Dogs from overseas. Have you adopted one.

[Itsmeandhim]

We have been searching for the right dog to adopt for nearly 4 months. And are prepared to wait as long as is needed. We'd prefer a dog or bitch between 1-5 years old.
We want a small dog that will get on with our sons dog who we have a couple of times a week.
I've noticed that a few dogs are from Romania and even China.
Has anyone else ever adopted a dog from overseas.
If they are a couple of years old what about the language.
How do the rescuers know the dogs history.

We adopted a lovely little pup from Cyprus who settled in straight away and she is truly adorable. She was fostered there while the adoption went through (took longer than expected due to Covid/Brexit) so that helped a lot.

@Starcup

There must be tens of thousands of dogs needing re-homed here, I can’t understand why anyone would need to go abroad to find one.

Because U.K. rescues have very strict policies on rehoming dogs, no families with children under 16, they want you to have 7 ft fences, home ALL day etc. We were a family who are very experienced dog owners who understand dog behaviour, had a secure garden, but I worked 3 hours per day a couple of days and week and had two children. They wouldn't consider us. We rescued a dog from Romania, she was in foster in Scotland first and I trained her myself. She is the most fabulous dog I've ever met - 4 yrs old now, adores my children, fantastic recall, gentle with the cat. I wouldn't swap her for the world. Do your research, do not get a dog who isn't in foster first. I can recommend 'saving Romanian strays', they're who we used and were fab.

Good luck

@notagainnotagain

If reputable uk centres won't consider you because you have young children, wait until your children are older!

I'm glad I didn't wait - both my children are 'dog savvy' and the youngest can't remember not having her. Having dogs really helps children to be confident around them...sadly my sons has many friends who are 8+ and terrified of dogs because they've not had any exposure to them.

We are both retired. DGc are all over 12.

Potential behavioural issues aside I wouldn't consider it because of the disease risk - BVA article 1, article 2.

Because the RSPCA won’t let you have a dog if you’ve ever had one put to sleep (there’s even a notice to that effect in our nearest one’s reception area) This must be a branch specific thing. None of the centres that I have volunteered in have had this policy.

@Itsmeandhim

We are both retired. DGc are all over 12.

Why can't you rehome a dog from this country then?

@icedcoffees I didn't say I was definitely adopting a dog from overseas.
I was stating that a lot of dogs came from overseas.

[quote Itsmeandhim]@icedcoffees I didn't say I was definitely adopting a dog from overseas.
I was stating that a lot of dogs came from overseas.[/quote]
Ah okay, I read your OP wrong Unfortunately, it's because rescues in this country tend to have very strict homing criteria.

But as you're both retired with no resident DC, you should have absolutely no issues re-homing in this country. I would much rather adopt from here than risk adopting for overseas, personally.

We did, from Macedonia. Was not via a rescue company, just someone we met that knew someone who rescued dogs off the street there. Was a bit of a risk I suppose but after we saw pictures of her we couldn't just leave her there on the street.

She's the sweetest most melow and low maintenance dog ever. Not very sociable with other dogs but doesn't react either just stays away.

We also tried rescuing here and couldn't. In our case the problem was the cat....

I rescued a Portugese dog last year. It didn't work out, mainly because my autistic DS just couldn't take to him, despite huge amounts of work with the two of them, and had started avoiding rooms that the dog was in, missing huge bits of family life. In the end the dog had to go because DS wouldn't be on the same floor of the house as him.

He was a lovely dog. Gentle, good with the kids. But an absolute nightmare on the leash. Incredibly reactive. We worked incredibly hard with him, tried every harness and leash going, and spent hundreds on behaviourist visits. Nothing stopped him pulling, nothing was ever going to stop him pulling. He was used to roaming the streets and chasing his dinner. His 'foster carer' in Portugal told me that he walked on the lead beautifully and got on really well with other dogs. Neither of these things were remotely true. Dog parks were out because he went for two dogs on two separate occasions. I had to walk him so late at night that he wouldn't bark at or try to chase cars. It was exhausting.

After six months the situation with our son had got so bad that we contacted the charity we rehomed him through and had him rehomed, he now lives on a farm in the middle of nowhere and spends his whole day chasing birds and small animals around to his heart's content. He's happy. That was the right home for a dog like that, not ours.

Do your research really carefully. A lot of them have a suspiciously constant supply of cute puppies. A lot of them are really not great.

I would also add the voice of caution.

Do loads of research on each rescue

Check out the rescue in detail.

Only take a dog if the rescue will take the dog back if their are issues - check there are no issues they will not take the dog back with

Do not take the dog straight off the streets ensure it has been fostered and fully assessed and ask for the assessment in writing

Get a written contract from the rescue

Ask question about the dog, many will not be used to collars, leads and had very limited socialising do not take these.

Unfortunately working in behaviour I see an awful lot of rescue dogs and some very very unhappy and sad owners who have been given totally unsuitable dogs for their family.

@Cornishqween it’s unfair to brand all UK rescues as being “too strict”, it’s just not true. I have so many friends who work full time, and have adopted, have young children, and have adopted, have cats, live in flats etc etc

It’s just dogs that are signed over and are “easy” or suitable for those homes are so incredibly popular they’re reserved and rehoused quickly. Which is why all the dogs on websites seem to need specific requirements - they’re the trickier ones, the easy ones may never even hit the website.

People need to be patient and build a friendly relationship with rescues. Being entitled and bad mouthing rescues on the internet because they didn’t immediately meet your requirements is unfair and daft. Rescues are not Amazon Prime, they do not exist to provide you with a dog. They exist to find the dogs in their care the right home.

As for rescuing from abroad - ask those rescues what they’re doing in-country to prevent stray dogs or unwanted litters. Do they rehome in-country too? Do they do catch, neuter, release programmes like Dogs Trust Worldwide and The Mayhew International do? Do they offer dog ownership education to the locals? I’m wary of rescues who seem to exist to just grab dogs out of pounds and fling them around Europe to new homes and that’s it.

@Happenchance

Because the RSPCA won’t let you have a dog if you’ve ever had one put to sleep (there’s even a notice to that effect in our nearest one’s reception area) This must be a branch specific thing. None of the centres that I have volunteered in have had this policy.

I suspect that's an error. Keeping a dog alive to suffer unnecessarily would be a bigger welfare problem.

Also how would they even know?

@Starcup

There must be tens of thousands of dogs needing re-homed here, I can’t understand why anyone would need to go abroad to find one.

In our case it was because no UK rescue would rehome to us due to us having cats. That plus we live hours from a city and so home checks were problematical. The rescue in Cyprus worked with us on that and we gave them a tour of our home and garden via FaceTime. We were also interviewed at the same time as to our experience and suitability.

Adopting in the UK is far from easy and I can see why so many end up buying from breeders.

Yes, i have a wonderful spanish dog. Shes an absolute darling. Id do it again.
I had a list of requirements and was looking for a rescue for ages before the right one came up. I dont care where they were born.

@Starcup

There must be tens of thousands of dogs needing re-homed here, I can’t understand why anyone would need to go abroad to find one.

Youd think, but they make it so diffiv

I've got two brilliant little dogs from Cyprus. I wanted a proper mixed breed mongrel dog and thats what I've got.

Make sure you get a contract and make sure the rescue will provide rescue backup. And don't feel bad about getting a dog from abroad - a lot of dogs overseas aren't living in comfy indoor kennels with 2 meals a day and regular walks - they need people who are willing to give them a chance at a decent life. Any rescue dog is hard work but it's incredibly rewarding.

• so difficult. Also didnt seem to be that easy to find uk rescue dogs without significant issues. I didnt have time for a big project. I really just wanted an older dog, good with cats, kids, other dogs, housetrained etc. One that was calm and would slot into our life. Thats what I got! There are lots of rescue dogs in uk and ive had those before too, but this time i got a spanish one. I also got a foreign boyfriend despite there being british men available

I haven't but I have two friends that have. One from the souda shelter in Crete, all great, no problems. The other one was from Romania and all fine there too but I'm not sure which charity she rehomed through.

@Starcup

There must be tens of thousands of dogs needing re-homed here, I can’t understand why anyone would need to go abroad to find one.

Probably because they don't want a bull terrier or jack Russell, and they have children (loads of uk rescues won't allow you to rescue if you have kids under 12)

[quote bunnygeek]@Cornishqween it’s unfair to brand all UK rescues as being “too strict”, it’s just not true. I have so many friends who work full time, and have adopted, have young children, and have adopted, have cats, live in flats etc etc

It’s just dogs that are signed over and are “easy” or suitable for those homes are so incredibly popular they’re reserved and rehoused quickly. Which is why all the dogs on websites seem to need specific requirements - they’re the trickier ones, the easy ones may never even hit the website.

People need to be patient and build a friendly relationship with rescues. Being entitled and bad mouthing rescues on the internet because they didn’t immediately meet your requirements is unfair and daft. Rescues are not Amazon Prime, they do not exist to provide you with a dog. They exist to find the dogs in their care the right home.

As for rescuing from abroad - ask those rescues what they’re doing in-country to prevent stray dogs or unwanted litters. Do they rehome in-country too? Do they do catch, neuter, release programmes like Dogs Trust Worldwide and The Mayhew International do? Do they offer dog ownership education to the locals? I’m wary of rescues who seem to exist to just grab dogs out of pounds and fling them around Europe to new homes and that’s it.[/quote]
As I and countless others said, it's definitely not a straight forward process trying to rehome a dog here in the U.K. I tried 5 years ago when I got my dog (eventually) and we'd been turned down by every rescue. I didn't even know adoption from Europe existed then, but it's why I went looking.
I totally agree that the needs of the animal come before the wants of the family hoping to adopt, but equally if you're overly picky (which some rescues absolutely are), then you rule out thousands of potential adopters who could provide a fantastic home purely because they don't meet the rescues list of requirements. I think animals should be rehomed on a case-by-case basis.

We've got a Romanian rescue and he is absolutely wonderful. We looked at so many different rescues for ages but couldn't find anything suitable. So many of the UK dogs are in rescue because they have major behavioural issues such as dog aggression or severe separation anxiety, both of which were deal breakers for us. Any dog we did find that was vaguely suitable was either snapped up so quickly, or we were passed over in favour of adopters who had breed specific experience. We've both grown up with dogs but hadn't had one of our own before.

Personally I think that overseas rescue should be banned.

There are enough dogs in rescue over here without importing more, with associated behavioural problems, no actual history, and some of who will have deliberately been bred in puppy farms for the so called rescue trade.

While I agree that in many instances rescues over here have too strict criteria, I equally think that the overseas rescues are prepared To essentially give away dogs to all and sundry with essentially no boundaries. We have enough rescues here, we really shouldn’t be importing more.