For weeks we have searched rescue centres for a youngish family dog. We've tried RSPCA, Battersea, Dogs Trust, Many Tears, Bordercollie Trust, Collie rescue, local rescues, much less local ones

[Slowslowreader]

Please can some one think of anything that might help. The last two I spoke to said they had absolutely nothing in but young dogs with behavioural problems (often lockdown related) and big breed dogs/ greyhounds. We have such a dog shaped hole in this house. We'd love to fill it. Has anyone any suggestions please?

https://www.manytearsrescue.org/displaymtarr_dog.php?id=40841

How about a lovely spaniel? This one doesn't have any behaviour issues.

Have you looked at Hope Rescue, just over the Welsh border?

Many tears such a great charity completely nothing like a collie

Or a collie. This one might just be the one!

https://www.manytearsrescue.org/displaymtarr_dog.php?id=40988

You could try asking if you can put a "wanted" sign up at the local livestock mart, somebody might have a couple of spare collie pups going, or a youngster that doesn't have enough drive to work.

Or a female collie?

https://www.manytearsrescue.org/displaymtarr_dog.php?id=40989

They've got enough dogs that meet your criteria that it might just be worth travelling down

Almost dog rescue have a collie in at the moment called Roy they have a fb page also look at carla lane rescue

@Parsley1234

ooh are they yours ? they are lovely - what are they ?
can I see shih tzu in one ?

No children living in the house, but children visiting, plus neighbours' children.
Yes to garden. And easy access to woodland walks, fields, (plus thousands of acres of mud.)

Are you on Facebook? The group Wonderful World of Border Collies supports charities and has a dog of the day from one of the rescues.

This is roy

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/LPu2bQso6YpjfgEh/

@Slowslowreader we had the same problem. Even before covid, we found it impossible to get a rescue from any of the major rescue centres (Dog's Trust, Battersea, Blue Cross etc.)

We had given up pretty much, and right as we had resigned ourselves to not getting a dog, we heard about one being rehomed by a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend.

Good luck, I hope you find one.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1444872265834210/?ref=share
Dogs for adoption are shown in Albums on the page.
This is a very genuine British-Romanian charity. The dogs are located in Romania. We've adopted five dogs from them and I'd be happy to answer any questions per DM.

Have looked at Many Tears. Have heard but don't know if it's true that they take surplus from puppy farm- unsold litters, extra dogs to license numbers allowed, worn out bitches etc. and surely that encourages the puppy farms to carry on regardless.
But I don't really know if this is true.

Just look on pets4homes. I think there’s a lot of puppies that will end up abandoned if someone doesn’t buy them soon.

There are lots that the price is so low, it’s inevitable what will come next. There is no market for puppies at the moment.

You are still rescuing them.

so in answer to the children / garden bit, Many Tears have at least 4 that may be suitable for you - I found a 8 week old, and @Dbirk has found 2 that are a bit older.

thus my next question would have to be, does every adult in the family work full time ? if so you would be wasting your time applying for a M T dog.

Have a look at jans dog rescue on Facebook, she's a private rescue, and an amazing dog lady who matches the dog to the family. She's very knowledgeable

They will be full of health issues though.

We did a lot of research into this, and found sufficient evidence of the puppy farm connection so we avoided.

And the ones in the rescue centres/ from Romania aren’t?

I used to be on a few agility FB groups and there were quite often collies needing homes at various rescues being shared on those pages - maybe join some agility FB groups? Some were just young failed farm dogs, etc - would be great for them to go to a collie-experienced home.

ah, don't listen to rumours re Many Tears...

the alternative/s to them not taking dogs and puppies from these puppy farms are horrific.

Roy is gorgeous. Thank you.

Many tears do take puppy farm rejects - no point pretending they don’t

Full of health issues? Probably. I'd avoid the Romanian rescues altogether too as in addition to health issues, they often have behavioural issues too.

At least with a rescue centre you stand a chance of getting lucky. Pets4homes is almost guaranteed farms output.