Rescue Dog Barking & Growling at DC

[DogMum3]

We have a 6 month old puppy, he is from Romania, he came home with us a few days ago. He showed no aggression or growling and barking on the 3 visits to anyone before we adopted. My dc are 12 and 11, 12 year old isn't interested in the dog particularly due to SEND but the 11 year old is now terrified of him and spent 24 hours not going in the kitchen.

She doesn't make unpredictable movements etc. This isn't happening during interaction. She knows to leave him be to settle in. It's simply when he sees her.

I have rang the rescue centre and they advised to contact the dog behaviourist. I await there advice.

Family pups and previous dogs didn't react like this to either child. I have followed the instructions and removed the dog and left it alone after the barking.

I'm now very worried that the dog could bite. It is definitely not playful barking and growling.

I don't want to be one of those idiots that rehomes a dog then takes them back. I've no problem with pee, poo, mess, sleepless nights etc. I just didn't expect this.

He is fine with me and my husband so it feels like if it was just us he would be fine but obviously it isn't. Any help is appreciated.

Can’t speak for OP but one of the main reasons people take rescue dogs from abroad is that they don’t meet the criteria to take a dog from a British rescue, ignoring the fact that those criteria are there precisely to prevent situations like this one.

The behaviourist you spoke too sounds terrible. Others on here can advise you about how to pick a behaviourist that is suitably qualified. I have had rescues including one I rescued in Greece. PP earlier gave excellent advice about giving puppy a quiet, calm place away from children. Rescue dog need months to relax and acclimatise. They are terrified. Your puppy has been (presumably) in a dog shelter, in transport (van with loads of other dogs or plane,both very noisy and scary, then catapulted into a probably noisy family home, a totally new experience). Just be patient and kind and try to keep his surroundings as peaceful as possible. When he can relax and that no-one is going to hurt him, he can then start to learn how to behave like a family member. My current uk rescue was wary if children(having been hurt by them in her past) when I got her and growled and snapped if they got too close. I don't have children but now my dog has realised children locally won't hurt her and she will now sometimes offer herself up for a stroke to children we meet out. She was 4 when I got her. Yours is a puppy and plenty of time and scope for him to learn a new outlook on how to behave with humans around him. Please give him a chance and lots of patience!

We have two rescue dogs, one from Romania who has some Carpathian Shepherd in him, and a Border Collie from Spain. Not all rescue organizations are the same - this one carries out home checks and assess each dog as to whether they think they can live with other animals, children etc. The big Romanian one has been with us six years, our kids were living at home when we got him but early 20's in age. The Spanish BC is a recent addition after we had to have our old BC put to sleep. We took him on a foster basis to start with as he was extremely nervous when we brought him home but is a wonderful affectionate little dog now. We tried to adopt a BC described as nervous from the local RSPCA shelter but apparently didn't meet their criteria. I'm sure if they had given us the benefit of the doubt we could have worked with her but didn't get a look in. She was still in the rescue centre about 6 weeks after she was first advertised due to their criteria which can't be good for a dog like a BC.

Thats not the reason people i know adopted foreign dogs.
I have always rescued dogs, never bought. Was just getting fed up with only seeing dogs in local and uk rescues that seemed to have behavioural issues. Ex breeding stock. Not suitable for homes with children or cats. I was looking for months and months.
Some other countries have a real issue with people abandoning dogs. Not neutering them etc, so there just seems to be a lot more dogs available that dont have anything wrong with them. The british tend to not relinquish or abandon dogs unless they cant cope with the behaviour, and a lot of uk rescues wont rehome with kids to be on the safe side.
My girl has just been a dream dog tbh. Im under no obligation to rescue an english dog for any reason. My dog would have been killed in the perrera.
A dog in need is a dog in need, no matter its origin

Op never think you’re an idiot you’re doing the best you can and are thinking about the dogs welfare as well as your kids.
He is still young and just been through huge trauma, all that moving about and strange people he won’t know yet what’s going on.
Do you know what his history is? It seems something about your daughter is triggering him so maybe something has happened, it could well be fear aggression and hopefully given time he will realise nobody means him harm. Be thankful he’s growling though he’s giving warning to back off so like other people have said let him his his own safe place for now. The idea of a tray for your daughter to push him away is just crazy he might take that as aggression.
I had my boy from being six weeks old (U.K. rescue) he was taken from his mother at four weeks and he had awful fear aggression with dogs and people that couldn’t be fixed. My point there is this is something that may never be fixed but it’s worth a try if you can keep your daughter safe.
Your daughter would also need time, and have her confidence built to be around him, if she’s frightened of him that would also trigger him.
Has he been vet checked?

Oh ok, I'm sorry, that behaviourist doesn't sound very good at all. Hold a tray and push the dog away?! Wtf?

I don't think many dogs who have not been socialised properly from a young age, or potentially have had traumatic start, can be a good family pet.

It's for that reason that we ruled out any foreign rescues (well, that and the issue of some of these rescues sometimes just being from puppy farms). I don't think they should be allowed to import dogs like this.

Agree this isn't the right place for advice. There's a really good Facebook group called dog training advice and support. Has about 300k members. There are tons of guides on all different topics and then if you still have questions the admins will answer it.