Rescues, is this normal

[MaliMom]

I have never rehomed a dog through a rescue before so no experience of this dispite being an experienced dog owner and wanted some advice.

We have always had our dogs from puppies direct from the breeder so never gone through the adoption process.

Yesterday I enquired about a little dog through a Romanian rescue who was listed as good with children of my dc ages and above.
If we are not a good fit for the dog I understand and we are happy to continue looking.

However instead of being told that we are or are not a good fit they are pushing a different dog on me with no explanation.

A much larger, difficult to place dog who is advertised as only OK with children double the age of my youngest.

I love this little dog but think I need to walk quickly away from this rescue.
I wouldn't trust a breeder with this attitude.
Is it normal for a rescue to try and push their harder to home dogs on people?

Why not go for a UK rescue that will properly vet all the dogs in their care?

Please don't risk an overseas rescue around your children.

Walk away.
Don't get a dog that will need to travel half way across a continent before you meet him.
There are plenty of rescue dogs available in the uk.

There are plenty of excellent Romanian and other foreign rescues. What you describe is not the norm and I would walk away from this organisation, but don't let this put you off in general.

I have a Cyprus rescue who I absolute adore and is great with children and dogs (but is high drive and needs an active home - he'd already been rehomed twice in the UK because he was too much for families with kids) - however I do see a lot of really nervous Cyprus and Romanian rescues at work that I don't think should have been put in the families they are in and sometimes the rescues just want to get the dogs home and don't necessarily think about if it's the right home so please don't be pushed into any particular dog if you don't think it will be right for you. Another route could be fostering with the view to adopt? My friend did this with the same charity and has decided to keep the dog but at least she had a chance to get to know the dog first. Whoever you rescue I would plan to go and see a local trainer/behaviourist - doing some training will help build a bond more quickly with the dog especially if it's an adult and if any issues do arise you'll have a relationship with a trainer and be able deal with them quickly x

There are some very good overseas rescues who work hard to place their dogs in suitable homes. Even with those, adopters can struggle because the dogs have to adapt to a pet life in a home, so issues like reactivity and zero recall are common.

Then there are overseas 'rescues' that are basically businesses selling dogs scooped up off the streets. Does it matter if it's a match? Not really - they've got their adoption fee, after all.

Do you want a large, difficult to place dog around your kids? One with an unknown history? When you already know that the rescue is at best being evasive in its communication with you? Honestly, you'd probably be better and safer to leave a kitchen knife on the floor for them to play with. Trust your instincts and walk away.

I could recommend Balkan Underdogs - very carinhg. We got a 4 month old puppy from them, and he is lovely. I wouldn't think that they should be pushing you to have a dog you don't want.

Probably better still to get a stray from the UK. We tried in the northwest, but it wasn't possible

The vast majority of UK rescues will not home to a family with children under 12
I have a 6 and 8 year old

She is in the UK in Foster and i can meet her, she has had all relivent health checks been spayed chipped ect

She is a far healthier choise than many of the quickly and badly bred lock down puppies unscrupulous breeders we're turning out quickly for a profit

We are experienced with large breed difficult dogs, as you can probably see from my username I am used to belgian Malinios.
The dog we are looking at is very small, I have no interest in this big dog they are trying to push on me

Thank you to those of you who have said about other rescues and that this is unusual as I say I have only ever gotten my dogs direct from breeders before but with all the dogs now needing homes I had wanted to try a rescue this time

This has unfortunately put me off and I have told the rescue that I am no longer interested.

I will be having a look at some other rescues instead

Nope and I would use another rescue

Are you only looking for a small dog this time around? Lurcher Link, Forever Hounds Trust and EGLR assess each home individually and don’t have blanket age rules re children, although they are obviously sighthound rescues.

Black Retriever Rescue and Starfish Dog Rescue are two more that aren’t breed specific. BR do tend to mostly focus on gun dog breeds, but occasionally have other breeds in, often collies.

I don’t know a lot about overseas rescue, but two I would trust are both Spanish, Podenco Friends and Galgos des Sol.