street dogs but contacted the rescue explaining we had limited experience etc. They seemed very thorough but eventually we were matched and able to adopt him.

To cut a long story short, he is reactive with severe separation anxiety. He also nips and bites when scared. I have spent a small fortune on our behaviourist. The rescue have a behaviourist but he can only offer over the phone help, which was insufficient. It turned out that he HAD left a loving owner in Romania, but had only been there for 3 months after she took him from his previous owner. His life before that was one of abuse and neglect; kept in a small concrete yard and shouted at/hit with a stick/etc.

We’ve had him 4 months and are making progress, but for an inexperienced dog owner it’s been a real baptism of fire. We will get there in the end. I love him so very much but wouldn’t put myself or my family through this again. The rescue are trying their best, but do not have the resources or experience to vet their dogs properly. They did offer to take him back and rehome him, but he’s been through enough already and I was worried they wouldn’t match him properly. And because we’d all fallen in love with him of course.

Sorry for the waffly post.

My sister has one. She fostered him over xmas last year and decided to keep him. He has a great temperament but does have his quirks. He was a street dog so had not been domesticated at all but has adapted well.
At first he was scared of men, cars, anxious on walks and tried to dart into peoples gardens to hide. He has a harness instead of a lead.
She has had him 2 yrs and he is fine now apart from being anxious around other dogs. Hes ok if you spot one coming and distract him with a bit of hot dog sausage.
Hes never chewed the house up, climbed on furniture, is good to leave for a while.
Very food orientated and likes to be out in the garden lazing about.
Hes a lovely dog.

I know people who do.

Honestly? I think it’s a waste of resources and potentially cruel to put traumatised dogs through more trauma and bringing them to a home which often fails. But I don’t have the Mumsnet revulsion towards putting an animal down. I think it often the kindest way.

@SuperFurryDoggy that sounds really hard, for you and the dog. Shame on the rescue for not being honest with you and not providing the support you needed. And good on you for persevering, you would have been well within your rights to return the dog.
I wish there was a way of knowing whether these rescues are reputable, it seems like such a lottery.

I would not rescue a dog from abroad.

1. The dogs are not assessed by the British rescues - they go on the words of the people on the ground in the other country. So the dogs are not assessed in the situation that they will be living in - there is no way you can get an accurate picture of their needs and issues.

1. Surely it must make you think wonder why they are easier to adopt than British rescues. Limited aftercare, very little follow up care and very little help if the homing goes wrong.

3.The dogs from abroad are bringing over diseases that we have not seen in this country before.

1. There are a lot of dogs in the UK needing homes - the rescues may have stricter criteria but that is there for a reason and can keep the dogs and owners safe.

1. The dogs that are bought over are the cute , pretty, dogs and may not always be the dogs that are most in need.

As a first time dog owner with children you want to stack the odds of having a suitable dog in your favour. Individual stories either good or bad, are not quite as relevant as the reasonableness of the choice. So, aside from the ethics of importing dogs from abroad, is it reasonable to chose a dog that:

• will have been born to unknown parents
• will have been brought up on the street and possibly separated from its mother and litter mates too soon
• will have learnt to fend for itself, e.g. steal food and be weary of humans
• will have spent time in kennels, missing out on socialisation and having to deal with the stress of kennels and thus more likely to have stress problems like separation anxiety and destructive behaviour
• will have been put through the stress of traveling and settling into a foster family.

This is not staking the odds in your favour.

Forget about foreign rescues. Go to a small, local rescue. Find an adult dog that can either come from its previous home straight to you or has been with a foster family and has lived with cats.

We've got a Romanian rescue (along with two other uk rescues). We had no intention of getting her but I followed a friend's rescue on Facebook and her cute little face popped up just as my husband asked what I wanted for my birthday...

She's been here four years, no problem at all, has wooed everyone she's met, she's just such a sunny, friendly little thing. She had been badly treated, and was terrified of men, and had no idea what a bed was for the first week she slept on the doormat. I helped fundraise for the rescue for a couple of years, so was involved with the committee for a while. 99% of dogs settled really well. We had kennels and fosterers in the uk for any returned dogs (rare). There was a huge, friendly Facebook page full of previous adopter's who would share stories and tips. We arranged a fund raising dog show once a year and people would travel miles with their rescues to come. It was lovely. We home checked and tried to match dogs well. My home check for the Romanian rescue was better than any uk rescue home check I'd had. You do get some dogs that find the adjustment difficult initially. A few people have had dogs that would only sleep in the garden for the first week, for example, so they left a porch open or back door. You do have to understand that there might be issues to work through, and that it takes time. But you get that with a puppy too..

When our first dog died I went to a well established Romanian rescue to adopt, seemed like the right thing to do and lots of dogs available. My friend had got her dog from this place a few months beforehand and seemed happy.

We were not allowed to meet the dog before we picked it up, which I understand is usual practice but not idea why. He was a dear little thing about 2 years old. My DDs were 12 and 14 at the time, he seemed to like them up to a point but it seemed scared of me and H. It lived under our dining table for 6 weeks, enjoying a lot of food and walks, but other than that, always under the table, staring out at me balefully.

The dog had no idea of how to live in a family home as it had been in a kennel all its life. It had never seen a ball or toys, had no idea that interaction with a human would bring good things. It was also ill with a gastric problem so we felt we couldn't keep it despite our trying to nurse it back to health - the rescue's own vet said we'd done a great job and there were improvements, but then the rescue accused us of making it ill and threatened us with legal action if we didn't return it. My DDs were heartbroken, but as I opened the car door at the rescue the dog leapt out wagging its tail; it seemed to me that all he wanted was other dogs around.

We had to be very strong, put it behind us and just hope it got a happy home elsewhere. The woman running the rescue had a massive Messiah complex and was by turns dripping with sweetness and going into meltdown in seconds. She had a facebook group where everyone had to agree with her or she blocked them from the group, lots of "why do they treat you so badly hunz yous only doin it for the fur babies" if anyone said hang on this doesn't seem right.

My friend who had a dog from this place didn't have too many problems but her dog was much older and she wanted a very quiet dog, so although it more or less lived under the table too, it wasn't a problem for her.

My mum has one! 3 years old. Has to come to bed with her when there is a storm because she gets extremely frightened but that's about it. Had her two years and she gets more and more confident but she was never tricky, just kept herself to herself. She's very gentle and it's been a total privilege to build her trust of us because she's a poppet! My mum has developed concerns about the Romanian charities since but none related to her own dog. The lady specifically matched her to my mum and did a great job but as other pps have said, you never really know what you are getting

A family member recently got one from Romania. He was advertised as socialised, non aggressive etc. Dog is incredibly nervous to the point he pees everywhere, aggressive when touched/with food and HATES men. The 'rescue' had very good marketing. I wouldn't recommend one as a first dog as you will have no real idea what the dog is like and it's a massive gamble. Foreign street dogs are often an 'expert' level dog in my opinion.

I am very pro rescue, but to be honest if you are first time dog owners and you have young kids you are going to find it hard, especially if you're not at home all the time. I think most UK rescue dogs come with issues too, and not all shelters are honest about them. I would look for an older dog, maybe one who has had an elderly owner die or maybe be no longer able to care for it than a rescue or a puppy who you can't be at home for. Going through a breed society rescue might be a good idea

This is excellent advice. The first 5 months of a dog's life are absolutely crucial for socialisation to living with humans. Lack of socialisation then, or negative experiences with humans will cause lifelong issues. With many rescues, whether from the UK or abroad, you have no idea what happened to the dog in that period. I would not have a dog in a household with children without knowing their background, especially as inexperienced owners.. But that doesn't mean that you can't rehome a dog in need because its owners' circumstances have changed.

Yes - got a totally adorable bitch from a local rescue that works closely with a Romanian shelter. It is a very small charity, and the owners regularly visits Romania to decide which dogs would be suitable for rehoming over here, and then when they arrive in the UK they undergo further assessment before being offered for adoption.

There were at least 2 or 3 others that I would have considered adopting. The one I have was actually already house-trained (by the rescue in this country) and we have had absolutely no issues with her at all.

She is rather wary of strangers and can be a little reactive with other dogs, but this is likely to be her breeding as much as anything (she is definitely a shepherd dog cross, and the particular breed is very much a "guarding" rather than a herding breed - they are known for their tremendous loyalty). However, she only needed to meet my DD and DP (who don't live with me) the once and she accepted them completely and now they let themselves into the house in my absence and are greeted rapturously!

She wolfed her food when she first arrived - but now she is getting regular meals she eats at leisure. She is baffled by stairs and the sofa but sleeps all night on her own downstairs without a murmur.

She is good to walk on the lead but still very nervous of trucks and lorries although has quickly got used to passing cars. She is proving pretty easy to train and is totally delightful. She also has no idea what to do with toys despite my other 2 dogs playing with them around her.

I specifically needed a dog that was good with other dogs as I already have 2 - there has been some settling in issues but this was to be expected when introducing a 3rd dog into an established pair. There has been no drama though.

I would totally recommend looking into adopting a Romanian dog - if they have been street dogs or missing pets at least they haven't necessarily been abused the way a lot of the ones that end up in shelters in this country have been. My girl shows no signs of having been ill-treated.

However, choose your UK shelter carefully - some are more thorough than others about vetting the dogs and getting to know them before putting them up for adoption. The one I adopted through has all their rescues work with a behaviourist first to assess them.

Also need to add - be very very wary of any rescues that don't insist on a home visit, and don't encourage you to visit the dog as many times as you like to build up a rapport. I wasn't allowed to even reserve my dog until the rescue owner had visited my house.

Ive got a friend who has a romanian dog who is beautiful and calm
I have a spanish dog who is really chilled out and well behaved. She was rescued, pregnant from the street, although has clearly been in a home at some point as shes clean in the house.

I would go for rescues that describe the dog properly and how it was found etc.Ex- Feral dogs that have been "rescued" from highly social groups in certain countries are unlikely to adapt that well to being an only dog, or a nice pet in someones flat or house. I dont know about romania, but I know in spain, its not unusual for people to abandon their dogs, or allow them to roam , and then not pay the hefty fine when they end up in the perrera, because its cheaper to just get another dog. Often these can be great dogs that are abandoned, but its a horrible life for them.

I personally dont see the problem with rescuing dogs from abroad, although I agree that there are also dogs to be rescued here, but I dont personally see that those dogs are more important, and its better to find the right fit for your family, than worry about whether its from another european country.

As for foreign diseases. I know there is stuff like leish in mediteranean basin, but that is not transferable to other dogs, as thats from sandflies and its easily controlled if they are tested to have it, which they would be if from med countries. Things like rabies would be vaccinated against before arriving. Im not sure what other "foreign" diseases people are worried about. Do you also worry about foreign people??

Ultimately, a dog is a dog, and its far far better to adopt and rescue a dog from a shit life in spain or romania etc, than it is to go support the commercial breeding of puppies in the UK

leishmaniasis doesnt transfer from dog to human. Its a parasite caused by sandfly bites. It affects humans IF they are bitten by sandflies. Not from being in contact with a dog with leish

British Veerinary Assoication on disease risk from imported dogs

Im not sure what other "foreign" diseases people are worried about. Do you also worry about foreign people?? on so many levels this is a weird conclusion to jump to even for MN

We have a Rommie. She was taken into the shelter as a newborn pup so was socialised with humans and other dogs from the start. She came to us aged 5 months having had all her immunisations. We had to sign a contract pledging to have her spayed, take her to training classes and hand her back to the rescue if we couldn't keep her.
She is now 14 months old and an absolute joy. She got the hang of house training really quickly and everyone loves her. She suffers a little from separation anxiety but as I work from home she is never left for long.
I have heard of some people who have had far more problems however. I would definitely look for one that has been in UK Foster for a while, and arrange to meet the dog prior to making any commitment.

Again, if anyone is happy to PM me a rescue that they have had success with, I would be very grateful. Thanks for all the advice, this thread has been really interesting and helpful.

m.facebook.com/groups/1651029595217553 this is the training group I mentioned with the trainer who specialises in Romanian rescues and has several experienced fosterers as members would be useful to join if you are interested.

I've PM'd you

Personally I think that importing dogs from abroad for rescue Is akin to puppy farming and should be banned.

Yes, it’s very sad and all that that these dogs have grown up on the streets but let’s be honest here, the rescues over here are already full to overflowing with strays and other neglected dogs, bringing in more actually just makes the problem worse.

These rescues make the (cleverly marketed) point that these poor dogs would continue to live a miserable life in their countries of origin, and as such it’s the right thing to do to bring them over here where A, the country they came from doesn’t need to take responsibility for them, and B, where they’ll be replaced by yet more dogs off the street which the public over here will adopt, and the country of origin doesn’t need to deal with the problems that these dogs have because they’ve palmed them off to someone else.

Also, the heartbreaking stories of these dogs are bound to tug at the heartstrings of the people over here who love their animals more than some in other countries, but at what price? For every dog you bring across from abroad you are leaving another dog in rescue in the UK. How does rescuing a dog from apparent neglect make you any better than anyone else when you’re leaving a dog in kennels in this country because you found a prettier one abroad?

Yes, the rescues over here need to look at their criteria for adopting or, frankly, whether many of the dogs they have in rescue would be appropriate for rehoming at all and if necessary put them out of their misery.

But that doesn’t make importing dogs for money right.

If you couldn’t find a well bred puppy would you go looking on gumtree instead for a puppy you could pick up at the local services with no recourse if it went wrong? No? Well then rescue is no different.

I'm not very good at working the app out but know I have received pm's before - can't figure out how to send one! If you want to PM me I'll let you know the rescue we used. If you join them on Facebook they show all the stories as they pick dogs up etc so you can follow them through and know histories of each dog.

While in part getting a dog from abroad is admirable, I can't help but feel the 1000s of dogs already in kennels/homes are being over looked, it's almost become a status thing imo

At any given time there are 10,000+ dogs in the UK in need of a home, look at other small rescues who tend to have dogs in foster homes so more likely to have good information in the dogs and allow a good few meet ups for you to get to know the dog. What area are you and I can recommend a few rescues.

Your absolutely right people scare mongering saying they spread diseases what tosh ! We have a rescue Bosnian raven shepherd she is 2 yrs and beautiful in nature it cost the rescue £400 for her medical assessment ,vaccinations , passport and transportation she wasn't house train but withing 6 weeks she was she was quiet but now more sociable we have a rescue staffy and they are now best buddies we are blessed to have them both rescue all the way 🤗🤗