Long distance rescue

[Bunionbabe]

Looking at the possibility of a rescue from a centre 50 miles away. The dog is in foster so would have to be taken to centre. There will only be one chance to meet him so we would have to make instant decision. Is this usual?

No. Not in my experience (been fostering for many years). It's also a terribly bad idea - lots of behaviours/traits do not show at the first meeting. You need to see the dog in a variety of environments and interacting with a variety of people before you make a decision. I would be very wary of a rescue that operated like this. IMO it's risky, both for the dog and the prospective owner.

FWIW, I currently have two rescue spaniels living with me (I'm fostering them). I've met one prospective family three times - because I/the charity and the family want to be 100% sure that the dog is the right fit - and I will likely meet them another two times before we decide on the dogs future. Because that is what responsible fosterers/rescues do - they ensure the dog is going to the best possible home.

Is this a national charity, by any chance?

It depends on the dog and their back story.

Many people adopt fro abroad and only meet the dog when taking home.

Things to look out for in first meeting:
Will dog come to me?
Does he respond to their name/ carer?
Is he nervous or curious
Can be touched without flinching
....
Having said that, I went once with a 2nd choice rescue- spend the whole time cowering under the chair I initially sat on. No interaction head turned to the wall and run out of the room as soon as rescue lady opened the door to take dog back to kennels.
Best dog I have ever had!

Big organisation. Dog has been in foster, well looked after etc. No chance of more than one meeting but they would take him back if doesn't work out.

I wouldn't, touch them with a barge pole, OP. Mostly because (and no offence to you) they clearly don't give two figs about the dog if they're willing to let it go to a family/person they've met once. There's a reason good rescues and good breeders expect people to meet the puppy/dog multiple times.

Taking it back if it doesn't work out is no good for the dog, is it? It's good for you, but not the dog. It's cruel - dogs aren't just parcels to be passed around until they find the perfect family.

And that's the crux here. They don't care about the dog in this at all, regardless of how happy it might be in foster. I'd bet my bank balance I could guess the charity correctly - but I won't as that'll just get my post deleted - and that they have form for matching people to completely inappropriate dogs and disaster being the end result.

I've done this twice with the same rescue (both times with a bonded pair). First time was relatively easy going although the dogs weren't considered the easiest of dogs by the rescue. Some dogs get snapped up very quickly in rescue, but 2 large crossbreed dogs who had barely lived in a home before didn't exactly have queues of potential homes lined up..... The rescue took a chance on us, I suspect purely because I work with dogs and we had previous experience with large breeds. They were both wonderful dogs and just needed a chance to show their potential....

After they passed away we used the same rescue again, again to rehome a large crossbreed bonded pair. It has been harder work this time, particularly with one of the dogs but we had full back up from the rescue, in addition I have very good, highly qualified trainer and behaviourist friends if I need outside input. They are coming on really well and we are immensely proud of them both.

A dog's true character can take a few weeks or so in your home to properly start to show, so you aren't going to know exactly what you are signing up for on the first meet but then again, even if you met them a few times previously, you aren't necessarily going to be getting the full picture until the dog starts to settle in.

The rescue we use do have some dogs who will only be rehomed to someone who will meet them several times so they don't have a blanket ban on multiple meet ups

I’ve always had rescue dogs who I’d met once. We previously did used to have home checks, but the last time we adopted we just had to complete a pretty comprehensive application form, and send a video of the garden to show it was secure.

Although most of what the rehoming centre told us was fine I did have a list of questions about the dog and his behaviour. I did get the feeling that I was being annoying. There was a definite note of irritation in the guy's voice when I explained that we were extra cautious as we didn't want to make a mistake. It seems we've been blanked, no communication from them at all. Upsetting.

Oh, I'm sorry @Bunionbabe

You 100% did the right thing in asking the questions you did. As I said, they really did sound like they didn't care about the dog.

Have you considered breed specific rescues? There are ones for nearly every breed and they do (typically) tend to be far better than the national ones like RSPCA/Blue Cross/Last Chance etc.

Thanks Killingoff...will start a new search.

I see so many beautiful rescue dogs from abroad but it does seem to be the general consensus that your meet them when you pick them up and that’s it. The rescues also seem to hide behind the ‘we don’t know much about him/her’ line so you really are taking on the unknown.

@Killingoffmyflowersonebyone are you thinking of one with the initials BU?

I was!

Thanks, will definitely steer clear. Think I just need to unfollow all these pages tbh.