Rescue dogs from Romania and other countries?

Archiesmummy

Archiesmummy

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I was speaking to a lady today who was admiring my dogs and she said she had taken on a rescue dog that had come from Romania. She said the charity brings a load of dogs over and finds them homes.

She is having a few problems, the dog barks (wtf) at strangers coming into the house and she doesn't know if she will keep him. After having a lengthy chat she did say she was going to see a dog behaviourist and she wouldn't give up. I hope not.

Do the powers that be not recognised the problem we have with dogs needing rescuing in the UK without adding to it? Can someone help me understand. I am so naive, I just didn't realise it went on. No wonder our rescues are full to bursting point.

Its like the breeder I spoke to who imports from Lithuania. I can guarantee its not to get good blood into the country, its a money making exercise. Anyway, that is another story.

Sometimes I am lost for words and just cannot understand our import policies. Can someone help me to understand.
 
cremedemonthe said:
The dogs in pounds in Romania are often subjected to brutal horrific treatment and conditions, they die a terrible death, you cannot compare most UK pounds to Romanian ones, that is why people try to rescue them.
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So the dogs here are left, often to be put to sleep? To save their pain and suffering if they cannot home the Romanian dogs surely PTS should be considered. We have our own problems on our doorstep to deal with.
 
from what we are now seeing and hearing at the vets i work at most of the 'rescues' from Romania, Lithuania and the like are being breed in puppy farms, the rescues offer money for them to remove the dogs/puppies from appaling conditions, so by bringing street dogs over here to 'rescue' them from cruelty and neglect we have created a situation that has resulted in more animals suffering. the people who struggle to live in these countries are breeding puppies in terrible conditions to sell them for profit to be exported to the uk.

we have animals in this country that need homing, we need to stop fuelling the economy that supports puppy farming in EVERY country, until people stop buying they will not stop breeding
 
Dobiegirl said:
As I suggested on the fb page instead of bringing them over here people should be donating to fund shelters,spay and neutering as well as educating.
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I would have thought this more useful and at the same time the dogs in our rescue's are homed. Who is in charge of the importation? Are they bonkers?
 
Dobiegirl said:
As I suggested on the fb page instead of bringing them over here people should be donating to fund shelters,spay and neutering as well as educating.
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Yes, this is what the rescue I help do, as you say education is the key then in theory the dogs out there wouldn't need rescueing from the rescue centres out there!
http://www.romaniaanimalaid.co.uk/
 
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CMD that looks a good charity a lot of them are not, I donate to Egyptian horses, the money is spent paying for vet treatment, wormers etc but even if it wasnt so expensive I wouldnt donate if they were trying to get them over here.
 
A lot of these poor foreign dogs are also legging it from their owners and going missing... lots of ex Romanian street dogs on Dogs Lost. How well equipped are they to cope here in reality? What backup are these rescues offering?
Meanwhile hundreds of lovely young dogs gets the blue juice here in the UK every day. And no, they're not all staffies either.
 
Dobiegirl, yes there are bad ones out there and this seems to be the best one.
I make various items like muzzles, collars etc for various charities such as the Romanian one I have shown you but I do far more work for the UK charities. The best thing the charities can do though in any country is to educate the people that buy these dogs on a whim then as just as quickly discard them
 
The very thought of any animal suffering brings tears to my eyes. It is commendable for people such as cremedemonthe to try to eleviate some suffering and be so kind as to help all you can.

However, education is paramount. I would sooner see the dogs put out of their misery and pts than shipped over here for a sometimes uncertain end.

The lady said to me, her words, she wasn't sure if she could or would keep the dog. From what she was saying they wanted a little lap dog that sat in its bed and did nothing but she 'was smitten by her little lovely face'. No doubt this dog will end up in one of our rescues too. The dog doesn't understand a word she is saying, her words again, and some people will not put in the time and effort when homing a rescue dog, expecting a ready made perfect dog.

I am afraid we, as a nation, allowing the importation of these dogs, are failing the very dogs many are trying to help, IMO and are stoking the fires of nations who are not educated, who do not care and will continue to offload their problems onto us.

I hope, for the dogs's sake that someone, somewhere will bring their unecessary suffering to an end there, it is deplorable. It needs to be done there, not passed here. Stop importation.
 
There was a thread about this a while ago - I think in latest news - where one of the imports had been 'stolen' at services. I made the comment about how I felt it would be far better for the charities to deal as WHW do by educating the locals and would no longer support Hillside here in Norfolk who were involved in the trade.

Needless to say there were a few histerical individuals who thought they were perfectly entitled to come here despite the risk to our canine population.

JD
 
Agree with all the other points, but the argument always is, you're not a dog lover if you don't agree with saving all/any dogs, not matter what the bigger picture. Same as the Franch thing, and as mentioned, lots of the same people involved.
And sorry, a lot of it is ego driven. Far more exotic and heroic (and expensive) to rescue a Romanian street dog from being beheaded/burned alive/dragged through the streets by chains from a car (according to the PR) than popping to the local pound and getting a Staffie that's on it's sixth day of seven before being given the needle.
 
misterjinglejay said:
At a fun dog show last year, I judged the 'best rescue' comp, and out of 20 plus dogs well over half were imported from Romania etc. I was shocked at the amount in just a little village show.
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Thats a frightening statistic. This advice from the Welsh CVO was in our local paper yesterday, seems it is becoming a huge problem, and I fear it won't be too long before we have rabies in this country.:(

http://wales.gov.uk/newsroom/environmentandcountryside/2013/130104buyingapet/?lang=en
 
I am a dog lover but I simply cannot support bringing in dogs from abroad when we have so many unwanted dogs in this country.

Many maybe be staffy types but a hell of a lot aren't.

Why add to the problem?! From what I've heard the rescue back up isn't great and some of these dogs may well end up in rescue kennels here.

For the cost of importing one rescue dog from another country, how many dogs could be helped here for the same money?
 
With the pet passport scheme, I am not sure there is anything that CAN be done.
As long as the dog has a chip, a current rabies shot, the blood test and the six months time frame has passed, what they are doing is totally legal, if not ethical....
 
Copperpot said:
For the cost of importing one rescue dog from another country, how many dogs could be helped here for the same money?
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Ahhh but there isn't a big fat profit for those doing the importing then is there.........

Have to wonder what is also smuggled across with these dogs......

We have lax (non existant boarder controls from the EU), an lets face it port officials who can't even be bothere sto check dogs against passports (or check microchip), aren't going to search the ****** kennels/crates they are travelling in................
 
joeanne said:
With the pet passport scheme, I am not sure there is anything that CAN be done.
As long as the dog has a chip, a current rabies shot, the blood test and the six months time frame has passed, what they are doing is totally legal, if not ethical....
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they don't have to have a blood test anymore
 
When we chose our rescue dogs we did not know where they were from. We chose 2 my daughter chose one and my son the other we chose more on character than anything else they chose separately. We did not go there wanting a collie or any other specific breed just a dog which had a personality that would fit in with our family. they chose 2 one each and fortunately they were already firm friends one a 4month old puppy severely underweight alsation cross the other 1 yr old alsation cross unrelated once we had chosen we asked for information and it turned out then that they were from Romainia,but because we wouldnt have chosen any of the others anyway we went for them it was too late. And as for the Staffy dogs they should be doing what Romainia should be doing to their dogs SPAYING them There are too many.
 
I remember the uproar when there was a cull of Romanian street dogs, there was a petition going round to stop it. I didn't make many friends when I suggested that it was actually probably a very good idea.

I'm a veterinary nurse and have a client who is involved in bringing in dogs from Cyprus. I told her my views on it and she said that the foreign dogs were just as worthy as British ones. I reminded her that over 7000 British dogs are PTS in rescues every year and for the money it costs to save one foreign one, she could probably save 4 British ones.

I totally agree that if people really want to help, they should support charities that neuter - they are out there.
 
Copperpot said:
I am a dog lover but I simply cannot support bringing in dogs from abroad when we have so many unwanted dogs in this country.

Many maybe be staffy types but a hell of a lot aren't.

Why add to the problem?! From what I've heard the rescue back up isn't great and some of these dogs may well end up in rescue kennels here.

For the cost of importing one rescue dog from another country, how many dogs could be helped here for the same money?
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I'm inclined to agree with you.

There are some staggering expenses relating to the rescue of those nine standard poodles from Winchester. I'm sure what was spent on the veterinary care for those nine could have rescued many Romanian dogs. And yet I may be biased toward the breed but I feel happier trying to help those dogs from this country because it is close to home.

And yet I groomed a little dog that was rescued from Serbia . It was a lovely little thing, and she will make a lovely pet for someone. But my heart is still breaking for those nine poodles.
 
It isn't quite as clear cut as some would like it to be/think it is.

There are a wide range of foreign rescues. Some are undoubtedly very dodgy, and I doubt their honesty. But there are also some genuine foreign rescues who see the suffering of dogs and want to do something to help.

Last year, we had been looking for a dog for some months. The majority of dogs in rescues were either staffs, greyhounds, collies or terriers - none of which are the type of dog that suited our needs. Many of the dogs offered were not considered rehomeable with children, other dogs, cats, stock or small animals (we have all of those). A fair number of the charities would not rehome to us because we have a primary school age child - the fact that she is very animal-savvy was not taken into account. We had looked at lots of charities and dogs, and not found a single one that suited us. You might think that I am just very picky - I personally think I am just very committed to finding the right dog for our family, giving us the highest chance of success.

I had begun to think we wouldn't find a dog, and then I saw one listed in rescue. She was in Cyprus, and she ticked all our boxes - tested successfully with everything, plus some extra things that were on an 'ideal' list, but which I never thought we'd actually find. This particular charity is based in Cyprus, and they are very genuine - the amount you pay for a dog doesn't even cover their plane fair in. The dogs are often put in foster before flying, to check them in family homes. They are vaccinated, neutered, blood tested, etc. It's a very ethical charity. And I feel pretty good about our dog - she is amazing, absolutely amazing. Everything I hoped for, and more. She is a dog of a lifetime. We have done all the things that you should of course, although I think I'm relatively dog savvy, we go to dog training, she did her puppy cert, and her bronze, and now we're working towards silver.

It breaks my heart that so many dogs are PTS unwanted in this country. And in other countries too. The death of any unwanted dog is tragic, wherever it comes from. I don't think any dog is more or less worthy, based on where it comes from. As with horses, the problem we have are the low-end breeders who are churning out puppies from any animal that can breed to make a few quid - not caring about their future. Those are the people that really need tackling on this issue. They are the ones who are ensuring that rescues are full - and largely full of dogs that aren't necessarily suitable for most homes.
 
I have a Spanish Rescue Dog. We got her around 6 months ago after our old UK rescue boy died.

Before getting Ava I probably would have agreed with many of the sentiments on here, but let me explain to you why we decided on a Spanish dog...

So after losing Spike, we were looking for a new Rescue dog. I have always had rescue dogs as I would rather give a dog with a difficult start a chance at a happy life and a safe home. I also don't want to pay big bucks for a pedigree dog or encourage hobby breeders who just do it for a bit of extra cash.

We had a few specific requirements of our new dog which were:

* To be cat friendly. At the time we had an 18 year old cat. He was quite dog savvy having lived with dogs for much of his life, but at his ripe old age we didn't want to stress him anymore than we had to.
* To be child friendly. We don't have kids, but we do have neices and nephews that visit and stay from time to time. In particular our 3 little nieces loved our old dog as they don't have dogs at home and he was always extremely tolerant of their attentions. We wanted another dog that they could stroke and play with when they visit.
* A dog that would suit our lifestyle. We are quite busy people, and while active we didn't want a dog that needed 6 mile walks twice a day to keep them sane. We also have a caravan so we didn't want anything too big that would take over the caravan ...
* Finally, having been a staffie owner previoulsy I wasn't keen on having another. Nothing wrong with the dogs, but I find people's attitude to them difficult. When walking my staffie people were always petrified of him and shouting at me to keep him under control when he wasn't anywhere near them or doing anything wrong. I found that quite stressful and never encountered anything like it with my JRT/Bassett cross

Anyway, despite being in contact with a number of local UK rescues, using a dog rescue forum and scouring the internet for a suitable UK dog, I just wasn't able to find one. Dog that's okay with cats - no problem but he's not to be around kids. Dog that likes kids - no worries but she will chase cats. Anyway, after a few weeks I found a local charity that as well as rehoming local dogs and rescuing through the pound, they work with small rescue in southern spain and bring some dogs back here for rehoming. There are a number of ex-pats out there who are horrified at the way that some of these dogs are treated and know that there are good loving homes in the UK. They give their time tirelessly and selflessly to try to help the dogs.

Our dog is a gorgeous soft girl who was fab with our elderly cat until we recently lost him and we wouldn't be without her.

I probably wouldn't have chosen to have a foreign dog as a first choice but I don't regret it for a moment.

I honestly think a bigger issue is all the hobby breeders on preloved trying to sell a litter of staff x pups for £200 a pop, when you know full well a lot of those dogs will end up in the pound in a year or so. I think breeding should be much more tightly controlled.

I also think that some dogs are more suitable for rehoming than others. Being put to sleep isn't the worst thing that can happen to a dog and I honestly think that those dogs that are not really suitable for rehoming should be put to sleep humanely.

Sorry if some of my views aren't popular, but I would rather have a dog that is suitable for my lifestyle form Spain, than one that is not from the UK.
 
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