Genuinely curious - foreign rescues

[SuddenlyOld]

In the UK we are told that the rescue centres are over full. So I'm genuinely curious about why we import rescues from Greece, Romania etc. Is it just easier to adopt from abroad (less stringent for example)

I adopted a dog from abroad because dogs in the country i adopted from have no rights. If the owner doesn't want it, there's no shame at all in them just being dumped. Then they'll just starve. Or they get taken out and beaten/shot. There aren't rescue centres like battersea and dogs trust. The ones that get rescued are the ones who happen across the small, ragtag groups of kind people who do everything they can to save these dogs.

I feel they need homes far more than a dog in rescue in the UK. Best thing i ever did, my dog is a dream.

I am part of a FB group that rescues spaniels from Spain. They are just dumped, abandoned, left at kill stations, dumped by hunters when they no longer serve a purpose.

Everyone I know who has rescued a dog from abroad had done so because they were turned down by the local rescue centres...

I rescued my Romanian dog because he was already in the UK at a rescue who visit the kill shelters and take as many rehomeable dogs as possible, bring them to the UK and then look for homes for them. So he was already here and needed a home just the same as every other dog in UK shelters he is no more or less deserving of a home.

But why fill the UK shelters with dogs from abroad? Why not rehome our own unwanted dogs? Isn't it making things worse here by importing strays?

Yes we really struggled too. Don't have kids but gk visit and stay over. Also we work hybrid but always one of us at home

I still don't understand though, because uk dogs are also dumped and treated cruelly. Some dogs are left in rescue centres for years, or get rehomed over and over. Why not get a UK rescue? As I understand it there are rescue centres in these countries run by sympathetic foreigners

I dont know. I didnt fill a UK shelter with foreign dogs. I adopted a dog who was in the UK already having been bought here from abroad. You asked if people adopt from abroad because its easier my answer was to demonstrate that not everyone adopts from abroad because its easier but because the dogs are no more or less deserving of a home.

Why do donate to charities feeding the homeless and hungry abroad when there are homeless and hungry people in the UK? One group doesnt become less deserving of help because the other group exists.

Because they use common sense when it comes to rehoming dogs. I’ve been turned down by my local dogs trust for reasons like I’m out for 4 and a half hours one day a week which is 30 minutes too many. It was apparently better for elderly brindle staff I was trying to adopt to rot in a kennel for 3 years, where she put on a horrendous amount of weight and then passed away, rather than her get treated like a queen during her final years at home with me. I’ve also been turned down as I had a child under 5. My friend got turned down as her 800 acre farm doesn’t have a secure fence 🙄 My dad married a lady a few years ago whose family own a Spanish rescue, my family are now heavily involved in the rescue and there’s very few (sensible) potential owners that they can’t find a good match for. And the dogs are spayed, chipped, wormed, vaccinated, passported and transported to your door for the same fee as a uk rescue would charge.

It's the same for me. They looked for a rescue at home, some of them for years. But were never successful despite being willing to consider lots of different dogs, or they were automatically turned down because of children / other pets etc.

Those who didn't get overseas rescues ended up getting puppies.

We have a rescue form abroad, yes I'm very prepared for the onslaught of stupidly judgy comments in admitting that but in all honesty the rescue we used applies something most UK rescues don't...common sense!

They understand that a dog in a not perfect home is better than the dog being in a cage until it's euthanised. UK rescues want the moon on a stick and it's just not possible. They would rather a dog missed out on an OK home because they believe a better home is out there and in all honesty it's not.

Because most rescues abroad are a little less idiotic in the way they rehome animals. They’re more interested in having a chat with you, getting to know your personal circumstances and trying to make a good fit for you and the dog. Uk rescues are more interested in ticking boxes. I’ve known people to lie on applications as they know they’ll be a wonderful owner for a particular dog, but will have their application binned immediately because of something utterly ridiculous

We have adopted from both a foreign rescue and from the Dogs’ Trust in the UK.

We adopted a pointer from Cyprus because it was during the covid lockdowns, so all the local shelters/Rehoming places were closed, and none of the dogs that they had available for adoption were suitable for us.

In the future, when we want another dog, we will definitely look at UK rescues first, but will also consider foreign rescue organisations too.

As pp have said, we tried numerous UK rescues who wouldn’t rehome to us because they didn’t believe I’d be working from home long term. We therefore rescued from a charity that brings dogs from Romania. We rescued a stray puppy who was 4 months old. She’s 3 now and has a wonderful life. I still work from home. We always wanted to rescue instead of buying a new puppy. I was surprised how negative uk rescues are. Unless you don’t work and don’t have children, it is very very difficult.

This really. You get slaughtered online sometimes admitting you’ve been turned down by a rescue but went and got another dog anyway. Everyone always says ‘if you’ve been turned down by a rescue then they had a bloody good reason to and you shouldn’t own a dog’. I’ve just discussed this thread with my dsis, and she reminded me of when we were little and my family got turned down for a Jack Russell we were trying to adopt as ‘we want him to be the only pet in the house so he can be spoiled’, all because my sister had a pet turtle in her room 🙄 instead he got adopted out to our neighbour who used him for badger baiting 😡 like ‘let’s not adopt him to a nice family home, give him to the smelly scruffy with permanent whisky breath who is well known in the community for hunting and baiting’. The previous owner was devastated when it got back to her where he’d gone, but at least the rescue ticked all their boxes 👍

I've literally just told you that in the country i got my dog from, there are no large organized rescue shelters. All there is are few groups of people who do their best with no money to get these dogs to safety long enough to get them a home. Some are locals, some are expats.

Imo, my dog needed a home far more than any dog in this country could have. He was at real risk of being killed or left to stray and fend for himself. Once i took him, more dogs were waiting to take his place in the shelter from the local pound.

I wanted a dog like my childhood dog from Battersea Dog's Home. A medium sized, whippy-tailed, tan/black/white mongrel with an even temperament, good with children and just a 'normal' dog.

The shelters near me are full. But they are full of rotty/bully breed crosses and a few energised, neurotic doodles and poos. Not a proper stable mongrel amongst them. I could have found an overbred pug or Frenchie in my friend's litters but I can't stand the health issues.

We stopped accidental puppies in the global north and instead puppy farms, cross breed breeders and pedigrees (with all their genetic issues) are rife. The only place you find good mongrels is now in the South. Which is a shame because those are the best dogs.

I also have never subscribed to the idea that we should help 'our own' first anyway, be they people or puppies. Someone I don't know (or a dog) in Somalia is as much my sister (or puppy) as someone I don't know (or a dog) in Bradford. Everyone everywhere is as important as everyone everywhere else.

The 'shelter' my dog came from in Romania was a field with a large fence. 2 or 3 old wooden kennels big enough for 1 dog each but 100 plus dogs in the field.

They had no money for food so would throw over the fence whatever scraps they got donated from a local chicken factory and whatever bags of kibble the locals gave them the dogs would be left to fight over it.

When the dogs were bought in by the dog catcher they had a metal tag put in their ear, people had 7 days to claim their dog if not they were killed. BUT they were so overwhelmed they didn't get round to killing them after 7 days so many were left in the horrendous conditions for months on end.

If some kindly local charities managed to persuade them to let them have some of the dogs to bring to the UK they rip the metal tag out of their ear pretty much tearing their ear in half in the process.

Let's not pretend that these dogs are perfectly happy waiting in their foreign shelters for a local to adopt them. It just doesn't happen.

I too have been turned down by dog rescues. Because of my age. Yes, I'm retired which means I'm home the vast majority of every day! I'm fit and active, walk for at least an hour nearly every day.
Grandkids don't need me like they did when they were small so I have time to devote to an older, quiet dog. I really want the company and the walks and can give the time and care.
I've my own home and garden, enough money for any vet care/treatment. A car to take dog out to all sorts of lovely places near here.
But...not good enough.
I tried the fostering route. I was offered an old bewildered [very stressed] dog who had numerous health issues and behavioural problems. He'd been with his owner [gone abroad] for 13 years! I said I didn't feel I had enough knowledge to take him, I knew it probably wouldn't work out, I was being honest. [Previous dogs I've had have been healthy and well balanced dogs, no problems].They have ignored me ever since.
I look at the poor dogs on their site and could cry knowing they could be snuggled up here after a long walk on the beach...instead of weeks in kennels.

@beachcomber70 If they won't let you adopt then there's little hope for anyone else. No other pets, no children, you're active, have a garden as well as living near a beach and you don't work. Like another poster said, some rescues are looking for the moon on a stick.

A dog would have an amazing home with you, and I hope you manage to find a more reasonable rescue who cares about the dog rather than tick boxes.

I genuinely don't understand it either OP and would imagine it's mainly because people are turned away from UK organisations.

Rescuing from abroad means the funding of travel documents and a flight. Why should money go to this when it could go to helping dogs in their homeland?

I'd understand if we didn't have dogs in need in the UK but obviously we do.

And not to mention the issues arising from importation of diseases like Heartworm and Leishmania and the risk or bringing rabies back to the UK...

My dd adopted a dog from abroad because she was scrolling and fell in love with him on sight. I don't approve of foreign adoptions-but I absolutely adore him too.....!

Rescuing from abroad means the funding of travel documents and a flight. Why should money go to this when it could go to helping dogs in their homeland?

Better than than the puppy farms so many people are funding.

I hope it will be outlawed.

Rescuing from abroad means the funding of travel documents and a flight. Why should money go to this when it could go to helping dogs in their homeland?

You say it as though it's a choice between dogs here and dogs in countries like Romania or Cyprus etc but in reality the choice is the money goes to foreign rescues or to puppies who have probably been bred on a puppy farm. It's not going to UK rescues because despite trying many of them don't want it.