Mad to rescue a 5 month old pup from Romania?

[Almostalwayshappy]

Has anyone rescued a not-very-young puppy - she's just turned five months? She's in a private shelter in Romania, due to travel later in August. The rescue is reputable and offers back-up with many success stories. We have done our research and been weighing up the decision for two years. We adopted our last rescue, a lab collie x at about the same age and had him PTS just before his 16th birthday. He was a joy, but we feel we got lucky with him. We have a five-year-old rescue cat who is very bonded to me and I know she won't be happy initially. She hadn't lived with a dog before. We'll be crating (not as a punishment) and will have a puppy run and use Feliway for the cat. Both my husband and I mainly work from home and we have good back-up. My main concern is that the puppy will have ingrained behaviours already and that we will have missed vital windows in terms of behaviour and training. Is that the case or am I just scaring myself? So this thread doesn't get derailed...we have done lots of research about rescuing from abroad and also on crate training (which wasn't successful with our last rescue!). Many thanks in advice for any advice you can give me or your experiences, positive and negative about welcoming a dog of this age into your home...

This. Every single Romanian rescue dog I have met has had issues. Why on earth wont you rescue from this country when there are so many dogs needing a home?

Have a look at Many Tears. We got our lovely boy from them 2 years ago and he is an absolute joy. Not going to lie, he was very hard work to begin with (although still less than a puppy) but it's been incredibly rewarding to see him blossom. They will "cat test" dogs if they don't already know whether they are ok with them.

Caveat is that once you've been approved for a dog you apply for, you're expected to collect within 2-3 days, so make sure you are able to do this. We went from application to collection in under a week 😅

There are so many dogs in the uk that need homes. Why would you feed into this trade of ‘so called rescue dogs’ from europe

Please don't do it, if only for the poor cat's sake.

Hi OP. Read your post with interest as I have a Rommie. I've had her for five years and when I got her she was probably 6-12 months old. She is the sweetest thing and her only issue really is separation anxiety, so we don't leave her alone. We also have cats and they all get along fine.

Anyway I was going to suggest Dogs Walk This Way (where I got her) as they are Surrey based. I'm not sure if they still rescue from Romania but they have plenty of UK adoption and fostering opportunities and years of experience. Good luck.

We got out dog from Oman but the rescue bring just a few in a year. They are not ordered by members of the public. They are in foster for at least 6 months to allow them to decompress from the travel and get used to normal life in the uk. When they are ready they advertise as available but you have to go through the same checks as any other rescue. When I asked why it took so long I was told that they would never forgive themselves if something happened to anyone who took one of their dogs

Think of the poor bitches who are having all these Romanian ‘strays’ I bet their lives are horrible

From LBC news
n 2023, 320,000 pets were brought into the UK under travel pet schemes and 44,000 entered as commercial imports, Government statistics reveal.

100% this. People need to stop importing these disease and parasite riddled dogs from overseas farms and adopt some poor bloody creature that’s in an overflowing kennel in the UK.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpwq40vjw8lo.amp

Please don't, if you care about Romanian dogs, donate to charities that neuter them, rather than fueling the industry and bringing diseases into the country.

Another story to add to the list. My best friend had one - she's an experienced dog owner. Her dog is harmless and non-aggressive, but has behavioural issues that have impacted how she and her husband live. He won't go in kennels or homestays so that's holidays of over a week out, hates the car so the camper van had to go, and won't walk on hard floors indoors, so the whole house had to be carpeted. Very barky so they no longer have visitors and they meet you in the back garden while the dog is in the house, the dog has dug up the whole garden, so she no longer gardens, and hates other dogs. I asked if she regretted it, and she was a little too quick to say no, because she'd be seen as failure I think - she's always had a reputation as being good with dogs.

UK rescues aren't 'over flowing' with dogs in need

Or, if they are, they are cr*p at responding to expressions of interest.

We were an experienced home, children were teens, enclosed garden.

Willing to consider any age (including elderly), mild medical or behavioural issues, not severe.

Didn't even get an answer from uk rescues - RSPCA, Dogs Trust, Battersea

In the end we got a dog from a tiny unregistered rescue that brought in dogs from a Portuguese rescue. Their focus was dogs who would make good family pets, but wouldn't get homes there.

DDog is perfect for us, adores human attention, has never been aggressive in 5+ years. If anything a bit too submissive.

I just don’t get this whole Romanian thing. Why Romania? The whole business is very odd

About time it was banned altogether don’t folks realise they are being bred to flog to gullible folk for a few hundred quid. The British rescues are strict for a very good reason - watch the BBC documentary from the other night.

We have a romanian rescue, only because she was the one we chose, not because we went out looking for a romie specifically.
On the whole she is fine, she is a bit anxious and this manifests in an upset stomach which unfortunately, she doesnt bark to be let out in the night! Oh joy. Only happens once every three to six months now and if its very windy or thundery out then she now sleeps upstairs with us.

I got my dog at 5 months in similar circumstances.

He’s now six years old and we are still working through behavioural issues. He is fearful and suspicious of so many things that it is quite difficult to manage his triggers and maintain some kind of normal life. I openly admit that life would often be easier without him, but I chose to adopt him (and admittedly probably didn’t do enough research beforehand) and I owe it to him to stick to my commitment because he really is a lovely l, affectionate boy when you break through his fear barrier.

I do love him despite his flaws and will keep him with me for the rest of his life, but never again would I adopt a ex-street dog from abroad.

I wouldn't do it. I'd be too worried that this new industry of exporting 'rescue' dogs is - either directly or indirectly - encouraging puppy farms and similar exploitative practices.

Additionally, I can't see that it is really in the best interests to subject any dog to the hardship and dislocation of international transport, let alone a dog whose early life has already been traumatic and fractured.

Even if I became convinced that an overseas shelter was operating to high standards, without encouraging backyard breeding, I would want to travel out there and visit it myself before taking seriously the idea of rehoming one of their dogs

If you’re anywhere near the Greater Manchester area contact Dogs4Rescue. They work with small teams from many countries and take dogs in need. Their dogs are allowed time to decompress after travelling and with the help of pack rehabilitation, their dogs are fostered in homes before finally being matched to the right potential home. There’s a trial period and no hard feelings if the match doesn’t work out.

It’s all very organised and sensible. I have three of their dogs; a Bulgarian, a Romanian and a ridiculous little hound from Cyprus.

dogs4rescue.co.uk

I have done it, admittedly not from Romania, but from Greece. Eight times actually. I have never had a problem, all have been well balanced, loving family dogs. Properly screened and health checked, no significant behavioural issues, far less than the majority of my UK rescues actually. But I worked with a reputable rescue, have visited the shelter on numerous occasions (certainly no backyard breeding going on) and I am an experienced adopter.
Most dogs actually deal with the transport, either via airplane or road, extremely well. And yes, for my dogs, it was absolutely better to transport them to the UK where they can live a long and happy life, with appropriate medical care, than to remain on a small Greek island with no hope of ever finding a home, or in the case of some of mine, receiving the specialist medical intervention they needed.

Neighbour of mine got hers via Many Tears. He's a very sweet little thing. Almost completely deaf and often incontinent though. Many Tears didn't know either of those things and used emotional blackmail imo to get her to keep the dog.
He's lovely, but very expensive in vets bills. I think she got very lucky taking such a chance on a dog she wasn't able to meet before adopting.

I have met many Romanian rescues who have behavioural issues stemming from trauma.

A street dog will not do well if you plan to crate the poor thing.

You are not experienced enough to help this dog.

Try a rescue in this country.

The only thing I would disagree on is the crate. Mine skips up the stairs at bedtime and snuggles into his crate! It’s very cosy with blankets and pillows (for all his faults, he has never been a chewer or destroyer!)

He is out like a light within minutes and has to be prompted to get out of bed in the morning one of the cats can often be found napping in there during the day!

He’s never crated outside of bedtime, though.

100% this. People need to stop importing these disease and parasite riddled dogs from overseas farms and adopt some poor bloody creature that’s in an overflowing kennel in the UK

Agree it needs to stop - to be honest I can't believe people are gullible enough to believe they're rescuing here. They're clearly being bred to sell to people abroad.

Your second point isn't right though - I don't know where the overflowing kennels are, I've had no luck with UK rescues.

Please consider greyhound rescues as they often have different breeds, will foster beforehand, will test for cats beforehand. They also often have other breeds than greyhounds.

Search up Kent Greyhound Rescue.

Also I found breed specific rescues respond really quickly to queries!!!

Follow them on socials to see what dogs are coming in!

agree.

I'm actually considering if I should vaccinate my dog against rabies given the rise overseas rescues into the UK with falsified health papers.

Friend has got a romanian rescue and it's a nightmare. Can't be around other people at all, it won't walk, guards food and has to be sedated/muzzled to go to the vets. Her DH is furious as she did it on complete impulse. The dog came off the streets having never lived in a house and never having been shown a kind gesture by humans. It also came from a "charity" who offloaded the dog having not seen their home and knowing both worked full time.... but happily took £600 off them.