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The doghouse

If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

Original poster

Looking for some positivity

54 replies

Scrumdidlyumptious · 14/10/2025 15:50

Hi,

We're looking at getting a dog, we dont really want to go to a breeder for a puppy and would prefer to adopt a rescue dog. All the big rescues RSPCA, dogs trust etc etc have very strict criteria (rightly so) but it often rules us out due to having a preschooler. We have the opportunity to adopt a Romanian rescue dog who is already in the country and has been in foster for 3 weeks. We have met this dog with the children and all went well, the dog was calm, approached us for fuss and attention, lay down whilst the kids pet him and didn't seems phased at all with anything.

Apparently this dog did have a home in Romania, but was turfed onto the streets when his owner died.

We have heard a lot of negative things about Romanian dogs though and there's something niggling at me. All the paperwork seems to be there and I have seen it, all health stuff up to date, imms, worming, brucella etc etc. and as I said the meeting went well.

So why do I have this niggling feeling not to go for it? I'm at the point where I don't know if I've researched too much and only found negative experiences and that is now clouding my view.

Can anyone share any positive experiences of adopting Romanian dogs to help balance my view a bit? Or is negativity all there is?

OP posts:
Original poster
Scrumdidlyumptious · 15/10/2025 12:46

I have read all these messages and take on board everything everyone has said.

We told the 'rescue' this morning that we would not be proceeding and things turned south very quickly! We were asked for money to compensate for wasting their time, then personally insulted (including our child) and sent a barrage of abuse.

Safe to say they are now blocked, they have been reported and we have learnt some very big lessons!

Thank you to everyone for your input, I don't necessarily agree that rescue dogs are bad news for children and that we need to wait years before getting a dog, but we have learned that we need to tread very carefully and will only be getting a dog through correct channels and that we are as confident as can possibly be that the dog is the right one for us as a family.

OP posts:
Silverbirchleaf · 15/10/2025 12:52

I’m glad you’ve made this decesion and their reaction shows their true fettle. Close shave!

CoubousAndTourmaIet · 15/10/2025 12:59

Sorry about your experience @Scrumdidlyumptious . It just goes to show where their interests lie, and it isn't with finding the most suitable homes for the dogs in their care.

I'm glad that you feel the thread has helped you to make the right decision for your family at this point.

EdithStourton · 15/10/2025 14:27

LandSharksAnonymous · 15/10/2025 08:49

@Corgiowner I think @CoubousAndTourmaIet has summed it up well with this:

But I suspect a lot of her comments are based on the average first time owner, whose kids are not dog savvy and who may struggle with knowing what the boundaries are. I don't think it's as cut and dried as saying "nobody with kids under 10 should ever have a dog".

I also think @Corgiowner your background is very different to the average person looking for a first dog, or has young children. Most, in my experience, are young professionals who have no idea what the hell owning a dog entails (thinking they can shove it off to day care 5 days a week from week 12, not realising mouthing is a thing etc).

I spend a lot of time dealing with Golden Retrievers who have been sold to people with young children completely ill-equipped to deal with such a large dog (particularly one that stays young so long and is also, unfortunately, incredibly sensitive) and therefore end up 'ruining' the dog or failing to control their children and thus the child gets bitten. Out of the last 8 dogs we've had come in, 7 of them were due to bites on young children and the other one was because the owner died.

Very often, my experience of people who bring in these dogs is they have no idea what they were getting into, thought the dog would be their kids best mate, failed to exercise and train it due to lack of time...and these are all things a good breeder would have realised if they paid any attention and asked any questions. People with young kids (particularly multiple ones) do not really have the time to spend on raising a healthy, happy, dog. Except they don't go to good breeders - they go to greeders.

I am (for lack of a better word) incredibly militant on it and most of the breeders/people involved in the rescue I volunteer with are as well - not because we don't think people with young children can make good owners, but because it's just not a risk we want to take.

Sadly, too many owners these days fail to understand that dogs require attention and dedication - they're not toys your kids can cuddle and fuss - and thus they fail to give the dog what it needs, and that's when accidents happen. It's very different to twenty or thirty years ago.

The reason the breeders I know, and would recommend, aren't willing to sell to families with young kids is because we love our puppies to much to take the risk of them suffering through neglect - so we sell to experienced people, with older kids, who we trust will be reasonable and practical.

Perhaps if I was a 'greeder' who just wanted to make money, I would think differently. But I love my dogs and the puppies to much to take a chance on their future - and I think good breeders should feel that way. Why settle for a 'silver standard' future for your dog when you have the option to give them gold?

I really appreciate that explanation, as like @Corgiowner I come from a background where the dogs'n'kids (n'horses'n'chickens'n....) combo is very common. Both my parents had spent a lot of time around animals (father dogs, cats, cattle, heavy horses and hunters, DM cats, dogs and chickens), so respect for them was drilled into me. Both parents understood the responsibilities of caring for animals.

Gundog breeders I know will sell to families from that demographic, esp those who plan to work their dogs. I was always a bit surprised by the vehement 'will never sell to family with DC' line when I know good breeders who will. Now I understand it a lot better.

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