Imported rescue dogs

[ozpoz]

i found that very hard to do Twiggy2, despite my old dog having a basket in my office, despite offers of vet refs etc. I could not rehome from a UK charity.
They either point blank refused to consider a working owner, or didn't bother to answer my enquiries. I was considering rehoming from another country and then my whippet came along. : )

 

[Old Bat]

I think in the UK all dogs should be micro chipped and all breeders should be registered. There should be random checks on puppies advertised on Preloved etc, any breeders not complying should be given big fines. Then any dog that ends up in rescue/dumped/the pound should incur a big fine to the previous owner - more than it costs to buy a new dog but less than it costs to PTS, making dumping an older dog for a puppy much harder. It will never happen, but that's my dream!

Great idea!...its the indiscriminate breeding that's at issue as well, especially with the rise in expensive designer dogs. We have more than a couple of local families who have recently invested in designer pups to go with their designer lifestyles. They can't quite grasp why I have b*******d them for supporting the industry when there are so many dogs in rescue centres who deserve a home and a second chance.

Sorry OP, I digressed. Our current rescues are all Irish lurchers shipped over for rehoming. Two were from the Dogs Trust, one from a local fostering charity Evesham Greyhound and Lurcher Rescue. Both organisations took great care to ensure that the dog was a good match for the family, home environment and our own dog before allowing it home. Each dog was chipped and vaccinated before rehoming. The only one not neutered was the puppy which we did as soon as he was of age. The fostering charity seems to have seen a rise in dumped pregnant bitches so they are bringing up the pups and rehoming them as well. They do a fantastic job.

 

[dollymix]

A lady I work with has adopted from Romania. No offence intended but bring completely honest, I find it a bit annoying for two reasons.
Firstly because I think unscrupulous charities basically puppy farm. Secondly because I am am sure there are thousands of poor homes less dogs in this country, desperate for adoption!

 

[justabob]

A lady I work with has adopted from Romania. No offence intended but bring completely honest, I find it a bit annoying for two reasons.
Firstly because I think unscrupulous charities basically puppy farm. Secondly because I am am sure there are thousands of poor homes less dogs in this country, desperate for adoption![/QUO

No offence intended either but you clearly have no idea of he plight of he street dogs in Romania, neither do you know anything about the registered scrupulous charities that are involved in the rescue of these dogs.

 

[twiggy2]

i found that very hard to do Twiggy2, despite my old dog having a basket in my office, despite offers of vet refs etc. I could not rehome from a UK charity.
They either point blank refused to consider a working owner, or didn't bother to answer my enquiries. I was considering rehoming from another country and then my whippet came along. : )

if you are ever looking again PM me as I deal with a lady who has set up a rehoming charity local to mebut she has contacts with other doing the same all over the country-they take in strays from the local pounds and put them in foster until a permanent home comes along, they also take dogs direct from private homes and foster until a home is found

 

[Goldenstar]

This is the madness of it, how many people in this day and age are at home all day? UK Charities seem to have completely unrealistic expectations. I was a perfect home as someone is at home virtually all day, I have a large fenced garden and no small children, and I have rehomed dogs before and coped with their problems and even I was treated with a certain contempt. In the end I couldn't not be bothered with the hassle and bought a pup and my second dog was rehomed privately though FB. I visited someone the other month who was a small rehoming kennels who had 40 dogs, I had never heard of them and most of the dogs they had been their for years, you have to wonder at their motives.
There a few very small rehomers on FB that foster dogs before they are rehomed and I think these are better for the dog and the rehomer, the dog is less stressed, less likely to have kennel diseases and you get a good assessment of their temperament.

You can are in the same club as my SIL who worked one hour a day at lunch time during term time .
Experienced dog owners with another dog fenced garden family loves walking a really good home .
Turned down for a rescue dog because both adults in the house 'worked' .
The fuss I had to go through to get a cat was ridiculous and in fact just plain rude I won't go to a rescue again .
The attitude of these charities is way off .

 

[Boulty]

Slightly going off topic here but re rescue cats I really would recommend either looking into small, local rescues or contacting a few of the larger vet practices in your area and letting them know what you want. There is a real lack of charities taking in stray and injured cats (in my area anyway as there's not really anyone responsible for them) and so it is often left for the vet the cat ends up (and that's where they normally do end up if injured) at to make a decision (normally in conjunction with the RSPCA who very rarely have kennel space) and a lot try desperately hard to save / find places for as many of the worthy causes just in need of minor treatment and TLC as they can. Again re dogs if not TOO picky about what you end up with I believe a lot of stray kennels used to hold dogs picked up by the local dog warden don't have maybe quite such strict rules as some of the bigger charities, although most won't allow you access to the actual kennels I don't think, rather they will bring dogs out to you. I know of a few people who've got nice dogs this way but a bit of a risk as you don't know the history of the dog normally.

 

[NinjaPony]

Agreed re large charities being difficult, when I wanted to get a cat, battersea were a nightmare about it despite us offering any cat a very loving home with a lovely garden, large house etc and someone in all day. So in the end we went with CPL who had a kitten and were much more reasonable. Fast forward 9 years and said cat has cost a fortune in vet bills, is diabetic and has been kept alive by constant care and attention- definitely not suffering any lack of love! Charities need to be more realistic about the homes they let animals go to. Better for the dog to be in a loving home environment with the owner working than stuck in a kennel at a rescue centre for months on end...

 

[Equinus]

Just wrote and deleted a long post about the dreadful situation here in Bulgaria, but it turned into a book so all I will say is that I do not believe sending street dogs for re-homing in the UK (or Germany or Austria) is the answer to the problems, it is far too big and as pointed out there are so many unwanted dogs in the UK needing homes. Please consider other than the big charities if you want a dog or cat, breed rescues, for example, can be more realistic towards those who work. Bulgaria, and I believe Romania do indeed have free neutering programmes (dogs ear tagged as mentioned) but with low take up rate as it is believed that neutering is un-natural. (And funds often go astray) Education is key, not sending dogs abroad. There are people making money and breaking rules doing this, far too big a subject for here.

 

[missmatch]

I applied to multiple dog rescues in the uk to rehome a dog but because I went out to do the horses twice a day and because I had a few rescue cats, I was turned down immediately. Never even got a home visit.
We just wanted to give a dog a good home, hence we ended up adopting a dog from Eastern Europe
Unfortunately all is not as it seems with these dogs and there are "charities" who are importing them purely for profit with little adherence to the regulations.
This one is going to cost us a fortune. Yes, I could have sent it back but to what?
The relevant authorities have not become involved and I will update when I can. Thank you.

Should say now become involved

 

[conniegirl]

We ended up buying a dog as well because no charity would even do a home visit.
Both my oh and I work, but we work differing shifts so there is always someone home with the dog. He gets a minimum of 2hrs walk (beagle so needs it to stop him getting destructive), lots of love and cuddles. Plays with my oh's nieces occasionally. Loved by the whole family. I'm very experienced at rehabbing difficult or problem dogs (and ponies)
Heck when we go away he either goes to my mums or to OH's sister.

Heck places like the RSPCA won't rehome to my parents either. They have a house with 4 acres of secure paddocks. Mum owns her own business so gets to take the dogs to work with her, my dad is semi retired and tends to work from home when he does work. Both very very experienced dog owners with no young kids (youngest is 22) and willing to take on older or more problematic dogs. They found that the only one willing to let then rehome dogs was the local golden retriever rescue. So they now have 2 huge goldies who are well loved, walked for hours every day and are thourghly spoilt by my dad with cuddles on the sofa etc.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

Some of these rescues seem daft. My mum stopped volunteering for CPL because when she was being trained in home visits, the home checker chose a family with 3 toddlers and an out of control young dog as the home for a pair of kittens over a wheelchair bound woman who had a lovely rural home. CPL gave me the runaround up here when I was after an outside cat-ended up going to a local rescue who were excellent and we got the ideal cat for us. I'll not go down the route of rescue dogs again but don't have a problem in theory with rescuing from abroad. I do think though that some of the rescue dogs and horses I've seen abroad, would be better off pts humanely out there.

 

[twiggy2]

I applied to multiple dog rescues in the uk to rehome a dog but because I went out to do the horses twice a day and because I had a few rescue cats, I was turned down immediately. Never even got a home visit.
We just wanted to give a dog a good home, hence we ended up adopting a dog from Eastern Europe
Unfortunately all is not as it seems with these dogs and there are "charities" who are importing them purely for profit with little adherence to the regulations.
This one is going to cost us a fortune. Yes, I could have sent it back but to what?
The relevant authorities have not become involved and I will update when I can. Thank you.

Should say now become involved

please see my post above for future reference

 

[dollymix]

A lady I work with has adopted from Romania. No offence intended but bring completely honest, I find it a bit annoying for two reasons.
Firstly because I think unscrupulous charities basically puppy farm. Secondly because I am am sure there are thousands of poor homes less dogs in this country, desperate for adoption![/QUO

No offence intended either but you clearly have no idea of he plight of he street dogs in Romania, neither do you know anything about the registered scrupulous charities that are involved in the rescue of these dogs.

None taken! And you're right, I have zero idea of the plight of foreign dogs or how the charities are run and managed.... But I DO know that there are thousands of animals in out own country desperate for homes. Personally, if I were looking to rescue another dog or animal is be looking to help a charity and animal in my own country.

 

[dollymix]

Just wrote and deleted a long post about the dreadful situation here in Bulgaria, but it turned into a book so all I will say is that I do not believe sending street dogs for re-homing in the UK (or Germany or Austria) is the answer to the problems, it is far too big and as pointed out there are so many unwanted dogs in the UK needing homes. Please consider other than the big charities if you want a dog or cat, breed rescues, for example, can be more realistic towards those who work. Bulgaria, and I believe Romania do indeed have free neutering programmes (dogs ear tagged as mentioned) but with low take up rate as it is believed that neutering is un-natural. (And funds often go astray) Education is key, not sending dogs abroad. There are people making money and breaking rules doing this, far too big a subject for here.

Great and very sensible post. This is my big concern. As you suggest, if charities could focus on effective management and education solutions that tackle problem, this would surely be a better solution.

 

[Honey08]

Great and very sensible post. This is my big concern. As you suggest, if charities could focus on effective management and education solutions that tackle problem, this would surely be a better solution.

They do try. My friend that runs the Romanian charity spends hours with the local mayor and council. They're just not that interested or worried by the plight of dogs.

All of my dogs and cats are from UK rescues. I stay in touch with a couple of rescues online and support them. But it is very rare I see dogs in those rescues that have suffered as much as most of the dogs on my friend in Romania's page.. 95% of them have horrible histories. A lot of the uk dog rescues are there because people are stupid and selfish (new baby/house move..) in Romania they've often much worse stories.

 

[Equinus]

I don't know if Romania is the same as Bulgaria, but it is quite difficult to get an animal humanely destroyed which means that people choose their own way of getting rid of dogs, whether their own or feral. Antifreeze in meat is common and indiscriminate, as are other poisons, shooting and much more inhumane ways.

I feel for those who have taken on totally unsocialised rescue dogs from here, even farm dogs are regularly fed on just bread which brings all sorts of health problems, being tied up from a young pup till the end of it's life on a short chan brings mental problems. I know that dogs from here must have a home ready and waiting in the UK or Germany, but in reality they are often just halfway houses. I know one rescue who thinks putting a street dog on pram wheels is doing it a favour. I know that transporters are making a bomb taking vans of dogs over, all the money donated by people who think they are doing the right thing, some of these rescue people are very 'ordinary' ermmm kind folk, as well as recieving donations for doing up derelect buildings to house the dogs and rehabilitate them.

Don't get me wrong, they often mean well and there are good, genuine people trying to relieve suffering. It is a huge problem. I just wish that things could be more regulated here, but it will be years before any real difference is made.

We love Bulgaria and the people, but their attitude to animals is hard to take. Same with horses, very hard. But it is their culture and will take a lot of changeing. There are some Bulgarians trying to help and good on them, they at least understand that the way they treat animals is not just because they are cruel.

I'll get off me box now!

 

[Equinus]

By the way, we brough our part lab rescue out here with us, she came as an eight week puppy from a dedicated lab rescue even though we both worked, albeit different hours, and all the checks were done. There are a lot out there and not all are charities, just people trying to help by giving their lives over.