Tell me about rescues

[averylongtimeago]

We are looking to get another dog- we have always had two, and after our old girl died we now have an only dog, who seems a bit lonely.

I'm not sure I want another puppy- plus £3000 for my favourite breed is so I have been looking at a rescue.

We seem to tick the boxes: work from home, large enclosed garden, no resident dc or cats.

So tell me about rescues- problems, benefits, costs, foreign rescues...

You don’t know the history and depend on their assessment of the dog. But you can give a dog a second chance.
Personally whilst greyhounds are sweet dogs I wouldn’t rescue from anything that props up racing as I don’t think it’s ethical.
If you have a favourite breed there are many breed specific rescues you can contact.

Personally I'd rather look for a dog that was fostered than in kennels if possible - you get a better idea of their actual personality as kennels can be quite stressful.

I'm not hugely keen on international rescues, unless already fostered in the UK - the dogs have a long stressful journey & can take a while to decompress. My nan had a Greek rescue who was lovely once settled, but he didn't ever cope well with household appliances (washing machine & hoover really stressed him out).
I used to work reception at a vets and saw a few v nervous dogs homed to first time owners who really weren't a great match - v difficult when you are choosing a dog based on just a photo and brief write up of their behaviour in a kennel environment.

As you have an existing dog, you could be a great home for an ex-breeding bitch as they often prefer to rehome them with canine company.

Breed specific rescues are usually good, although not as many dogs available.
Pro Dogs Direct seem v good - all fostered.

Find a rescue that has their dogs in foster homes - you’ll get much more information about the dog.

I wouldn’t think of rescuing a greyhound as propping up the racing industry. If people don’t adopt greyhounds it doesn’t encourage breeders not to breeder or trainers not to race - they just go back to destroying healthy dogs or exporting them to China or Spain.

I got my Labrador through a breed rescue and would do the same again. They gave us lots of info about her and assessed us thoroughly to make sure we could offer a suitable home. (It was also a lot cheaper than going through a breeder, although that wasn’t why I did it!)

Have a lovely lurcher . Lots of them in rescue, inc lots of younger dogs who have been rejected for not being willing to run after things. I foster puppies for a small specialist lurcher rescue and have two of my own. Really loving, but not in your face type dogs, in general willing to have as much or as little exercise as you like, fold up small, and generally good eggs.
Personally, I think you are best off with a rescue who has been fostered as you get a much more real picture of them when they are in your home with you than in kennels.
I have my next two little friends arriving this evening

Rescuing a greyhound doesn't prop up the industry

The rescues don't pay for the dogs, and if they're not rescued they end up either shot or exported to China to their racecourses in even worse conditions, and often end up being eaten.

One man killed 10,000 greyhounds with a boltgun for a tenner a time, in County Durham
www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/jul/17/animalwelfare.world

I've got the most wonderful little dog from Cyprus. She is sweet natured, easy to train, great with other dogs and children and so loving. She was very thoroughly health checked by the rescue, came with full vaccines etc and they offer full lifetime backup. we had a very long video interview where they answered every question about the dog and grilled us on our suitability. Mumsnet on the whole doesnt like foreign rescues but for us it was the right decision. We couldn't find a small breed rescue dog within 2-3 hours drive which didn't have major behavioural issues, that's if we could even find a shelter that would rehome to us because we had children under 10. We were going to buy a puppy but you're still not guaranteed to have a healthy, well bred healthy dog even if you do everything right. She was dumped at the shelter as a 5 week old puppy, so not all rescues dogs are plucked off the street or abused.

I have a Spanish podenco rescued from the Canaries via a Charity. Wonderful dog, took a while to settle but you never know what they have been through. Use a reputable charity that does a home check, helps with placing the right dog with you, etc.

How can I tell if the rescue is genuine? I have seen a couple of Facebook pages - there seems to be a huge difference between rescues. Was asked for £900 for a dog recently- is that a normal amount?

Look for charity numbers and independent reviews, not just their own testimonials and comments.

The big U.K. rescues ask around £200 for a dog. Ones from abroad have to cover import fees so are closer to £500. I would say £900 is very high.

We rescued a 6 month old puppy from a local U.K. rescue but he is originally from Romania
They foster their dogs in the U.K. and the report we got about him was pretty accurate. He was toilet trained, had some basic commands and health checked and vaccinated.
Suggested donation was 200 pounds although I voluntarily gave more because it seemed very cheap and why not give what you can afford.

Upsides were it was cheap (still have all the other costs of dog ownership), quick- no waiting around on breeders lists and we have a nice healthy happy dog no puppy farm inbreeding issues. We can access support from the rescue for any problems although have not done so. Mainly though I just thought it was the right thing to do.

Downsides we did not choose his breed or research it very much. I was naïve about how much that matters. I thought he's just a mongrel and that's that but in fact he is a mioritic sheepdog and a) he's a lot bigger than I thought and b) he displays a lot of breed characteristics that aren't undesirable necessarily but maybe I would have thought twice if I realised. It's a flock guardian breed and he likes guarding. He likes to sit on the patio and woof at threats. That and his size is non ideal for a suburban terraced house.
He is not big on cuddling which is a shame but on the upside it spares my new sofa. He prefers the floor.

I suspect our ideal dog should have been an older Staffie and we should have hung out for one of those but anyway he's ours now and we love him. Technically I could give him back to the rescue as they will accept back at any time but I would never do that.

I don't think he has any behaviour that is related to him being rescued. Don't get me wrong he has a range of arsehole behaviour but it all seems to be within normal for a 9 month pup. He digs a lot of holes in the garden, chews stuff up, jumps up and mouths when excited and is crap at recall but so are a lot of peoples puppies that they bought.
Some dogs might have issues from their former lives but I think there are a fair few dogs needing rehoming that don't it's just a matter of choosing carefully

The rescue we used have loads of nice dogs like him and there is a lot of turnover judging by their website. They have U.K. dogs and dogs from abroad, lots of breeds and crosses and all ages. They don't let you have a dog you won't cope with (am glad now they didn't let us have the GSD cross) and they will turn down people who they feel aren't suitable (I can see that from arsey comments on their website) so I think that speaks of a reputable outfit.

I would say
Go for it
Use a reputable charity and look at ones local to you (we didn't find any suitable dogs at Wood Green or Dogs Trust)
Take your time, do your research and say no to dogs that you feel you won't cope with.

I asked around and spoke to people who used the charity I used. I think I paid about £400 approx a few years ago, but I might have added a donation to the actual fee. As dogs are put down rather than rescued in Spain, I wanted a Spanish dog to save a life - I also knew I wanted a sighthound. Podencos are an awesome breed. My boy was fostered in the uk for a short time before I got him whic( probably helped him acclimatise to the weather, stairs, doors, etc (he was a stray before). Totally worth the patience and effort.

I’ve been flamed for saying this here before but do your research on international rescues. Alot of them are glorified puppy farms!
Alot of smaller rescues foster dogs rather than kennel them.
What area are you in OP someone might be able to recommend?

Personally I wouldn’t go for a foreign rescue. Most of the ones I meet have sooooo many issues.
Rescues that foster can be brilliant if you have cats or kids etc.
Some rescues offer behavioural support if needed. Eg black retriever x
There are also breed specific rescues.
Good luck!

We got ours through a breed specific charity on the UK. We had to wait a while but it was a home to home transition so she came with quite a bit of information and her own bed. She was nowhere near £900.

Definitely go for a rescue. There are loads around - Google 'dog rescue near me'.

I know both rescue and breeder dogs and there's no noticeable behaviour differences. I find dogs are like humans - some are idiots but far fewer dogs percentage wise are thus.

Go for it and enjoy

Actually just sat and cried reading about that bastard and the b greyhounds.. More reason to give 1 a good life imo. Hope he rots in Hell.

Go to a really well known rescue. You must have a dogs home or a dogs trust or an RSPCA by you. They have very thorough processes for both you and the dog for mutual suitability. Love my rescue!

Breed specific rescues often have the dogs in foster homes rather than kennels and know what the breed needs and home gor the dogs needs. We have a dog from a breed specific rescue he is the softest dog ever. He's a bugger off lead but we knew that from.his write up but he is a gent at home which was critical for us.

Have a look at the dogs at EGLR - a long established, specialist rescue where all the dogs are in foster homes, and where requirements are based on the dogs needs not arbitary rules. Some beautiful dogs looking for homes or who will be opened for adoption soon

@Wolfiefan

Personally I wouldn’t go for a foreign rescue. Most of the ones I meet have sooooo many issues. Rescues that foster can be brilliant if you have cats or kids etc. Some rescues offer behavioural support if needed. Eg black retriever x There are also breed specific rescues. Good luck!

i have 2 rescues from Cyprus both brilliant, I know lots of others people with the same experience. At the moment Turkey are shooting dogs to get ready for the tourist season that is a reason to rescue from abroad. Try Safe rescue for dogs - the dogs are already in UK NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO issues