What’s going on in rescues right now?

[PersonaNonGarter]

Can someone tell me what the state of play is with rescues right now?

I read that rescues are over-flowing and they are desperate for fosterers. Next I read that there are more people looking for dogs than ever before. What’s going on?

I am interested to know whether it is realistic to get a rescue (always had rescues in the last) or whether this time I buy a dog. I would prefer to rescue but the rescues aren’t getting back to me.

We follow a breed specific rescue. They are getting a lot of dogs in but they are nearly all dogs with significant behaviour issues that need homing carefully.

A friend works for ondo the bigger rescue centres. They have lots of dogs but they are all elderly, or have health/behavioral issues and are hard to find suitable homes for. Pre the massive price hikes both the breed rescue and the bigger rescue used to get more youngish less complicated dogs that were much easier to place.

Ah ok, so young dogs are being sold by owners where they would previously have found their way to rescues? This does make sense.

It is just hard to align how rescues seem to be so busy but equally there seem to be no dogs available.

It rather looks like that

We have recently been lucky enough to get a rescue from Dogs Trust. Prior to that I’d been in touch with a breed specific rescue and they had no dogs available for months nationwide. They said it was highly unusual but they could only conclude that, due to Covid, people are not so willing to hand over rescues for “free” when they can sell them on. I have subsequently noticed that it’s mainly the same dogs on the rescues website month after month (issues??). Our DD was one that didn’t appear on website - we’d said No to one dog as not suitable at all and they mentioned our DD that hadn’t yet been posted on site. The rest is history. Worth the 14 month wait!

There's still dogs being signed over, but the numbers are only just beginning to creep up I think. As others have said, many people have spent silly money on dogs, so any dog under a year old right now they want to recoup those losses.

A lot of dogs being signed over to rescue may have behavioural issues like separation anxiety or lack of socialisation with other dogs making them nervous or reactive. There's lots of sad health issues I've seen recently as well.

Rescues are very busy but there will be a lot of dogs "in the wings" so to speak, who may need vets or behavioural work before they're available, or they're reserved so fast they either never make it to the website or are on the website for all of 5 minutes.

Everyone wants easy dogs, dogs that can live with kids or other pets, dogs that can live in flats without gardens, but that's not what is being signed over. I'm sure I've read of some rescues with no dogs available for adoption, but full kennels, all the dogs they have need extensive behavioural work before they can be rehomed.

A responsible rescue is not going to rehome an extremely excitable dog, or a dog with bite history, or a dog that pulls like a tank on the lead, or a dog that's reactive to other dogs, to a family with young kids.

I volunteer for a specific popular breed rescue organisation and we have had very few dogs in over the last 18 months. The ones we have had given in have significant behavioural issues, perhaps as a result of being sold on a couple of times.

I am really feeling sad about the whole thing because I am sure there are growing dogs out there that would love a home with us. It’s almost as if the only option is a puppy.

I’m sure there is a dog out there for you, but it might not have been signed over to rescue yet. Or it might have some behaviour issues the rescue is working on before they’re ready. Or they might have medical needs the rescue is fixing up first.

The only option is patience, not puppy ;)

Thanks, bunny - I do appreciate that I need to be patient, we’re just really missing having a dog around. Plus, I could use the exercise.

Have you considered a Romanian rescue? Controversial on here but mine is just the best dog. Look up Dana's Rescue Dogs on Facebook which is where mine came from.

@NotJustACigar

Have you considered a Romanian rescue? Controversial on here but mine is just the best dog. Look up Dana's Rescue Dogs on Facebook which is where mine came from.

My dd has a Romanian wotsit who’s an absolute star and I hopefully will be getting one through the same charity soon. I thought long and hard about it but it is so difficult to get a dog through charities here. The RSPCA won’t let you have a dog if you’ve ever had a dog put to sleep (I was incredulous at being told this!), many rescues want you to already have a dog at home (!). I don’t want a pure bred dog nor one with difficult behavioural problems. I am so looking forward to our new dog’s arrival.

@YanTanTethera123 The RSPCA won’t let you have a dog if you’ve ever had a dog put to sleep where have you heard this? From first-hand experience this is not true.

[quote Happenchance]**@YanTanTethera123* The RSPCA won’t let you have a dog if you’ve ever had a dog put to sleep* where have you heard this? From first-hand experience this is not true.[/quote]
Bath Cat and Dogs Home last June and more recently on May 10th this year.
My SIL had the same response at Bristol RSPCA in 2019 as did her cousin who lives in Doncaster last year.
I will never support that charity again 😡
I was looking for an older dog, as was my SIL, rather than a puppy.

I was turned down by a rescue again today. I have no dogs but this dog might see one on a walk and that wouldn’t be good.

It’s really disheartening. I am looking into buying a puppy off Gumtree now. I never thought we’d be here.

Can’t believe that’s what it has come to but I want to be able to settle the dog in before we go away in October. I don’t want to wait any longer really.

We fostered last summer and obviously fell in love in about 5 minutes so that was a bit of a failed foster as she’s with us for life

I doubt that we would have been able to adopt a dog so easily going via the normal route.

I do recommend fostering as it’s a very worthwhile thing to do and there’s always a possibility that they end up being the right dog for you as with our little beauty.

Even going through a rescue can take time and requires patience please don’t rush off to gumtree and further support this trade of offloading dogs to the highest bidder.

we have an overseas rescue who is legendary but even this week the rescue we used have posted on fb to say they’re being inundated with requests and being abused for putting their dogs welfare first and making sure they place them in the right homes.

It’s all very sad

@PersonaNonGarter

I was turned down by a rescue again today. I have no dogs but this dog might see one on a walk and that wouldn’t be good.

It’s really disheartening. I am looking into buying a puppy off Gumtree now. I never thought we’d be here.

Can’t believe that’s what it has come to but I want to be able to settle the dog in before we go away in October. I don’t want to wait any longer really.

Sadly reactive dogs are common in rescue and is often a reason for handover :( and it could also happen to a puppy you buy off Gumtree seeing as no good reputable breeder would advertise on that site.

Managing reactive dogs isn’t easy and can almost be a full time job in itself. A rescue has to be sure someone knows how to manage a dog with those issues, and being in a very quiet area really helps. They have to protect the dog, if they got it wrong that dog could go on to get in a dog fight with a very sad outcome for all :(

It can take a long time to find your perfect rescue dog.

Surely most dog owners would've had a dog PTS, probably dying naturally would be rarer. It's not something I've ever heard from a rescue, I can understand asking what happened with previous dogs as how the info given can be quite telling if they 'got rid' or had pts for non health related reason.

If lots rescues asking for fosters then why not go for that and just fail & adopt one you like. Just check out the rescue credentials, any foster/adopt policies they have and make sure the dog assessment & support is actually there not just words.
They still have to match the dog to foster home but it maybe based on less info ( probably similar to kennel rescue) but if its an adult or teen home it's not so risky. Some dogs maybe have come back in from past adopters or need to change fosters so have more known.

If you are near Manchester, please get this poor love !

www.pets4homes.co.uk/classifieds/3377142-labrador-cross-collie-7-months-old-manchester.html

@frumpety that’s exactly the dog I would like! Should I pay for him? I feel like that’s doing the same thing as getting a puppy from Gumtree….

that’s exactly the dog I would like! There’s not enough information in that advert to decide this. For starters, it doesn’t say if he’s good with dogs. He’s not fully vaccinated so does that mean that he hasn’t been socialised much with dogs? It also doesn’t mention if he’s fully house trained or how long he can be left for (though of course people lie just to get rid).

Why is he behind a baby gate in all those photos? I’d be concerned that that is where he spends most of his time, i.e., that he hasn’t been socialised much. Don’t get me wrong, baby gates are great for managing dogs, but surely you would want to show the dog in it’s best light if you were trying to lovingly rehome it recoup the money that you paid for it.

7 months and doesn't have his vaccinations yet?! Very very sus! What's covid got to do with it? Vets are open as usual

Also- that advert, why are the best photos they have are of it going mental trying to get over a baby gate in what looks like a cupboard or brick shed?! That dog really should be signed over to a rescue and probably has a bucket load of behavioural issues that will take months to sort out, especially with the Collie bit in the mix.

If it's not a stolen dog anyway.