Friend is adopting dog from overseas - could it be a scam?

[starfishqueen]

Hello MN
Has anyone rescued a dog from overseas? A friend contacted a dog rescue place in North Africa this time last year & chose a dog. Since then my friend has been sending over funds (a lot of money) to pay for the dogs rabies jabs & other things.
First the dog was going to come last summer, then Autumn, Easter, now apparently this month.
There have been no checks on my friends home & they don't seem to have any U.K. contacts. My friend has been told the dog doesn't have any triggers, is house trained & very well behaved so she's not concerned for her young children/cat.
A few friends have said they think it's a scam. I feel worried that if the dog does come it will be much harder work than my friend thinks.
Any thoughts from those who have rescued dogs from overseas, gratefully accepted!

Most of the cases are foreign rescues who escape in the first week of being in a UK home or even 15 dogs that escaped at a Motorway service station when being collected by new owners!

That is awful! Were they all found safe and well?

@PollyRoulson

Ancedotal evidence is so difficult to assess. From my angle I run a dog tracking service that searches for lost dogs.

Most of the cases are foreign rescues who escape in the first week of being in a UK home or even 15 dogs that escaped at a Motorway service station when being collected by new owners!

This is down to poor advice and support from the rescue and also the difficulties that foreign rescue dogs have in settling in homes.

I do not see this number with UK rescues or UK breed dogs.

You got a home check from Battersea?

actually it was my dp that got a battersea dog before we got together, but yes, they came and checked his flat and then offered him one of two dogs they thought would be ok with a flat. This was probably nearly 20 years ago though.

Leish:
Its not a serious or big enough issue to try and stop people rescuing from abroad though, when you put it into the context of health issues that a lot of bred puppies have
I'm not having a go at you, but Leish would be a big problem if the relevant sandfly species were to set up home in the UK, not just for the dogs and their owners (as it is with for example BOAS and hip dysplasia) but for all of us. Leish is a very nasty illness for people as well as for dogs.

I've lived in countries with endemic rabies, brucellosis and God knows what else, and the health and administrative burden is huge. Many of these diseases have been brought under control in my lifetime (rabies being one) after massive local and international efforts. WTF do we want to to risk introducing one to the UK?

I'm very aware that some overseas rescues are very, very good, but the more I see of overseas rescue dogs around here, the more cautious it makes me of ever taking one on myself (in the past few years we've had one who did a runner but was found a week or so later, and another who did a runner who never reappeared, plus the 'project dog', the dog aggressive one who has caused his owner massive stress, and the fiasco of the large breed puppy). The success rate in terms of a dog going easily into a new home and adjusting well seems to be about 50%. It's a combo of poor matching of dog and people, lack of advice and dogs that are just not suited, by reason of their upbringing, to be chilled domestic pets.

Because leish is transmitted by sandflies, not dog to dog or dog to human, and if you are saying that we could get sandflies here in the future, then we would be at risk of leish then, then what relevence does having foreign rescue dogs here now have?
They dont even have leish in northern spain or france,so unlikely to become a big problem here anytime soon.
Also people pay their own vet bills. It isnt going to be putting any strain on public purse.
As i said, dogs are tested for it before coming over as well as other issues like rabies of course and have to be fit to travel

@warmfluffytowels

Most of the cases are foreign rescues who escape in the first week of being in a UK home or even 15 dogs that escaped at a Motorway service station when being collected by new owners!

That is awful! Were they all found safe and well?

Some were, some were run over - it was tragic

It doesn’t sound how rescue typically is - usually UK based individuals as part of the rescue partner with a sanctuary in another country and support their rehoming as the chances of them being adopted in their own country is minimal. There’ll usually be home checks done as well as forms to fill out and a date agreed for transport. A good rescue will be able to detail who they’re travelling with and complete all of the import paperwork which they should provide and an adoption contract.

The attitudes and treatment of dogs abroad by the people in those countries can also be absolutely savage I.e Podencos and Galgos in Spain. Put that with the many demands lots of UK rescues put in the way of prospective adopters..
Regardless of where they come from, a life saved is one after all but it shouldn’t be thought of as an easy option for people who’ve never had a dog or done their research. I hope they get the dog and it turns out okay 🤞🏼.

I don’t agree with it however if it’s not done properly. There’s a kennels in the UK that imports Spanish dogs from a rescue almost to order, for families, or just to move the dogs into their kennels, without carrying out home checks and they don’t let people in to visit and see the dogs. They adopted out a nervous dog who needed experience and understanding to a family with children. They were then returned very quickly with a damning behaviourist report but another rescue took over, found them a suitable family and they are nothing like that report. They also lost the same dog multiple times. Research is paramount, you’ll find the good ones!

@Branleuse

Because leish is transmitted by sandflies, not dog to dog or dog to human, and if you are saying that we could get sandflies here in the future, then we would be at risk of leish then, then what relevence does having foreign rescue dogs here now have? They dont even have leish in northern spain or france,so unlikely to become a big problem here anytime soon. Also people pay their own vet bills. It isnt going to be putting any strain on public purse. As i said, dogs are tested for it before coming over as well as other issues like rabies of course and have to be fit to travel

Infected rescue dogs would be a reservoir of infection. It's odds-on that we'll end up with sandflies at least in the south of the UK at some future point - maybe within a decade, probably longer. Once sandflies have it, it becomes a risk for people. And then it would be a strain on the public purse.

Personally I prefer to be very cautious around the possibility of introducing serious illnesses.