Ch 4 The Dog House - approach to rehoming

[Strawberrypicnic]

This is inspired by a recent thread asking why so many people choose to rehome from abroad.

There is always a lot of talk on here about inflexible homing policies (especially of the big animal charities) and how they force many people to buy or adopt from abroad.

If you have watched Channel 4's The Dog House, they seem to be able to find a suitable dog for just about everyone who comes through their doors. Families with small children with no prior dog experience, people living in flats, people who go out to work, people who have existing dogs and cats.

Is this really representative of the experience of anyone who goes to their rehoming centre, or is it just for TV? Why is their approach so different from other big animal charities? It can't be that all the 'easy dogs' miraculously end up at Wood Green (where The Dog House is based). Does it mean that e.g. the Dogs Trust, who appear to be much stricter, find their rehoming practices reckless?

I just find it curious really. I thought The Dog House presented a really positive and refreshing attitude to rehoming and I wonder why other rescues haven't followed suit.

The Dog House is telly, it's entertainment. It's highly controlled, almost scripted. The people you see will have already had their vetting and gone through an interview with dogs potentially lined up.

Also, I've not yet seem them rehome to a family that live in a flat.

I think smaller rescues are generally more flexible. Dogs trust/battersea et Al tend to get a lot more complex cases, several of whom have been in a rescue before that didn’t have the behavioural staff for their needs.

I have adopted 3 dogs over the years (including this year!), all from smaller rescues, especially ones that use fosters rather than kennels as there is a better idea of how the dog will behave, i WFH 4 days a week but go into the office once and have a Walker on that day, that was not an issue with some of their dogs.
my friend adopted from Manchester dogs home in a 2nd floor flat with a communal garden a few years ago.

I do think the thing is dogs that can be left for 4 hours, can live with kids and won’t kill the cat get a lot of applications so they fly out.

I also think a lot of rescues are pretty resistant full stop to homing with very young children who might lack the impulse control to not do something daft and get bitten.

The programme is quite scripted. You also need to look at their return rate.

The whole point of being strict with rehoming requirements is to try and ensure the dog has a home for life, rather than being returned (for example when the dog doesn’t cope with being left whilst owners at work, or messes in the house because they live in a flat)

Plus you only see a tiny fraction of dogs on that programme. In reality they have hundreds of dogs and some that have been waiting several months because they are not easy to rehome.

They chose the dog and owner that will make good tv.
(This is not to say they don’t do a great job)

They don’t just rehome dogs to random people who turn up, the tv show is at the end of the application process when they’ve already gone through applications.

They work the same way a lot of rescues do, you apply, they vet you, then if you’re not turned down after that, they have dogs they think might suit and you meet those.

The big rescue organisations do have some blanket rules, that are usually linked to the welfare of the dogs, outside space, not being left to work etc. But they don’t actually have ones about children or other pets, they just are really really cations about saying a particular dog is suitable to live with those because if it goes wrong they’ll get fallout from it.... so they’re rare, but they do have dogs occasionally that can be rehomed with small children or cats or whatever...

Smaller rescues are more flexible, because they can be.

But even then, honestly, most people who “can’t” rescue a dog either haven’t tried, or got turned down for one dog or... there are people who just aren’t in the position to have dogs, but think they are tbh.

There’s a rescue near me where I’ve seen people posting on their Facebook that they “had” to get a puppy because they live in a flat... they rehome to people in flats all the time, but the people bitching had applied for one particular dog, who while she was small and cute was listed as needing a garden as she’s extremely reactive to other dogs, they’d applied not having a garden and planning to walk her 4 times a day in a busy city park 😐

Another common one is people not understanding why it’s not ok to work an 8 hour shift leaving a dog alone, because any home is better than being in rescue... when the dog they’re complaining about not getting was in foster anyway and an easy rehome to start with.

Or the fence issue that people complain about all the time, like, just put a fence up! They don’t care if it’s pretty stick some tall stock post fencing up, it’s not expensive in the grand scheme of keeping a dog.

I also feel like those who are looking to adopt but live in a flat/have kids/other pets seem to forget that when a rescue does have a dog come in that is happy in those situations, they may get dozens of applications and be adopted in a flash. Being angry at a rescue because they can't supply you with an instant dog for your particular situation is just awful and incredibly draining for those who work in rescue. Those who are angriest seem to forget the rescue's priority is the dog, not the applicant.

No one is forcing anyone to buy a puppy or adopt from abroad, that's personal choice, but often linked to impatience. I also don't think adopting from abroad should be seen as the "easy option" just to have a rescue dog, it's like dog adoption virtue signaling, and it may not be the best option for that particular dog. There's plenty of horror stories to confirm that.

And just to agree with others, The Dog House is the TV version of dog adoption. Those applicants will have already applied months ago, been through their application and vetting process and will have already been matched with the dogs they get introduced to. There will be plenty of people who apply but due to the dog's in their care, won't be suitable at that time.

Wood Green have details on how they match dogs on their website, it's absolutely NOT the case that people walk in the door, say "I want a dog" and then immediately meet some dogs.
https://woodgreen.org.uk/find-a-rescue-pet-from-wood-green/adopt-a-rescue-dog/adopt-a-dog-how-we-rehome/

Their approach is no different to any other rescue.

These people haven't just walked in and asked to adopt a dog. They'll have applied online, been home-checked and gone through a strict vetting process. The charity will then select a few dogs who they think will be a good fit, and then they meet them on TV.

Anyone who applied and failed the homecheck/vetting, or who didn't fit any of their dogs wouldn't make it to TV.

I think the 'It's almost impossible to rehome from UK shelters' narrative is really damaging as people believe it. I did, I was afraid it would be so difficult to rehome from a UK shelter that it was not worth even trying. Thankfully I did try. And guess what? It was a really good experience. The shelter was excellent, they worked with me to find the right dog.
I have met people who have rehomed from abroad, and the dogs are really damaged (bit like Rory Cellan Jones and his rescue)
Why anyone rehomes from abroad when UK shelters are full to brusting point is beyone me.

I rehomed from abroad because a lot of dogs in pounds in those countries don’t have a nice bed and full bellies. They need help more than a dog in a nice Battersea kennel and I wanted to give a home to a dog that really needed one. Not one where the owner had enough of it and gave it up instead of training it. Plus I wanted a proper mixed Heinz 57 dog and it was hard to find one of those here.

I don’t regret it at all, my dogs are lovely. I know the narrative is that all dogs from abroad are damaged beyond belief but that’s really not true in almost all cases.

Why anyone rehomes from abroad when UK shelters are full to brusting point is beyone me.

Because for many people it is impossible to rehome from the UK.

I'm really glad it worked for you but many people don't have the same experience unfortunately.

Wrt to the fence issue - that was the reason over a dozen rescues turned us down. But it's not as simple for us as "sticking a fence up" - we live on a farm, the "garden" is huge and needs multiple access points for various reasons, fencing it would mean installing 2 full size farm gates and 4 normal garden gates! And fencing a tiny portion would be a massive PITA and tbh we wouldn't have used a tiny fenced area for the dog anyway, seeing as within 10 metres of both front and back doors are fields with stock proof fences (which only occasionally have actual stock in them, mainly it's meadow land and perfect for a dog to run in) but apparently we still couldn't be passed as suitable.

I love The Dog House! It’s the animal equivalent of Location, Location, Location though, with telly dogs and telly people being matched on telly, loads of behind the scenes production work, and a tiny snapshot of what actually goes on.

It really is as simple as that though, you fence off a small area next to the house and that’s your secure garden - after that it’s your dog and you use your own judgement about where it goes and how.

All they want to know is, is there somewhere safe the dog can go to the toilet and you can have them off lead while it could still potentially be a flight risk?

I live rurally, my secure garden is way smaller than my actual garden, which backs on to fields....not an issue passing homechecks.

It took an afternoon to fence it, because it only needs to hold a dog, not livestock.

I have done home checking for a couple of dog (and cat) charities and believe me a lot of people who claim to offer a “perfect home” actually don’t .
Some people behave as if they are doing us a huge favour and resent any questions. Others believe that any home must be better than Rescue kennels so we should overlook certain things.
While I am sure people get turned down for silly or fixable things we really aren’t crazy dog hoarders and we do want dogs in homes where it will be right for everyone.
Responsible Rescues like the ones I work with take any dog back and we really want to avoid that because it’s so difficult for everyone and means we can’t take new ones in who face euthanasia so it has to be right.

Whatever. The house is surrounded by, you know, a farmyard which can't have bits and pieces fenced off because it's.... a farmyard. I won't go as far as to show it to you on google earth, but I assure you it's not reasonably fence-able. I certainly couldn't fence off a section with direct access from the back door - it would still be 5-10m away from the door!

The securely fenced fields are as close to the door as the garden would be if I fenced a portion of it, and obviously massively bigger. Why on earth would a 5m² fenced section of my lawn be a better option for a dog to toilet on than an entire 2 acre field the exact same distance away? I explained all this to multiple rescues, I said I would be happy to agree to keep a dog on the lead for the 5 second walk to the nearest securely fenced area for all toilet trips...nope, not good enough.

I personally don't know any imported rescues who live normal lives, no matter what home and what age they came in and I do know quite a few!

We have always rescued dogs and cats. This time we couldn't. Reasons given were:

Cat (fair enough - not all dogs can live with them, even a laid back soul like ours)
Work - we both work but OH flexibly from home. Me a few minutes walk away with reasonable flexibility (to cover him when he has had to go into the office/dentist/Dr etc)
Garden - it is small but plenty big enough for a bit of play and toilet and sunbathing and securely fenced. We are 5 minutes walk from open countryside with very good, livestock free routes
Age - we wanted a younger dog. I am an agility trainer. I want to get back into training and competing.
No other dogs - well yes. Because she died. That seemed to be a big barrier for a lot of rescues. Some dogs need others. Many don't.

So after over 2 years of trying we gave up and bought. Many rescues just didn't reply to us. Ultimately there was always someone better, retired, no cats, more space etc. A few did come up with 'matches' but they were a million miles away from what we wanted or we felt was appropriate.

Do I regret it? No not at all. We chose as good a breeder as we could find over many months and visits. Do I feel a bit guilty? Yes as we could have given a rescue dog a great life. But I think nearly a year on we'd still be waiting.

If you just want to give a dog a good home and don't really care about doing stuff with them then it's probably easier. We've been like that with our rescue cats - they are what they are and we love them for it. All our cats have been long stay rescues for various reasons. But if you want to do stuff with a dog then you do have to be more realistic. Many many people I know who used to rescue now have had the same experience as us. Some have gone down the private rehome route (with varying results) and some have bought.

So in short, it's not as simple as people think.

I personally don't know any imported rescues who live normal lives, no matter what home and what age they came in and I do know quite a few!

How did you meet “quite a few” of these dogs who are all such delinquents? All the ones I know of are good family dogs. Since I have two of my own and been involved in at least 5 more through friends and family I’m always very dubious of people who just make sweeping statements about rescues from abroad when they have no actual, personal experience of them but like to slag them off anyway.

Lucky you!
I spent 10 months applying for a rescue dog all across southern England and Wales; we’re retired, have a garden, are at home nearly all the time, experienced dog owners, enjoy walking, the dog would come on holiday with us, didn’t mind what breed or how old.
The RSPCA told us if we’d ever had an animal put to sleep then they wouldn’t consider us (large notice stating this in the reception of three nearest centres), many centres wanted us to already have a dog at home (how the eff this works when you don’t have one yet?!) so that was a non starter.
I didn’t want a staffie/Rottweiler/German shepherd.
So I adopted our lovely Romanian rescue via a charity that rescues dogs from kill shelters; she’s a great companion and I’d definitely do it again.

I personally don't know any imported rescues who live normal lives, no matter what home and what age they came in and I do know quite a few!

Well I know at least 8 , just in my village and there’s nothing abnormal about them or their homes!
🙄

Well said@Nemesias , I completely agree!

I help run a dog training club. We see many.

I didn't say they were delinquents. They lead very difficult lives for the most part. Most cannot be walked and a lot cannot have visitors to the home. Maybe it's an area thing but two I know very well and are both with very experienced trainers and do not lead anything like resembling a normal life. They cope in a very small and restricted world.

I personally don't know any imported rescues who live normal lives, no matter what home and what age they came in

How do you know that the perfectly normal dogs you see on walks aren't foreign rescues, though? Unless you've spoken to every single dog owner, you wouldn't have a clue where their dogs came from or their backgrounds.

I walk several foreign rescues and they're just normal, happy, well-adjusted dogs. They live in homes with other dogs, cats and children (and even livestock in one case). They walk nicely on leads and can interact well with other dogs. A couple had minor issues with house-training but nothing that couldn't be fixed with consistency. They can all be left quite happily for decent periods of time and none of them are destructive (beyond normal puppy chewing).

On the flip-side I know several UK rescues who live very limited lives because they had such horrendous starts in life.

In addition to my own personal experience I’m in a lot of Facebook groups for owners of rescues from abroad and all full of happy, healthy dogs living their best lives. I only know of one dog who had to be returned because the owner couldn’t cope and he found a new home very quickly. Do you think that maybe as you’re involved in a dog training club where people presumably take their dogs when they have issues, that your view of them may not be representative of foreign rescues, and that you don’t have a balanced view to be able to write off foreign rescues the way you have?

anyway I’m off to take my nervous wrecks out for a lovely walk.

Virtually every dog where I live is a gun dog and very obviously so. I have met foreign rescues - the one I met yesterday had to be restrained whilst we were over 50 m away (I walked the other way) as it was so stressed, spinning and trying to get to us. I was told he has been imported from Slovakia (well shouted at not to approach, like I was going to!)

Admittedly that's the first one I'd seen for some time outside those who contact us for help.

I am really glad some are living good lives. I also know quite a few UK rescues who live restricted lives as well as dogs bought as puppies. But where I live it is more normal than not for the imported dogs to struggle. I have two friends who are vet nurses and another who works as a trainer specialising in imported dogs and fear. They all have the same experiences.

Personally it would be too big a risk for me to take based on my experience.

Do you think that maybe as you’re involved in a dog training club where people presumably take their dogs when they have issues

No, as a lot come as puppies and we see them develop. Two local rescues import puppies en masse and home them on as 'clean slates'. We do see some adult imported dogs but that's not the norm as they tend to need 1 to 1s as they don't cope in class situations (adult dogs are assessed before joining).

Like I said, maybe it's the area in that it's a few local rescues doing it badly. I don't know. The two I know very well one was from one of these rescues and one was from a well known national. I don't write off any dog or situation - I've known total idiots from genuinely good breeders - they are all individuals. But it's not the norm from what I have seen where I live.