Adopting a rescue from overseas

[AlphaAlpha]

I've submitted an EOI for a stray rescue dog from Europe.
They dog (bitch) is a terrier crossbreed and just over a year old.

If I'm considered by the charity, what sort of questions should I be asking them? Especially with regards to the dog.

I've not had a dog before, my husband had one 15 years or so ago (cocker)

We as a family are ready for a furry companion, we have the time and space and I so want to get it right.

Any input gratefully received!

Unfortunately your experience of adopting from abroad is overwhelmingly the experience of people I know who’ve adopted from abroad. The dog they are told they are adopting is nothing like the dog that turns up at their door.

I see so many dogs advertised from Europe who are strays that live in kennels, have never lived in a house and yet the advert makes claims that they are the perfect family pet… how could you know! So many then end up in U.K. rescues because the overseas rescue won’t take them back.

Im convinced the vast majority are money making enterprises.

The overseas rescues around here cover the full gamut from lovely family dogs to those with major issues.

TBH the lovely dogs are a minority. That I have known about and can remember:
Lovely dog but didn't live very long
2xLovely dog except for terrible recall (one now sorted)
Nice dog but very nervous, never yet seen off-lead several years in
Nice dog but was a huge project to get her there, was a massive challenge
Okay dog, though with huge prey drive the owner is not equipped to handle
Dog aggressive dog who is quite the nightmare
Dog that bolted, never seen again
No idea what the dog was like but a large young dog was placed with a couple with chronic health issues affecting mobility and young DC. Was a very unwise placement and didn't last

So I would say, proceed with enormous caution. Breed rescues seem to be a bit better in terms of screening dogs and owners, and ongoing support.

Thanks all, I've taken on board all comments.
Our UK rescue search has been pretty fruitless so far.

I have 2 friends that have rescues from the same charity, and thinking back, one of them did have a scary experience with leishmaniasis.

You've given me lots to consider.

I have a dog from abroad as well as two cats, I've also had lots of UK rescues. They're all lovely animals. We were vetted pretty strictly with home checks and phone calls, it was a long process for us. Certainly not the easy option.

People will say "there are animals here" yes, but the animals in other countries are often much worse off. They're often seen as vermin and killed on the streets. There are very little animal welfare laws in place is some places such as Dubai or Cyprus. A government owned pound in Cyprus was shut down the other day, as they left their animals to starve and eat each other, the bodied were found stacked and in bags riddled with fleas and illness.

Adopting any animal in need is a good thing, don't let anyone make you think otherwise. Just make sure you're careful, do your research, ask a million questions.

The rescue I went through provides full back up, they have fosters throughout the UK who can step in if you genuinely can't cope. Good luck.

Sometimes it's their only chance of a life outside of bars, or a life at all (for example, many pounds in Cyprus put them down after 14 days only) They have a stray epidemic.

The stress of traveling is a small price to pay for a loving home that they often otherwise wouldn't get.

Leishmania is very common in some countries, but it is generally easily managed with a tablet a day and most dogs live a normal life with it.

TBH, I don’t have a huge problem with “kill shelters”. Sometimes humane management is necessary when the population gets out of control and it’s a damn sight more humane than a life spent in kennels, or in and out of unsuitable homes. I say that as an animal lover who has rescue animals and animals from breeders.

What's wrong with taking a local rescue dog OP?

OP has said:
Our UK rescue search has been pretty fruitless so far.

Why has your UK search been fruitless? Have shelters turned you down? If so, you would be wise to take the emotion out of things and have a serious think about why they have turned you down.

Fruitless due to my child's age but we are soon to be turning that age barrier around on their next birthday.

This isn't a whim, we've carefully considered this for a long time, and I would rather give an existing dog a chance of a happy and loving home than fall foul of 'breeders' that are in it purely for financial gain.

My sister adopted a dog from Spain. I would never ever have done that myself but this dog absolutely looked the part, she got videos of it living with a family etc, turned out to be a bloody nightmare and ended up being, how ironic, a rescue dog in this country because my sister couldn’t handle it. I think the people she got it off were basically scamsters.
If you care about the welfare of dogs overseas, why not donate to a reputable charity, and adopt a rescue from the U.K.? At the very least make sure there is a rock solid path of recourse if the dog turns out to be not as advertised.
And fwiw, I’ve met quite a few lovely rescue dogs from Europe, they were all gun dog/hunting dog types. The dog my sister had was more of the feral/herding dog type. An important distinction imho.

If you’re worried about “breeders”, all of the three dogs I’ve personally owned as an adult were dogs from litters from country-ish type people for whom that kind of thing is more normal, ie dogs having sex and having puppies, rather than sinister puppy farms or idiots churning out status or fashion dogs. Found them all in local small adds. All working type crosses, all wonderful dogs.

We were turned down for over 2 years. We are fit, active, work but from home flexibly, have a cat and have lots of rescue dog experience. I am an agility trainer and have behavioural qualifications.

Not sure we shouldn't have a dog. Reasons for being turned down were various but in short, there was always someone better for young dogs even with behavioural problems.

We bought a well bred puppy in the end who is turning into a delight. Sad that after years of rescue dogs and cats, fostering and working with rescue dogs that we couldn't this time. Numerous 'rescue' friends were also turned down in that time. Some still looking and some have bought.

As for the OP, my experience of oversees rescues have been mostly negative I am afraid. I don't know any that are 'normal' family dogs. Most require heavy management. I know two who have gone to fellow trainers, very experienced and neither really cope well with life. Both came to them as puppies. It is not something I would do.

Having a cat was how I ended up with my foreign rescue... after 2 years of applying for the few cat friendly dogs that came up, we were offered him by a U.K. rescue i’d applied to for a different dog.

and yeah, he’ll never be a ‘normal’ family dog, I’ll give him his due though, he is indeed very good with the cat 🤣 pretty much everything else in the world terrifies him, but him and the cat are good.

Genericusers - I disagree that adopting any animal is never a bad thing. In some cases it is better to have the animal put down. putting a nervous / aggressive animal through the trauma of a long journey abroad to be given to a family that can’t cope with it and end up bored in a shelter for years is far worse than being put down. Dogs don’t worry about the future, they don’t understand what’s happening, they don’t worry about their kids. I say this as a dog owner. ‘Rescuing’ from abroad is all about making the rescuer feel good rather than being in the dog’s best interest imo, and there are lots of people keen to exploit this. It’s so very obviously nonsensical to import unwanted dogs when we’ve got loads here already.

IMO, you would be incredibly foolish to risk taking in a random rescue dog from abroad when you have a young child in the house.

I walk multiple overseas rescues and every single one has behavioural problems of some sort. I wouldn't have any of them in a home with a child under 10, and I certainly wouldn't have one if my only experience of dogs was my DH owning one 15+ years ago.

I would also be far more concerned about the credibility of these overseas "rescue centres" than I would be about most breeders in this country, tbh.

I agree with this.

there was recently a post (which I think was taken down) but summed up perfectly why listening to shelters is a good idea, they don’t make up these rules for fun and games. They don’t want the dog being dog returned.
The poster had been turned down by rescues due to her situation (very young child and cats), so rehomed “privately”, and within a very short period of time it because incredibly obvious that due to her very young child and cats, that she couldn’t offer an appropriate home to this dog.

Personally I’d wait until your child is a year older and work with the shelter if you want to rescue.

The joys of a UK rescue is you can meet the dog several times, and have support and should it go wrong, you can return the dog. As an example someone I know was accepted to rehome a dog, she got the dog home and it quickly became apparent that the dog could not cope at all with the comings and goings of a small school on their road.
They took the dog back, found him a suitable home in a less built up area and paired them with dog less fussed about outside noises that they have had happily for many years, they are also still in touch with the new owner of the first dog and it’s all turned out lovely for both dogs, and both owners.

If that was a foreign shelter you couldn’t meet the dog before, which is an absolute no with a small child involved, you just pick them up near enough from the side of the road often enough, and have no support.
If for whatever reason it wasn’t going to work out you rarely have any support and U.K. shelters have alot of these European “rescues” with often severe behaviour issues that can’t be returned, which is what a reputable rescue would do if for whatever reason the new home couldn’t keep the dog.

We have a Romanian rescue. Personally I would only go for a charity who places them in a foster home first. So they have time to properly assess them.
Definitely factor in the cost of getting a good behaviourist/trainer. In fact I would say it's a must if you haven't own a dog before.
Take things very slowly and research properly introducing them to things. A good rescue should provide this information, we got a huge resource pack with information on what to do and why in the first few months.
I wouldn't get a rescue especially a foreign rescue if you have little kids. I would say over 10 so they properly understand what they should and shouldn't do around a dog.

Posted to soon. I should also add our foreign rescue is an absolute delight but it has taken a lot of work & he was probably one of the more straightforward ones.
I'm afraid I wouldn't do it with younger kids though.

This. I genuinely don't understand why people do this

Genuinely... We struggled to get a dog who was ok with cats. Most dogs dumped in shelters in the UK can't be rehomed with cats.

The Romanian dogs generally don't seem to have as big of an issue with this. This is experience from my own dog and many since.

Honestly if a rescue overseas is willing to adopt out a dog to first time owner with young children in the house, the red flags are flying like bunting.

UK rescues do get dogs who can live with younger children BUT they will usually be there in the blink of an eye, receive hundreds of applications, and straight into their new home. Most other dogs who are happy with young children aren't needing to be handed over to rescue and are happy in their loving families. It can take a while for that perfect rescue dog to be signed over and for your family to be the one who gets picked to adopt it.

Personally I still wouldn't bring any dog into a home with at least under 6's, it's just too much to manage and you have to have eyes in the back of your head, even with the most well trained of dogs.

I walk an overseas rescue that was apparently cat-tested and perfectly fine with cats.

He is absolutely not safe with cats and unfortunately his new family have a cat. She now lives outside for the most part or is confined to the kitchen when she's at home.

Out on walks, he will fixate on cats to the point that he would run into traffic in order to get to them.

I mentioned in my first post on this that I am aware of more than one “cat friendly” overseas rescue, that was anything but, including one that has killed the family cat.