Your experiences of Romanian rescues

[palmtreesoliveleaves]

I'm thinking of dog adoption and have been looking at rescues online. I've been most drawn to Romanian rescues as I haven't seen any suitable dogs at any of the "traditional" rescues. They've all been no cats, no children, too old, too big, etc.

The smaller rescues have been a lot friendlier to deal with and seem interested in your own individual circumstances rather than an outright no.

I know someone who fosters and I asked her about Romanian rescues but she said absolutely not as she's seen too many disasters. She is very experienced so I trust her judgement.

I have more research to do before being ready to bring a dog home but it's quite disheartening. I would rather get a rescue than a puppy but I need to be careful with a rescue as I have 2 children and a cat.

I've been reading up on Romanian rescues and it does seem that it can be a difficult road to go down.

Does anyone have their own experiences to share?

We have Romanian resuce. He's definitely quirky ! But he absolutely gorgeous and so affectionate. Good as gold out side on walks but is very territorial of our house, he will let people inside we just need to be careful. He ok once he's met people a few times and he ok if they just come in and sit down. He's always been ok with the kids friends coming as they usually come in with them. We kept him on a puppy lead in the house when ever any of their friends came in for about a year just in case.

You really need to research a good rescue though. We adopted through a rescue who only brings them to foster families first so they can be assessed.

My kids were both over 10 years old when we got him

To give the other side of this - I applied for multiple dogs through several UK rescues and was turned down, on the basis that I have an intact male dog in the home, don't have a massive garden, and live in a fairly build up environment. I also have significant experience of training dogs, as well as working with dogs and owners with reactivity/aggression/behavioural issues, my dogs walk miles off lead every day, and I work from home practically full time. So I can in some cases understand the frustration where you're just getting a blanket no without anyone actually talking to you to properly understand the circumstances.

I've just noticed my thread has been resurrected so thought I'd come back to it.

Still no doggo here although I've been keeping an eye on the rescue FB pages.

Does anyone know why there are so many foreign rescues in the UK? Is there money to be made or is it purely altruistic?

I've come across so many that say UK rescues but when you investigate further the dogs are coming from abroad, sometimes to a foster home and sometimes straight from the kennels abroad. The rescue market seems flooded with them.

If there are all these dogs being brought over with the majority having behavioural issues, then surely it won't be long until our traditional rescue centres are flooded with them.

I've just realised that I sound very much like "stop the boats" but with dogs...

How are there any dogs left in Romania?!

Mine came from a U.K. rescue where he was fostered but is originally Romanian. I therefore did not import him myself. I intended to rescue a U.K. dog but despite it often being said that 'rescues are overflowing' this really did not seem to be the case when we were looking. We have a fenced garden, someone at home all day and no cats or small kids but still had no success with the larger charities it was only this local one who had dogs available. They are reputable; they take back dogs lifelong, thoroughly vet and assess them, neuter them and offer training back up. The ladies who founded it are dog trainers themselves.

It's a small local rescue charity that I got him from who have a network of foster homes rather than kennels. They do have U.K. dogs but also take them from Ireland and other countries

There are restrictions on bringing dogs into the U.K. from Romania (and Poland, Belarus and Ukraine) since 2022 so I think that dogs coming in from Romania are much reduced now. Certainly the rescue I got him from doesn't ever have any Romanian dogs now but they do have Irish and Spanish ones. I their view is a dog that needs rescuing is a dog that needs rescuing wherever it is and if they can help they will.

My friend had one but he was basically feral, not suitable for living in a house with a child and other dogs. He had no recall, could get over a 6 foot fence and bit all of them several times. The rescue wouldn't help at all and it was an absolute nightmare for them all.

We've had him 3 years now and whilst he has his irritations he is overall a very good boy and a decent family pet.

He is territorial and barks very loudly at the postman and delivery people but he is fine with guests that we have invited in. He is reactive to motorbikes and to some unneutered male dogs (friendly with all others) but it's all manageable stuff.

He has never had an accident in the house, has no separation anxiety, doesn't steal food, walks nicely on a lead, recall a bit patchy but serviceable (long line is our friend). He used to chew stuff up as a puppy but doesn't now.

I don't think she has any worse issues than many of my friends dogs who they have had from puppies. Plenty of cockapoos with separation anxiety, collies with motion fixation, reactive GSDs and Dobermans. The aggressive husky that bit my dog they have had since a puppy.

Any rescue dog is going to be work. If you aren’t prepared for challenges, don’t do it. You have no idea what they have been through and what their issues might be, so you need to be in it for the long haul. It baffles me that some people don’t seem to see this, then dump the dog because it barks, or resource guards, or whatever. I have rescues (from Spain), all are thriving and are lovely dogs, responding well to patience and positive training methods. But it’s hard work. I know two Romanian rescues. Both are doing well too but also have needed patience and support to ‘get there’.

I would change that to 'any DOG is going to need work. If you aren't prepared for challenges
don't do it' 'you need to be in it for the long haul'

I did have thoughts of giving him back when his adolescent behaviour was at its worst but I had made a commitment and I don't break promises.

A lot of people do seem to have very unrealistic expectations that they can just have a perfect dog with little or no effort from them.

I have a Romanian rescue dog organised through a great rescue team uk/romanian. I have had no problem through the process of adopting my dog, travel from Romania was very professional and very well organised. My dog is great and very settled with us and my teenagers, cats and other animals. I follow the rescue on FB and see the progress of all the other rescue dogs and the wonderful life the dogs are having and the enjoyment of the people/families that have adopted. I am happy to recommend the rescue I used or if you want to see them on FB then msg me and can advise. I would always go with rescue now rather than breeder (have done breeder before but was just a business and not interested in pup after getting it) as so many dogs needing a home. The rescue I went with have a happy ending page on FB for all the adopted dogs showing their progress and new life, truly wonderful to see, but also highlighting some of the difficulties of adopting rescue dogs and the trauma some of the rescue dogs are recovering from.

My parents got a rescue dog from Bulgaria purely because the local UK shelters wouldn't allow them to adopt a dog without erecting a 6 foot fence around their garden (currently 4.5 foot) - they also said that they were too old (60!) to be allowed a young dog in case their health declined and that they didn't believe my sister (who also has a dog) would actually take care of the dog if they were unable to.
My parents had fostered almost 20 dogs from a local shelter over a 10 year period but due to keeping certain dogs they ended up with 3, one very fussy with other dogs so stopped fostering for a while. Of all those dogs, none had ever made it over the fence so that seemed like a ridiculous requirement to completely stop people from adopting.
They refused to buy a dog, and 2 had died by then and the third was very lonely so they adopted from Bulgaria. I definitely think its a risk in terms of behavioural issues as you don't get to meet them of anything before. Luckily he's an absolute teddy bear, such a sweetheart. They have had a lot of experience with dogs and issues though so they weren't very worried themselves.