Romanian dog rescues

[Glitters100]

So Mumsnet, I need the help from doggy loving members.

We’re have spent the last 18 months looking into getting a puppy/or a rescue dog if it fits our needs and vice versa.

Once Covid happened we saw prices sky rocket so put plans on hold, but still kept an eye on what dogs are out there.

So we stumbled upon someone selling the type of dog we’re after, it ticked all the right boxes, in size, temperament, child friendly, low prey drive, minimum shedding...And in was in our price range.
After some digging I realised it was a Romanian dog rescue and the dog would be coming over from Romania if we gave the go ahead.

We have turned it down but it’s got me thinking, this page only has good reviews, nothing negative about them online. So people are using them and seem happy with it, and updated pics of their dogs show the dog is happy too.

Could I have your stories If you’ve used them or know someone who has used them- good or bad.

I’m going to be telling my teenagers these replies as they are disappointed that we’re not going for it, but they do grudgingly agree getting a dog from a proper breeder is best, if we can’t find one that needs rehoming.

Hope I don’t get shot down in flames with this post! We are still doing research into dogs so we can be the best owners when we get one.

The last foreign rescue I walked was from Cyprus. He was incredibly nervous to the point of almost shutting down. If he was scared, he just wouldn't walk. He was aggressive with other dogs and unfortunately he was also a biter.

I used to have a dog care business and never experienced this with foreign rescues...I did experience dog aggression from pure breeds a few times though.

@Ylvamoon

Indoctro - I'm with you on this. £200-300.- in Romania is a small fortune... I also think a lot of people who want to do good in other countries apply our own normality to the situation.

By our own normality do you mean individual, humane euthanasia of unwanted dogs by a vet instead of mass poisoning or worse? Because what often happens in kill shelters in parts of mainland Europe is incomprehensible to anyone who hates suffering.

I guess it’s the same with human migrants or refugees, it’s okay for them to drown in the Mediterranean because that’s their normality?

@Ylvamoon

Indoctro - I'm with you on this. £200-300.- in Romania is a small fortune... I also think a lot of people who want to do good in other countries apply our own normality to the situation.

£200-300 is the cost of transport from there to here. No one is making money off street dogs on £200-300.

Lots of dogs are taken to the U.K. for adoption from where I live, some of them are abandoned pups that I have bottle fed. The charity that takes them has an incredible success rate (I’m a member of their post adoption fb group)

These are dogs who have been assessed as suitable family pets, and health checked, they often go to foster homes, but sometimes go straight to their adopters The charity is always available for post adoption support, and are currently working very hard to help a shelter in Crete that the government wants to close down

It makes me very angry when overseas rescues are labelled as puppy farms, or bringing unsuitable dogs to the U.K., there may be some but they vast majority are doing a really hard job in horrendous, heartbreaking circumstances

I’ve had dogs all my life and would never buy from a breeder, rescues all the way

“FrenchtoEnglish

I have a Romanian rescue and a Spanish rescue. They are both wonderful with my cats and my DC. They are health-checked in order to get passports.”

They may be health checked but it doesn’t mean they aren’t carrying diseases which can be introduced into a U.K. population with no immunity to them.

@Tamingofthehamster

“FrenchtoEnglish

I have a Romanian rescue and a Spanish rescue. They are both wonderful with my cats and my DC. They are health-checked in order to get passports.”

They may be health checked but it doesn’t mean they aren’t carrying diseases which can be introduced into a U.K. population with no immunity to them.

Do we need a higher standard of health checks when moving companion animals into the UK? What diseases aren’t we screening for already that you think should be included?

@Glitters100

So Mumsnet, I need the help from doggy loving members.

We’re have spent the last 18 months looking into getting a puppy/or a rescue dog if it fits our needs and vice versa.

Once Covid happened we saw prices sky rocket so put plans on hold, but still kept an eye on what dogs are out there.

So we stumbled upon someone selling the type of dog we’re after, it ticked all the right boxes, in size, temperament, child friendly, low prey drive, minimum shedding...And in was in our price range.
After some digging I realised it was a Romanian dog rescue and the dog would be coming over from Romania if we gave the go ahead.

We have turned it down but it’s got me thinking, this page only has good reviews, nothing negative about them online. So people are using them and seem happy with it, and updated pics of their dogs show the dog is happy too.

Could I have your stories If you’ve used them or know someone who has used them- good or bad.

I’m going to be telling my teenagers these replies as they are disappointed that we’re not going for it, but they do grudgingly agree getting a dog from a proper breeder is best, if we can’t find one that needs rehoming.

Hope I don’t get shot down in flames with this post! We are still doing research into dogs so we can be the best owners when we get one.

Plenty of dogs in our rescues.

Interesting topic actually. Why adopt from Romerian rescue as opposed to the thousands we have in rescues that are desperate for homes?

I think it’s a bit like first aid after a disaster - you always go to the people in most serious need first? I chose Romanian over local (had one homecheck for multiple organisations which was helpful) because I hate suffering. There is animal suffering in mainland Europe on a scale and of a type that’s unimaginable. I have no problem with euthanasia-by-vet but unless UK shelters start housing stray dogs in massive groups instead of individual kennels, letting some dogs kill others then finishing off the rest with caustic soda under plastic sheeting it's not really comparable is it. There’s suffering of a suboptimal living standards type and then there’s true and absolute suffering.

What makes UK dogs more important than others?

@Ylfa

I think it’s a bit like first aid after a disaster - you always go to the people in most serious need first? I chose Romanian over local (had one homecheck for multiple organisations which was helpful) because I hate suffering. There is animal suffering in mainland Europe on a scale and of a type that’s unimaginable. I have no problem with euthanasia-by-vet but unless UK shelters start housing stray dogs in massive groups instead of individual kennels, letting some dogs kill others then finishing off the rest with caustic soda under plastic sheeting it's not really comparable is it. There’s suffering of a suboptimal living standards type and then there’s true and absolute suffering.

What makes UK dogs more important than others?

I agree.

Ylfa
What makes UK dogs more important than others?

Because for starters, they are already in the country... needing a home.
They won't be bringing in a hoast of parasites and illnesses.

You often can't meet the dog beforehand.

You are not fulling the lucrative trade in pet dogs. (I don't think because it says rescue on the tin, it's always a "rescue" that is delivered. The trade in cheap dogs & puppies is rife!)
You won't be adding stress and trauma to the animals by carting them half way across Europe in a van.

If you buy / rescue in this county, you are able to check the place and breeder out.
Who has actually met the people that resued the street dog in person? Met the dog in it's "home environment" at ease?
Seen its behaviour in the kennels?
A few videos should never be enough.

And as I said above, the mindset towards stray dogs/ cats and animals in general is completely different to our moral standards... if you feel that strongly about it, go over there and help with education so these places can be shut down. That would make a real difference!

What ‘hoast of parasites and illnesses’ are you talking about? Don’t be shy, just list them by name and prevalence.

Countries aren’t any more real than counties, I can’t prioritise a local dog who has a home even if it’s not the best kind of home, over dogs in more urgent need. What difference does it make if I adopt a dog from Suffolk, where I live, or Norfolk or Scotland or France or Austria or Bosnia?

If you’re interested in education and learning more about the history of street dogs in parts of Eastern Europe and the social and economic policies that led up to where we are now you can always search online.

What makes UK dogs more important than others?

Is this a serious question.

@Indoctro

A lot of these overseas rescues are just a money making scheme. The puppy's are coming from puppy farms and the older dogs are often ones that have been bred from. They are just using the animals to make money under false pretences that they are rescuing them

Steer clear

That is a terrible generalisation. Many, many rescues that work to rehome overseas are genuine and do great work. How many dogs have you rehomed from such rescues? What first-hand experience do you have? We've rehomed a total of seven (from Romania, Greece and the UK) and fostered just as many and have always had successful outcomes.

HRTWT, but bringing dogs from places like Romania makes me sad. as someone previously mentioned, £200-300/month is a good salary for many, so some people are making money from this. Walk around Bucharest (Or any other town or city) at night And you’ll see women sleeping in doorways with their children......and we prioritize importing their dogs. And I really am an animal lover, but if I wanted to support Romania (and as a family we do) I’d start with the humans.

@Orkneys

What makes UK dogs more important than others?

Is this a serious question.

Yes, it came down to a choice of two dogs for me - one local one Romanian. The plight of Romanian dogs was so much more severe than the conditions the local dog was living in. So, again, what makes the local dog more important?

@Glitters100

Thanks for all the comments, it’s been nice to read positive stories from ones who have actually adopted dogs.

As I said I’m my op, we kind of stumbled upon these rescues, I had no idea so many dogs were being rescued from abroad.

My husband and I have decided to keep looking at U.K. rescues for now, although they are bursting with dogs, I’m not hopeful we will find one. (On dogstrust today I put in must be ok with high school kids and cats and there are no suitable dog in any of their centres).

We may go down the puppy route, but not while breeders are asking greedy prices...I can honestly see why so many are using the rescues from abroad but we will be patient and see what happens.

You may wish to try St Giles (stgilesanimalrescue.co.uk/) - most of their dogs come from the UK.

@Glitters100 - foreign rescues are a great way to go, they should have a presence over here. Don’t listen to the “puppy farm” scaremongering- Romanian rescues are usually asking for such a small sum for a mixed breed that it’s vanishingly unlikely that they would be a puppy farm.

as @Costacoffeeplease said, rescues work really hard to help dogs. I believe I know which one she's talking about (I mentioned it earlier) and it's a fantastic one. But not the only one. So I'm sure the OP is likely to find a reputable, honest one near their location.

As for the money: £200, actually, let's call it £300, is NOTHING for what you get. This money goes towards:

• food while at the original shelter
• maintenance costs of said shelter
• vaccinations plus ticks and fleas treatments
• spaying/neutering if the dog is old enough
• passport
• travel costs.

Try and add up the above and tell me whether you can get it for under £1,000. The people at the shelter make NO money from the adoption fees. None whatsoever. Hence why whenever I've adopted I've given more than the adoption fee - because it was still much MUCH cheaper than the actual cost.

Also, OP please do only listen to people with first-hand experience of rescue places. 'I heard stories of...' or 'A friend of mine got a dog from a rescue centre...' are just not reliable enough IMO.

What makes Romanian dogs more important? Is a question I could ask. If everyone goes for dogs abroad what happens to UK dogs. Some love the praise that comes with rescuing a foreign dog so they can tell everyone what kind person they are rescuing a poor dog from abroad. While ours sit in shelters because they've got it a little better. Disgusting.

Also, OP please do only listen to people with first-hand experience of rescue places. 'I heard stories of...' or 'A friend of mine got a dog from a rescue centre...' are just not reliable enough IMO.

I don't think owner experience is necessarily accurate either. The number of people I meet who say "oh don't worry, he's friendly!" while their dog is clearly being the total opposite, tells me that a lot of owners will overlook the negative traits in their dog - simply because they love them and don't like to think of their dog in that way.

Do you understand the difference between humane and inhumane shelter conditions @Orkneys? I’ve explained the way I see things - prioritising according to need - but it seems like you’re not really interested.

It cannot be disputed that the vast majority of dogs in U.K. rescues are there because they have issues, often because they were impulse purchases and poorly trained and socialised.

We’ve had a number of rescue dogs over the years and they were, without exception difficult dogs.

We looked for 18 months for a suitable U.K. rescue. We have children and a cat. We didn’t come across a single one in that 18 months that a rescue would be happy rehoming with us, experienced dog owners with no breed, size or anything else preference.

We rehomed a dog from Cyprus. He was leish positive, easily treated with a daily pill. Leish is not transmitted from dog to dog, only via a sandfly that we do not have here in the U.K.

It’s a fallacy that U.K. rescues are bursting at the seams with needy pups that will fit into family life. This simply isn’t the case

You’ll often see many tears mentioned on here, a big, respected shelter that rehome, almost elusively, ex breeding dogs. I find that hugely problematic myself, though of course I’m happy those indigenous mis treated dogs are sent to happier homes, it does rather support puppy farming in a round about way, giving the bastards an easy out once the poor bitches are spent.