Aibu to think this is a bit cruel?

[Scotswood292]

My friend is adopting a dog from abroad. Whilst I think its an honorable thing to do, the poor pup has to go through a 4 hour flight followed by an 8 hour road trip (including 1 hour on a ferry) to get to her new home. I've owned dogs all my life, my current 2 love the car but I would never drive for longer than 2 hours at a stretch and they're 5 and 8 years. This is a 6 month old puppy. I just can't imagine the amount of stress it will be under.

Am I soft touch or is this too much to put a pup through?

Yes it’s too much. Having had a very upsetting failed adoption of a young dog from abroad who was clearly traumatised by their journey, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. BUT there are plenty of people who successfully rehome dogs from abroad so your friend may get lucky. Just a shame because the local rescues are fit to burst and we have very successfully homed a rescue from a local charity since (and the other dog ended up in an adult-only
home and is getting along beautifully) that they weren’t able to look closer to home

ChuckBerrysBoots I agree, I've always adopted but I don't have DC so we've been able to safely home reactive dogs. In my experience my rescues have all had a degree of reactivity. That's my other concern as my friend has primary aged children.

Counter argument is, of course, what will that puppy's life look like if it stays where it is?

NotMyCircusNotMyCircus PTS I would imagine.

It does seem a lot , but some dogs are more resilient than others . I met a bloke on the park last night with a rescue from Cyprus , the only issue he had was it didn't want to go in a crate which he attributed to his journey over , but lots of puppies don't like crates regardless . The dog was lovely and was living a great life .

I fostered a couple prior to them being adopted. The state they were in on arrival was awful. They went on to have happy lives here, but it's pretty barbaric. But so is leaving them where they are.

pumpkinpie01 that's lovely to hear.

I wonder if they sedate them? They must give them something?

Eh it's a few hours out of hopefully a long and happy life.

picklemewalnuts yes, the alternative is terrible too. More needs to be done in these countries to stop all these unwanted pups in the first place.

@Scotswood292 I didn't think about that actually , it would be fair too I think. Makes more sense for them to be sleepy on the way over .

It's not ideal but I really wouldn't say it was cruel. After all, lots of people take their dogs away on holiday or transport them overseas when they move. The dogs will be well looked after with opportunity for breaks, as well as access to food and water after the flight.

I'd say a few hours of stress followed by a (hopefully) happy life is much better than being left to languish in a shelter.

My main issue with overseas adoptions is how few of the dogs are assessed properly and how many seem to end up in non-ideal homes. The transport is least of the problems IMO!

That’s quicker than most overseas rescues tbh, they often drive them the whole way.

I don’t think they are allowed to sedate them, I seem to remember it was on one of those reality airport shows.

My 10 yr old dog regularly travels in the car (at least once twice a month) for 5-7 hours with one 10 minute break to do a pee. He definitely doesn't "love" the car by any stretch of the imagination in fact he only started travelling in the car at 9 years old as he used to suffered from terrible travel sickness. But he and I have no choice and so we just both get on with it. Within an hours or so he's recovered and gets on with his life in fact I suspect recovers quicker than I do I feel as stiff as a board for 24 hours. I think we can over think this, initially I was worried when I started doing regular long distance driving as prior to this he used salivate everywhere and shake then vomit if he'd eaten on that day but you cannot let a dog rule how you live your life and ultimately he like me he has learnt to live with long distance and get on with it. He wants to be with me so he jumps in the car to travel when I do his ethos: if she's getting own the car then so am I. I've cured his travel sickness problems so thats a positive.

Surely worth it to have a life that he would never be able to have.

There is a constant ethical balance to be had whenever changing a dog's circumstances, whenever training and whenever medical intervention is required.

How much discomfort is it fair to ask the dog to bear, for the chance at a better long term future.

I don't know the answer and suspect there is not a clear cut one. Much depends on the specific circumstances and specific dog - and the human's unavoidably flawed interpretation of them.

Personally, balancing out a terrible 24 hours, followed by potentially 10-15 years of comfort and safety does not seem too high a price. But I also understand where you are coming from, OP.

I have different reservations about oversees adoptions like this (some, not all) - not least the realistic prospect of a street dog, or similar, to adapt well to house life. But at 6 months old this pup would appear to have about as good a chance at that as it gets.

I don’t think a 12 hour journey that results in the dog living a long and happy life in a loving home is cruel. I’ve driven 5 kids aged 8 and under, 22 hours for 5 days in Disney. They’d do it again in a heartbeat 🤷🏼‍♀️