Do Dog's Trust want to rehome?

[Brollywasntneededafterall]

Looking at local to me ddogs in Dog's Trust... Lovely ddog described as a pup. Looked at most 6 months. Criteria was dc over 16 and no other ddogs. Surely this is actually denying the poor thing a proper family life ? Of the 10 ddogs on the advert I got not 1 was suitable for dc under 12...1 or 2 for an acceptable reason like ddog reactive but not all.
No wonder people 'order' designer (mongrels imo!) ddogs or end up using puppy farms albeit accidentally.. Or worse Gumtree /similar...
What sort of qualification do these 'rescue' centres have to make these judgement calls? Genuine question..

What qualifications? Years of experience.
I volunteer for Dog’s Trust, and I’ve adopted from them too. Lots of people do think that any home is better for a rescue dog than being in ‘kennels’ but that really is not the case. There’s a reason lots of these dogs have ended up in rescue, lots of them will not have been from a loving home that just couldn’t keep them anymore. In a lot of cases they will have been bought as puppies, ostensibly much wanted by well meaning people, but in reality left home alone because people have to work etc, left untrained - missing the perfect puppy window of opportunity to set behaviours, meaning they are perceived as having ‘issues’ etc. Or in some cases neglected or abused. Covid lockdowns will have meant lots of people have bought puppies they now can’t look after as they need to go back to work, and they may be unsocialised due to the restrictions we were all living under. Places like Dog’s Trust are interested in getting the right and proper home for the dog not getting people the dog they want or think they would like. However, it is always worth rescuing, it is very rewarding, for human and dog. But though many visitors to The Doghouse seem to understand they may have a long, long wait for their perfect puppy from the right, ethical, breeder, lots still seem to think they should be able to pick up a rescue dog immediately because, ‘these dogs need homes’. Actually, ‘these dogs need the right home’. So, yes, you may wait a long time for the dog to come along that you can provide the perfect home for. If you’re prepared to wait for your rescue dog as long as you might wait for a breeder (with long gaps between litters, waiting lists etc) to have a puppy ready, then you will get your dog in the end. From first deciding we wanted a family dog, to getting our first, Dog’s Trust Labrador, we waited about two years. You can’t go on a waiting list as such with DT as they’re just far too busy with dogs coming in constantly to spend TE&M on ‘matching’ so you have to visit often. Lots of other rescues will be the same. But, if you have a breed in mind, often breed specific rescues do operate waiting lists for matching, which may work better for you if you’re unable to visit often. Once we had our boy, who was little more than a puppy but already had issues, we waited another two years before a suitable companion became available. That time the ‘companion’ was actually two female Labradors from LRRSE. They were adorable, fitted in perfectly with our imperfect boy and had them until they both passed away. So our boy needed a new companion who could deal with his foibles. Our last girl passed away in April 2018 and it took us until February 2019 to find our old greyhound girl, from Dog’s Trust, who is a delight. So, TL:DR, Yes they do know what they’re doing. It might take a long time, do it anyway, it’s worth it.

They also set the criteria they think is appropriate for the individual dog because they really, really don’t want these poor dogs being brought back in to rescue again if the rehoming goes wrong. Even with their level of checks and restrictions it still sometimes goes wrong. Just prior to covid my local branch had a six month old blue French Bulldog. They had about fifty people ring up in the first day he was on the website. He had been given in to them because he’d been bought by someone who could afford this desirable colour/breed but had no knowledge of how to look after him. He had many behavioural issues even at just six months. Despite them trying their best to match him, I suppose they can’t stop people lying about their experience, hours of work, visitors to the house etc. He was ‘rehomed’ three times and bought back each time. They don’t normally get it that wrong, but the level of interest from people who were singularly unable to meet his needs was ridiculous. In the end they took him off the rehoming schedule. He’ll stay with them now and receive the behavioural therapy and care he needs. But each time he was rehomed to someone who couldn’t actually help him and who just saw a desirable blue French Bulldog, he lost a little bit more of his chance at a normal life. That’s why they’re usually so careful, because they know how damaging it is for these dogs, who’ve already been let down at least once, to go to the wrong home.

Most if not all the behavouriousts at Dogs Trust are educated to degree standard in animal behaviour - so they have enough qualifification to make the judgement call tbh.

meet the staff and see their qualifications

On paper we are a great home for a dog, someone around all the time, owner of a previous rescue dog,not house proud and don't mind the odd accident/random destruction, no other pets, enclosed garden, youngest child almost 12. Look on the website regularly and we still don't fit the criteria for most of the dogs. It is sad, but they know the dogs better than me and want the best and most successful home for them.

Remember that a lot of the "easy" dogs, dogs that will happily live with kids, cats, etc, those guys may have homes lined up almost as soon as they've walked through the door.

That does mean that it looks a bit wonky on the website as it takes longer to find the right match due to tricky behaviour. It may be the case some of these dogs HAVE been out into homes but have been returned (sometimes within a day or two if someone has grossly overestimated what they can cope with), the more often a dog goes out and comes back in, the more behavioural issues it's likely to develop unfortunately. It's better for the rescues to try and be as honest as they can that some dogs just won't be easy and won't instantly slot into a family. Some really are hard work.

I just had a look on Dogs Trust's website, of the 18 dogs currently listed for suitable to live with primary school age kids, only two of those are under 2 years old.

A big mistake is to assume a young rescue dog would be the best fit for a family with kids. Definitely not true, especially right now as any dog under a year old will be a "lockdown puppy". Young dogs are most often signed over to rescue because of behavioural issues, these could include being uncomfortable around children, still being in that bitey shark age and not being trained out of it. They could entirely lack socialisation with anyone or anything. They could have resource guarding issues and have a history of growling or snapping around their precious things. They could be reactive due to lack of proper socialisation - you wouldn't want a 12 year old on the end of a lead of a reactive dog, that would be a recipe for absolute disaster.

Look for dogs over 2 years old instead.

I'd have to agree. We looked for ages for a rescue dog. More than a year. Gave up in the end and bought a labrador puppy. Her parents are working gun dogs, all KC registered, comes from a long line of field trial winners/ working gun dogs. Breeders were personally recommended to us. There are good breeders out there. Dog is now two and in tip top health. Beyond normal stuff vaccinations, worming, flea stuff, annual check up we've never had to see a vet.

She's an excellent family dog, we're rural and someone's always about. Dog loves the children, is determined to win over the cat, keeps a watchful eye over the chickens and ducks. Does need a lot of exercise and training but that is the reality of having an intelligent, enthusiastic, bouncy dog.

Our dog is wonderful but it's a shame we couldn't of offered the same happy existance to a rescue dog.

Not actually looking as we have 4!! Just get updates and photos THRUST TEMPTINGLY in my face!!
We got a dpuppy before Covid was ever 'a thing' and she is hard work. Can't imagine how she and the dc would have missed out had we not got her just in time.
When we have space () and dc is a bit older I hope to get 2 ddoggy friends together... We have a dm /dd and a bonded pair is amazing to witness...
Genuinely wanted to know how they decided that's all.

We enquired about a couple of dogs from dogs trust before we got ours and pre-lockdown so had a really good chat with them each time and they basically said that if the description says adult only home or children over 16 then usually there is a bite history or history of aggression towards people. If the dog is generally good with children but is a bit big and bouncy they will stipulate older children as well. If no history with children then they will say adult only. All makes sense to me to make sure the dog isn’t in the unfortunate position of being returned.

@Brollywasntneededafterall

Not actually looking as we have 4!! Just get updates and photos THRUST TEMPTINGLY in my face!! We got a dpuppy before Covid was ever 'a thing' and she is hard work. Can't imagine how she and the dc would have missed out had we not got her just in time. When we have space () and dc is a bit older I hope to get 2 ddoggy friends together... We have a dm /dd and a bonded pair is amazing to witness... Genuinely wanted to know how they decided that's all.

We got our puppy not long before Covid too. One of the benefits of lockdown was being able to involve the kids with training the dog. They all have lovely relationships. DDog does miss them now they are back at school though. Always has a nice afternoon nap then is super keen to walk down the drive and wait for the school bus :)

Personal story but I had a ddog to rehome (family member's relationship breakdown). With the help of mn he got a place in a well respected rescue. I form filled and wrote a huge page of info. I also asked if the new owner wanted to keep in touch... They did. Despite the details I had given they gave me great concern they had placed him with the family they had chosen.
Few weeks later ddog bit the small dc in the face. He was returned... They gave him a few weeks to be assessed.. Sadly he had an 'emotional breakdown' and was pts... Distraught was an understatement... I felt they most certainly hadn't taken on board the information I had given. .
I get mistakes can be made but it was one that cost ddog his life.

Personally I agree with the strictness of rescue.
I don’t think dogs with unknown backgrounds should be rehomed with children and I also don’t think it’s worth the risk of placing them into homes with cats/small animals if there’s any doubt.
Lots of 6 month old dogs are already damaged or have already shown aggression or issues. Just because it’s young does not make it a clean slate and also genetics play a massive part in how trainable the dog will be.

It’s more damaging for the dog to be placed and fail than not to go to the placement at all.

Some of these (mostly overseas) rescues are terrifying. Rehoming to families without even a meet first or without seeing how the dog behaves in a foster home before deciding where it goes is just asking for disaster IMO.

After discussing for over a year DH and me decided to start looking for a rescue dog January 2020. It took us 14 months to get one from Dogs Trust. Missed out on 2 because I underestimated how quickly dogs get matched and once due to just not being lucky enough to be matched. However, fourth time of applying we were fortunate to get a telephone chat followed by a zoom. However, we decided that that dog was not for us as felt he needed more experienced owners (and DT also came to same conclusion). I was ready to resume looking at their website but was told that many dogs don't actually make it onto the website. People like us, who had already had a zoom, could be matched with dogs that had very recently come in (once assessed). In fact we were offered two other dogs there and then, chose to zoom with one and we were incredibly lucky to go on to adopt her. More than happy with the whole process from DT.

Rescues can not take on board other peoples experiences and information. They dogs have to be assessed by qualified professionals in the time they are seen.

People lie, people do not understand dog behaviour despite thinking that they do, People surrending dogs will always withhold information or not understand the full picture. What is normal for one dog owner is not normal for another.

It is really unusual for a rescue to give you any information once a dog has been rehomed so your case must have been very special/unusual or an extremely small rescue.

Either way I think it higlights how carefull a rescue has to be which is what the Dogs Trust are doing. They can not assess every dog with every child so to be cautious they will say not suitable for children. Many big dogs will knock over small children even without having any "issues"

It is extremely easy to judge when you are outside of the situation. I think you are being unreasonable and unrealistic as in one instant you are criticising the resuces for not rehoming to children and then when they do you say they made a mistake

I foster for a rescue (not Dogs Trust) and currently have two foster puppies cuddled up with me. Every dog we assess and decide what is right for that dog from the way they behave with us, any history if we have it, and what we see of them. Last year I had sisters, one of whom was going to be best in a busy home with lots going on, the other needed a quiet home, ideally with just one person. Neither was suitable for children, the one as she was big and bouncy and would have small children over, the other as she was likely to be scared and also not get the bond she needed to give her confidence.
Then my last one before these could have literally lived with anyone as she was a dream - and she is living the life of riley with two little human siblings.
And that is all with them living with me 24/7, going out and about so I can really judge things. Dogs who are in kennels have to have an even greater safety margin applied