Romanian rescues anyone?

[disappearingfish]

We lost our old boy early last summer and are ready to take on another rescue.

We have had a home check with a charity that rescues dogs from Romania and have been matched with a 2 year old dog that looks lovely.

Has anyone been through this? I'm slightly nervous about adopting a dog that you don't meet IRL first. Otherwise the organisation seems great.

I’ve had three rescues from different RSPCA centres and have never come across that. We have been asked what our previous pets have died of which is fair enough.

@disappearingfish Hope your dog is a sweetie and everything goes well! Best of luck with it all.

I've previously worked in a professional capacity for a very old and well run breed charity in the UK. It had money behind it and could offer support with behaviourists. What I learned through working there was that many dogs were handed in because they had challenging/aggression issues and behaviourists who can actually fix aggression or have any experience with it are expensive and almost impossible to find (I'm up North, but not in a remote area).
I've also fostered two dogs for a foreign rescue and both were promised as 'dog friendly, child friendly and cat friendly and ok around people. Three were none of those things. My rescue Frenchie nearly lost an eye and my cats are lucky to be alive. My neighbour was bitten in my home-a calm, mature lady who did nothing to upset the dog. Fortunately the charity in both instances took the dogs back.
I have a friend who is currently broken hearted who has had to put her three year old Romanian rescue to sleep last week as her resource guarding eventually escalated to biting both her and her husband. The charity could only offer 'permanent kennelling' to help her.

There are five foreign rescues I know of locally; all have issues.

In my humble opinion these dogs have evolved to survive any way they can, ie resources are precious and they guard and protect what they think they need to survive-usually food- which in turn makes them aggressive around other dogs. All problems to fix that are very very time consuming and challenging.

I gave up with foreign rescues as they dont seem to have the funds to provide backup and up got my last dog from a reputable UK breeder as a puppy and made sure she had all the health testing papers this breed required to prove my puppy was fit and healthy. She's four next week and has been an utter joy.

I'm also aware that in the next 10 years there may be grandchildren in this house and that was another deciding factor in turning away from foreign rescues. I wanted a breed that is as safe as houses with any future children. Sad - as welfare is in my bones, but that's my experience.

Think ahead for the next 10/15 years Good luck.

Ps: my charity would not allow us to rehome a dog if they would be left more than 4 hours (incl work commute)), which I think is very reasonable. Of course you can employ a dog walker but it's about £12 per hour up here at present, and anyone working full time would not be considered, which I think is fair enough.

"The other problem was their restrictions the dogs had - no children even visiting the house; no living near other people 😒; never leaving the dog for a second etc. etc."

No living near other people?!!!
No children visiting?!!!
Never leaving the house for a second?!!!
Major red flags.
My suggestion is to choose a breed you like in the UK and try a breed rescue for that breed. Look up their finances on the charities section of Companies House. Most need a lot of money to run effectively, but there are some fantastic breed rescues out there, and ask to foster before you adopt, or volunteer to foster. That way you can get to know a dog before you are emotionally invested.
In my experience foreign rescues are not for inexperienced people or first time dog owners. I'm reading the thread backwards and have given you my own personal experience with rescue work and foreign charities.

My suggestion is to choose a breed you like in the UK and try a breed rescue for that breed.

Did that, never even got a response beyond an automated reply. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I appreciate they're busy and working as volunteers but multiple emails over the course of a year and still... silence!

@cheeseandsaladcreamtoastie these are not tiny rescues. These are the major ones - Dog's Trust, RSPCA. Go and look at their listings!

Why do people insist on exagerating on these threads.

It’s absolutely not true that the RSPCA won’t rehome an animal if you’ve ever had an animal put to sleep. if any of their centres has even stated that there will be context which PP has chosen not to share. Although I’ve been to several RSPCA centres over the years and never encountered that so I’m doubtful. Ultimately most animals will end up being put to sleep, and the RSPCA will have put animals to sleep themselves who are ill.

Similarly it’s not the case that no rescue will rehome to someone if they ever have visiting children or if they live near to people.

I agree that the rescues are over cautious and make things much harder for people who want to rescue than they should be. I contacted numerous rescues wrt rehoming cats and most of them never even responded despite having constant adverts up claiming they’re overrun.

I ultimately ended up adopted from the RSPCA and the process couldn’t have been easier. Video home check, then we drove to the fosterer’s house to collect the kittens. The only part where they essentially controlled things was that I enquired about two particular cats, and they matched us with two different ones on the basis they were being fostered with a dog.

But these exaggerated stories just make it harder for people to consider the genuine efforts rescues need to consider when rehoming animals.

@MayThe4th I agree, we adopted from the RSPCA 6 months ago and it was incredibly easy,we didn't get asked if we had ever had an animal PTS.
And from very actively looking for a rescue to getting one took about 3 months which is perfectly reasonable.

The amount of misinformation on this thread regarding UK rescues is staggering!
I really cannot believe that the OP is going ahead and importing and adopting a dog they have NEVER MET! I hope the dog is problem free (which I doubt) More importantly, I really hope it is disease free (diseases never seen in the UK dog population are becoming more common due to this practice)
Yes, some folks have a good experience with their overseas rescues, but most don't. These dogs then end up as strays or in UK shelters, which are full with unwanted UK dogs. I really wish a clause could be written in UK law that when importing a dog the owner must agree to keep the dog for it's natural life, regardless of problems. If they do dump or surrender the dog they will face a huge fine. Perhaps that will stop this stupid practice.

@MayThe4th I agree in part, of course not every dog in every rescue is so restricted but once I narrowed down location / type / age there's a handful to choose from and sod's law was that they all had restrictions which meant that I would not be a suitable home. I absolutely get that. I don't "need" a dog, the dog needs a suitable home. I won't even express interest in a dog that has requirements that I can't meet. Unfortunately the dogs that I can look after well all seem very popular so after six-twelve months of fairly intensive searching I've drawn a blank.

I think I'm a pretty good candidate for dog ownership. DH is retired, I work from home about three days per week. We live a fairly simple life with lots of rural walks near by. We take our dogs on holiday with us, or have family and friends near by who love having a temporary canine in residence. We have experience of tricky rescue dogs but we're by no mean experts. Yet we haven't been successful.

@disappearingfish I think it's a lovely idea. Best of luck with your new dog.

Can't believe all the negativity here about not using a domestic rescue - save it for those supporting puppy farms.

Thanks @LolaJ87 . I would never buy a puppy, it's not for us. No judgement of people who do (assuming they do it properly).

As an example, I've just looked my nearest Dog's Trust which is a 100 miles drive away. They have 5 medium dogs available that are 5 years old and under. Two can't live with children. Two can only be rehomed locally (need multiple home visits before being rehomed) and one needs a house away from passing public as it sets off barking. So exactly zero dogs available for us.

I adopted from Dogs Trust because they are close to me and had an older dog that sounded like the perfect fit for us (and she is!) but it all comes down to homing a dog that needs one and who will fit into your family. I bet you can't wait to bring them home!

My main issue is that we had Foot and Mouth disease in 2001, which was absolutely devastating. Anyone in the vet or farming professions at that time will never forget it.
We’ve just had Covid, which, as it affects humans, has been even more devastating.
Both of these originated abroad.

Yet people still can’t see why vets have concerns about importing dogs and cats in huge numbers. Yes, they should all be vaccinated against rabies, but there have been lots of cases where they haven’t - puppies imported too young to be eligible for vaccines, dodgy vaccination cards, microchips not tallying with vaccination cards. If rabies gets into a country with no immunity, no experience of handling it the consequences it could be devastating.

@SayingwhatIreallythink my understanding is that it is already illegal to import puppies under six months. So you're talking about criminal activity. Which I presume no one would condone.

I don't remember foot and mouth originating from abroad - I thought it was poor farming and reporting practices in the UK, and that it spread from the UK to Europe.

Foot and Mouth originated in France

Dogs Trust assessment of their dogs will be way higher than any dog coming from abroad. Most foreign rescues do not have qualified staff assessing the dogs that are matched.

You are taking a gamble taking on a dog you have not seen but really hope it works out for you

Love that you are saying Dogs Trust is a 100 miles from you but then you are adopting a dog nearly 2000 miles away from you

Some of the large livestock guardian mixes are not happy being brought indoors and can be dangerous. Know a kangal-mix that is a nightmare. There was a study that many street dogs were happier in packs. Risk of bringing disease with the dog. https://www.theguardian.com/global/2019/jan/08/they-look-cute-but-should-we-rescue-romanias-street-dogs

Of course people don’t condone it, the point being that people don’t realise it’s happening until they turn up with their new dog at a vets practice and the vet points these things out.

We didn’t have Foot and Mouth disease in the U.K. at the time of the outbreak, and yes, the poor practices at a certain farm was found to be the cause, but it still shows what can happen if people don’t worry about bio security.
Rabies isn’t as infectious as FMDV but it could easily become widespread if it gets into the wildlife population. It’s really not worth the risk.

The point about being 100 miles away is that the Dog's Trust will not consider us as suitable adopters for many of their dogs as they want an extended settling in process, which is not possible when we live 2 hours drive away 🤷🏻‍♀️. Completely trust their judgement but it rules us out.

RSPCA has exactly one medium sized dog that can live with children in my county. I obviously live in a dog desert!

Thanks, I've discounted large herd breeds for several reasons. I also wince at people buying huskies as they seem wholly unsuited to normal family homes (although they are beautiful).

So the fact that you are not happy to put in the effort to drive for a couple of hours a few times puts you off adopting from the UK.

So you do not meet UK rehoming criteria (which you took offence to earlier)

Many people will drive hundreds of miles to get the right dog and visit many many times

I really really do hope it works out for you but it is a big gamble.

It is sooooo easy to adopt foreign rescues and for that there is a big price for many unsuspecting owners .

@IngGenius you misunderstand. I'll happily drive across the country for the right dog but I won't put a dog through multiple 4+ hour round trips for "settling in" visits. That's too stressful for the dog!

@IngGenius I'm not "unsuitable" as a rescue home, give it up please.

But will have the dog driven for over 24 hours across the continent........

The dog that has been assessed for suitability for travel and rehoming in this way.