Rescue Roulette: Dogs from Abroad

Popular media bias is actually quite skewed towards foreign rescue. It's got the Awww Factor.
My experience is real life... lots of dogs running away, terrified of the world, biting people, traumatised by being ripped away of the life they knew.

Some dogs don't mind being street dogs and adapt to it. You can see it in lots of countries. They're not all automatically abused.
 
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paddy555 said:
. I'm not sure why you would think it could have ended up in any number of unsuitable homes, I would have thought that a fostered foreign rescue would be more likely to be successful
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Well if the rescues are full because of irresponsible people getting dogs I can’t imagine that foreign rescues would be able to avoid them.
There’s plenty of stories of people wanting the fairy tale of “rescuing” these poor souls and to fix all their anxieties with love only to realise that love won’t quite do it and the time and effort isn’t actually worth it.

As for my ETA it was aimed at irresponsible folk who put no thought into getting a dog. How many pages is there on the irresponsible dog owners thread? How many people are still going around with XL bullies or dangerous dogs that are killing people?
Possible disease or lack of vaccinations aren’t going to be much of a priority to people like that. You said yourself you think these people are the reason the rescues are full so I’m not sure why you’re defending them now.
 
j
ester said:
Are all foreign rescue owners having the suggested retests for disease? If not then no they don’t all care.

Also re dogs not taking up uk rescue space because they are fostered, fostering is still a rescue space just not in kennels
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you make the assumption that people who foster specifically for foreign rescues would foster for UK ones if there were no foreign dogs. That is not necessarily the case.

if Uk rescues are short of space then get on and get dogs rehomed, PTS those that are unsuitable for rehoming.

I imagine that foreign rescue owners will be having the tests that their vets tell them to.
 
Peglo said:
Well if the rescues are full because of irresponsible people getting dogs I can’t imagine that foreign rescues would be able to avoid them.
There’s plenty of stories of people wanting the fairy tale of “rescuing” these poor souls and to fix all their anxieties with love only to realise that love won’t quite do it and the time and effort isn’t actually worth it.

As for my ETA it was aimed at irresponsible folk who put no thought into getting a dog. How many pages is there on the irresponsible dog owners thread? How many people are still going around with XL bullies or dangerous dogs that are killing people?
Possible disease or lack of vaccinations aren’t going to be much of a priority to people like that. You said yourself you think these people are the reason the rescues are full so I’m not sure why you’re defending them now.
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lost with your post. I'm not sure of it's specific relevance to foreign rescues. Perhaps to many dog owners. I don't think XL bullies come into overseas rescues and if they go round killing people then that is not the fault of Romanian or any other foreign rescue. It is a UK problem that needed sorting and still needs sorting. There are always plenty of stories. Sometimes when you pull them apart you get to the facts and what went wrong.
There are many irresponsible folk sadly who have animals, that is not specific to foreign rescues. Nor it is a reason as to why people shouldn't take on a foreign rescue if they chose to. That is simply their choice.
 
paddy555 said:
j

you make the assumption that people who foster specifically for foreign rescues would foster for UK ones if there were no foreign dogs. That is not necessarily the case.

if Uk rescues are short of space then get on and get dogs rehomed, PTS those that are unsuitable for rehoming.

I imagine that foreign rescue owners will be having the tests that their vets tell them to.
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I make the assumption because it’s weird to me that people with room in their life to foster wouldn’t do so for uk rescue dogs
 
Marshpiper said:
Think you have misunderstood……Tiddlypom was saying how serious and nasty brucellosis is….many years ago think 60 or so our farm vet (who was my uncle) was diagnosed with it….never fully recovered….
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There are many cases of bovines infecting people, I thought Tiddlypom was saying he caught BC from a dog (obviously as you can't catch BC from a cow). I'm not even sure they knew of brucellosis in dogs back then
 
paddy555 said:
lost with your post. I'm not sure of it's specific relevance to foreign rescues. Perhaps to many dog owners. I don't think XL bullies come into overseas rescues and if they go round killing people then that is not the fault of Romanian or any other foreign rescue. It is a UK problem that needed sorting and still needs sorting. There are always plenty of stories. Sometimes when you pull them apart you get to the facts and what went wrong.
There are many irresponsible folk sadly who have animals, that is not specific to foreign rescues. Nor it is a reason as to why people shouldn't take on a foreign rescue if they chose to. That is simply their choice.
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Hang on I thought everyone who had foreign rescues were responsible people that cared about disease status and having all of the necessary testing done?
 
skinnydipper said:
Have people on the forum who have adopted dogs from high risk countries voluntarily had their dogs tested for BC or only had the them tested when they have been left with no choice?

I know @misst and @Dobiegirl have had their dogs tested. Anyone else?
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I plan to when her annual jabs are due in Feb 26. She had 2 negative tests before she came to the UK but its worth doing to avoid problems with referral hospitals in case she needs one
 
ester said:
I make the assumption because it’s weird to me that people with room in their life to foster wouldn’t do so for uk rescue dogs
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The woman in my village fostered a "Rommie". She had apparently fostered previously, before moving here and was paid by the charity, I don't think fostering for UK rescues would pay in the same way. It arrived in the middle of the night on a transport with multiple other dogs all barking/howling/whining. Hers continued a cacophony of noise day and night for a few weeks. She regaled us on fb with updates about how it had slept for 30mins, drank some water or eaten a bit of chicken before going back under a couch to continue howling. I think the rescue had to remove it as there were a lot of complaints from neighbours who wanted to sleep at night.

This was a couple of years ago now and it does seem that these rescues have improved dramatically since then.
 
Meanwhile MurphysMinder and I will be waiting for the next frantic post on local Facebook to look out for terrified Romanian rescue dogs which have escaped from their new owners and gone on the run. There’s a prolific local importer of these dogs 🙄.

Along with the usual orders ‘Don’t approach, dog is a rescue and will be very frightened’ even though they’ve had the dog for a long time. Last one was on the run for several days in and around town complete with harness and trailing lead after breaking free on a walk. Town seemed to lose its mind worrying about this poor furbaby which was eventually discovered alive but exhausted and asleep on a river bank. Poor beggar.

The fur baby brigade then went wild cooing over the safe return of the dog and opined that the new owner was doing such a wonderful thing giving a loving home to this rescue dog.

Rinse and repeat with slightly different circumstances each time.
 
paddy555 said:
equally I don't understand the antagonism towards foreign rescue dogs. IRL I am not experiencing the same antagonism as on here. People have been interested and supportive.
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Of course, because most people have a general level of graciousness and civility. If you had started a thread on here saying 'hey, I got a new dog' with a brief mention of them being a foreign street dog and maybe a cute picture, then the vast majority of posters would have just said something akin to 'ah that's nice'.

But you didn't do that, you burst onto a thread where people are specifically discussing the issues with foreign rescues in your usual combative posting style complete with sarcastic smilies. So other posters responded in kind.

From my pov, these dogs are a disease risk, are frequently mal-adjusted to domestic UK life, the charities involved range from excellent to appalling, and with people mostly coming across these dogs on Facebook it is hard to tell from a Facebook post whether the charity you are with are good/responsible or not. I also find the claim that there are simply no UK-origin dogs available absolutely ridiculous, no matter how many times people insist on it. I think people (typically those who spend a lot of time on Facebook), see something that they want, think it is a perk that they can get the rescue feel good factor, and then crack on with getting the dog.

I'm never going to think rehoming a dog the way you did is either responsible, or in any way necessary. But if I was to see you and your dog out and about and you mentioned where he came from I would probably say something along the lines of "oh well he looks like he's doing really well with the change, well done" or similar, because obviously I'm not going to stand there and insult someone's dog (or say anything that could be construed as an insult) - it is their dog and no doubt they are very fond of it.

I find it curious that you came on this thread the way you did, seemingly very invested in convincing everyone that rehoming a Rommie was actually a really great idea, and all the words of warning are just invented propaganda.

Why do you need people to agree with where you got your dog from? Why don't you just do what everyone else does and get the dog, enjoy the dog, and don't mention where it came from unless the conversation specifically goes there? Why does it always seem that people with foreign rescue dogs a)feel the need to tell everyone that it is a foreign rescue, and b)seem to want everyone to say how marvellous that is?
 
skinnydipper said:
Have people on the forum who have adopted dogs from high risk countries voluntarily had their dogs tested for BC or only had the them tested when they have been left with no choice?

I know @misst and @Dobiegirl have had their dogs tested. Anyone else?
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Mine was tested before she came and we had her re-tested when she got here and 3 months later as I had read about it on here so I checked.

I don't tend to tell people she's a rescue from abroad unless I am specifically asked where she came from. She suited what we were looking for and she has made the transition from street dog to pet dog perfectly, probably down to the fosterers who had her first and put the work in.
She's trusted off lead and has a great re-call. Even if she were to run off she would approach the nearest person as she loves people, she's not nervous of them. It's unfair to tar them all with the same brush (maybe because she's from Georgia and not Romania ;)
 
CorvusCorax said:
My experience is real life... lots of dogs running away, terrified of the world, biting people, traumatised by being ripped away of the life they knew.
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or plucked from streets of Romania to live behind someone's TV in a living room in the UK.

skinnydipper said:
Foreign "rescues" are bringing in dogs that are not equipped to cope with living in the average UK household. They are not "saving" these animals, quite the contrary.

A few weeks ago I learned that a Romanian street dog has been living not far from me for 2 years. I have never seen it. It lives in a corner of the living room, goes into the garden to toilet and then back into its corner. Visitors are asked not to approach it, speak to it or look at it. It is too terrified to go for a walk. What sort of life is that for a dog? It would have been far better to have left it on the streets in Romania. It may not have lived a long life but would have had a better quality of life than it has here.
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Tiddlypom said:
Meanwhile MurphysMinder and I will be waiting for the next frantic post on local Facebook to look out for terrified Romanian rescue dogs which have escaped from their new owners and gone on the run. There’s a prolific local importer of these dogs 🙄.

Along with the usual orders ‘Don’t approach, dog is a rescue and will be very frightened’ even though they’ve had the dog for a long time. Last one was on the run for several days in and around town complete with harness and trailing lead after breaking free on a walk. Town seemed to lose its mind worrying about this poor furbaby which was eventually discovered alive but exhausted and asleep on a river bank. Poor beggar.

The fur baby brigade then went wild cooing over the safe return of the dog and opined that the new owner was doing such a wonderful thing giving a loving home to this rescue dog.

Rinse and repeat with slightly different circumstances each time.
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But thats the advice they give for any dog whose gone missing. Don't approach observe from a distance so they know where to set traps. The last one round here they were looking for, a black poodle got away from the dog walker while his owner was in Spain on holiday.
 
Tiddlypom said:
Meanwhile MurphysMinder and I will be waiting for the next frantic post on local Facebook to look out for terrified Romanian rescue dogs which have escaped from their new owners and gone on the run. There’s a prolific local importer of these dogs 🙄.

Along with the usual orders ‘Don’t approach, dog is a rescue and will be very frightened’ even though they’ve had the dog for a long time. Last one was on the run for several days in and around town complete with harness and trailing lead after breaking free on a walk. Town seemed to lose its mind worrying about this poor furbaby which was eventually discovered alive but exhausted and asleep on a river bank. Poor beggar.

The fur baby brigade then went wild cooing over the safe return of the dog and opined that the new owner was doing such a wonderful thing giving a loving home to this rescue dog.

Rinse and repeat with slightly different circumstances each time.
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It's frightening how many dogs from there seem to escape from their new owners. Either they don't do very good home checks or the dogs aren't really fit to live in society, very sad for the dogs whatever the reason.
 
Indy said:
But thats the advice they give for any dog whose gone missing. Don't approach observe from a distance so they know where to set traps. The last one round here they were looking for, a black poodle got away from the dog walker while his owner was in Spain on holiday.
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It does disturb me that there are seemingly so many pet dogs (foreign street dogs aside) who seemingly choose to *avoid* human beings and would rather run than take food.
 
On my Facebook reels lately there are videos of people holding puppies and saying they need homes and are ready to ship to the UK, they all look cute, as all puppies do, but also not relaxed and nervously licking their lips. It’s more like a business than rescue, why can’t they put their energies into neutering and therefore stop the huge numbers of puppies being born .
 
CorvusCorax said:
It does disturb me that there are seemingly so many pet dogs (foreign street dogs aside) who seemingly choose to *avoid* human beings and would rather run
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I dont know. The people who offer the help with lost dogs seem to know what they're doing. I wouldn't want to be in a situation of Bandit going missing to find out how he would behave.
 
Indy said:
I dont know. The people who offer the help with lost dogs seem to know what they're doing. I wouldn't want to be in a situation of Bandit going missing to find out how he would behave.
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I think one of mine would be fine as he is a very independent chap and as long as someone fed him he would go to them , my other 2 are not so food orientated and more cautious round strangers so I can imagine them being difficult to catch
 
splashgirl45 said:
I think one of mine would be fine as he is a very independent chap and as long as someone fed him he would go to them , my other 2 are not so food orientated and more cautious round strangers so I can imagine them being difficult to catch
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Bandit is really social, he loves interacting with people but he can change in a second and become quite guarded. I don't think he'd be the easiest either. Like I say I wouldn't want to be in the situation to find out
 
I’m just a regular pet dog owner, but I’ve picked up any number of worried looking loose dogs out running along busy roads with no person in sight. Often just by parking up safely, opening a rear car door, and calling out to the dog who spots safety and hops in. Kept one for months (pre Facebook days and microchipping) until the owner turned up (I’d notified the dog warden but the dog had crossed boundaries).

Also any number of ‘found’ dogs locally that people have caught up and have safely in their homes awaiting identification and collection. It’s the minority of worried dogs where the ‘Do not approach’ diktat goes out, it’s always worth calling over a straying dog in the first instance.
 
Cooper would come to me, but not in a million years would a stranger catch him. And any attempts to grab him would result in all out panic. Hes a sweet outgoing boy who loves people, but is very funny about being caught. Weirdly, my super people loving clown dog did once get out at a marina, and instead of approaching people went into feral panic mode. Id have bet a million quid he'd have gone up to someone for help, he LOVES everyone, but nope. A switch flicked in his head, when I got back and found him I didnt think he was going to come to me for a second, and then I saw him flick back to normal and he hurled himself at me. Clearly very relieved to be caught. They dont always behave how you think they will.
 
Tiddlypom said:
I’m just a regular pet dog owner, but I’ve picked up any number of worried looking loose dogs out running along busy roads with no person in sight. Often just by parking up safely, opening a rear car door, and calling out to the dog who spots safety and hops in. Kept one for months (pre Facebook days and microchipping) until the owner turned up (I’d notified the dog warden but the dog had crossed boundaries).

Also any number of ‘found’ dogs locally that people have caught up and have safely in their homes awaiting identification and collection. It’s the minority of worried dogs where the ‘Do not approach’ diktat goes out, it’s always worth calling over a straying dog in the first instance.
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that's a relief to read. I had thought from your post 282 that it was only foreign rescues that ran off.

I do see the odd foreign rescue on FB that has gone AWOL (there are a lot less of foreign dogs than UK ones) but almost daily my FB comes up with 3/4 requests to look out for missing UK dogs many with the dont't approach it is too nervous and will run away description. I remember one post where someone had said, take responsibility for your dog, close the gate, if you cannot be sure of recall lead it, know where it is and all the rest of it. That applies to both UK and foreign dog owners. I know Romanian ones are told to double lead ie slip lead and harness and to keep it that way for months. Obviously up to them if they do that but there are warned.
I do find the number of lost dogs surprising.
 
Indy said:
I dont know. The people who offer the help with lost dogs seem to know what they're doing. I wouldn't want to be in a situation of Bandit going missing to find out how he would behave.
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We'll agree to differ. In their drive to be seen to be helping, *some* of the volunteers for these things can make things worse, and some of the suggestions in the comments sections are bananas (I include human searches in this).

But it would be helpful if people didn't let their guard down.
Some of these dogs are never going to be fixed/cured/or will ever stop going into flight mode. You can't love away genetics/nerve.
 
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