#sophiefromromania

Alwaysmoretoknow said:
Sorry but I believe a lot of this enthusiasm for 'rescues' (whither horses or dogs) is about virtue signalling and not about an actual deep seated concern for the/any animal's welfare but more about stoking the individual's ego.
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Good on you. The dogs I have rescued stoked my ego perfectly well without needing validation by the likes of you and Shilasdair.
 
Clodagh said:
Good on you. The dogs I have rescued stoked my ego perfectly well without needing validation by the likes of you and Shilasdair.
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Please note I said 'a lot' not all. I'm sure there are perfectly responsible and experienced owners like you out there thankfully but generally speaking placing troubled or unwell animals with inexperienced people is unwise.
 
Alwaysmoretoknow said:
almost everyone who buys a horse these days (according to social media) has 'rescued' it.
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Who is "almost everyone?" I have not encountered these people.

Offhand, I know three people who have rehomed horses through a rescue charity. All of them are sane, responsible, caring owners.

The people I know who got rescue dogs, foreign or otherwise, did so because they wanted an adult mutt. People have genuine reasons for not wanting a purebred puppy. They really do.
 
Caol Ila said:
The one thing that would probably decrease foreign rescues would be for UK rehoming charities to make their adopter criteria more pragmatic/realistic.

I know two people who rehomed from abroad (their dogs are lovely - well-trained and well-socialized) because they could not get a dog from a UK-based charity. One is a single doctor who works full time. She said she would get a dog-walker, but that was not acceptable. Apparently if you live alone and work full time, you are out. The other friend was a vet student. They would not rehome to a student. Both these women were experienced dog owners. I also know an older lady (late 60s/early70s) - she used to have a horse at my previous barn - whose old dog died, and she could not rehome a new dog because the charities deemed her too old. She doesn't have a dog anymore, which is a shame because she could have provided a nice home for an elderly dog that people are not lining up at the door to adopt.

Requirements seem to be under 60 but not a student, working from home or independantly wealthy so you can be home all the time, and middle-class enough to have a large yard with a 6ft fence. And people wonder why the rescues are full......
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The age thing is just silly a mature dog can be ideal for an older person and the older person ideal for an older dog .
 
Just googled Noah’s ark and they look like a good organisation, doesn’t seem that they rescue from abroad.. looked at their blog and they have a jack russell who they rescued with her pups and they all look clean and well.
 
Alwaysmoretoknow said:
Btw my definition of a rescue is when you take an animal from a really crap situation and put it into a really good one and either keep it for life or rehabilitate it with any required veterinary treatment and/or training and then rehome it responsibly.
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By that definition, three of our current animals were rescued by us, and two were rescued by others who later rehomed them to us.
 
splashgirl45 said:
Just googled Noah’s ark and they look like a good organisation, doesn’t seem that they rescue from abroad.. looked at their blog and they have a jack russell who they rescued with her pups and they all look clean and well.
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Noah's Ark Romanian Rescue

Toot, toot. All aboard the happy bus.
 
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skinnydipper said:
Noah's Ark Romanian Rescue

Toot, toot. All aboard the happy bus.
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There are a lot of scared looking dogs on that site. There are also two different figures given for the 'adoption fee' (£395 and £425) which they say is to cover travel and vaccinations, but I can't find anywhere on the site that says exactly what they're vaccinated for, and whether or not they've been tested for BC. I have to admit though that the use of made-up words like 'furever' stopped me spending too long looking.
 
I’ve just looked at their Facebook page and donation is £450 and no mention of any testing for foreign diseases. Out of interest I looked back to the beginning of feb and there are 28!!!! Young dogs or puppies advertised. They all look cute and it’s no wonder that people fall for them , there was a video of supposed lab crosses who all seem pretty normal and are behaving like puppies should , waggy tails and coming over to a person, but no videos of the scared looking puppies that are being held ..
 
Poor dog how they have failed it.

Ive fostered for years and my last one was a Romanian described as shy, what an understatement, she climbed the walls absolutely terrified, she had bitten the transport girls. I left her in my kitchen with a crate in the corner covered in blankets and she found her way in there and stayed, she still had her ear tag in and she stank. I just completely ignored her, no eye contact, my own dogs ignored her too but they are very used to strange dogs. I really believe my dogs were instrumental in turning this dog around.

I used to put her food and water beside the crate and she would only come out to eat and toilet when I left the room. I used to sit at the kitchen table near the crate read the newspaper out loud so she got used to my voice, I never attempted to touch her. I had a stairgate between the kitchen and sitting room where the dogs were and she would stand by the stairgate and watch the dogs who came over to her to say hello. I then allowed them access to the kitchen and she watched me interacting with them and would sit under the kitchen table watching she then started to take treats from my hand but I was careful not to make eye contact. While she was standing by my dogs I was able to gently stroke her at first she was alarmed but the minute she moved away I never pressured her, gradually she started to accept it and even enjoy it.

I was extremely lucky in having Cayla as a friend and shortly after the above Cayla came down for her annual stay. Zara the Rommy dog was quite confident by this time and loved Primula, we coaxed Zara on to the sofa with Primula and Cayla removed the ear tag and fitted a collar which was a game changer as I could start to house train her. As the weather was so good we even bathed her which she seemed to enjoy.

To cut a long story short she is the sweetest loving dog, very different to most dogs she is very independent, she was rehomed but they lost her twice so I kept her to keep her safe, she is very much enjoying her life and loves my dogs and I would say out of all my dogs she is the one who loves me the most. Ive never let her off the lead but she doesnt seem to mind, she has been tested for BC and is negative.
 
Dobiegirl said:
Poor dog how they have failed it.

Ive fostered for years and my last one was a Romanian described as shy, what an understatement, she climbed the walls absolutely terrified, she had bitten the transport girls. I left her in my kitchen with a crate in the corner covered in blankets and she found her way in there and stayed, she still had her ear tag in and she stank. I just completely ignored her, no eye contact, my own dogs ignored her too but they are very used to strange dogs. I really believe my dogs were instrumental in turning this dog around.

I used to put her food and water beside the crate and she would only come out to eat and toilet when I left the room. I used to sit at the kitchen table near the crate read the newspaper out loud so she got used to my voice, I never attempted to touch her. I had a stairgate between the kitchen and sitting room where the dogs were and she would stand by the stairgate and watch the dogs who came over to her to say hello. I then allowed them access to the kitchen and she watched me interacting with them and would sit under the kitchen table watching she then started to take treats from my hand but I was careful not to make eye contact. While she was standing by my dogs I was able to gently stroke her at first she was alarmed but the minute she moved away I never pressured her, gradually she started to accept it and even enjoy it.

I was extremely lucky in having Cayla as a friend and shortly after the above Cayla came down for her annual stay. Zara the Rommy dog was quite confident by this time and loved Primula, we coaxed Zara on to the sofa with Primula and Cayla removed the ear tag and fitted a collar which was a game changer as I could start to house train her. As the weather was so good we even bathed her which she seemed to enjoy.

To cut a long story short she is the sweetest loving dog, very different to most dogs she is very independent, she was rehomed but they lost her twice so I kept her to keep her safe, she is very much enjoying her life and loves my dogs and I would say out of all my dogs she is the one who loves me the most. Ive never let her off the lead but she doesnt seem to mind, she has been tested for BC and is negative.
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I was a sceptic.

But she’s amazing, and they are the most wonderful, caring owners.

I had the pleasure of meeting them all a few weeks ago.

The empathy, understanding and devotion they have for her is just remarkable.
 
Dobiegirl said:
Poor dog how they have failed it.

Ive fostered for years and my last one was a Romanian described as shy, what an understatement, she climbed the walls absolutely terrified, she had bitten the transport girls. I left her in my kitchen with a crate in the corner covered in blankets and she found her way in there and stayed, she still had her ear tag in and she stank. I just completely ignored her, no eye contact, my own dogs ignored her too but they are very used to strange dogs. I really believe my dogs were instrumental in turning this dog around.

I used to put her food and water beside the crate and she would only come out to eat and toilet when I left the room. I used to sit at the kitchen table near the crate read the newspaper out loud so she got used to my voice, I never attempted to touch her. I had a stairgate between the kitchen and sitting room where the dogs were and she would stand by the stairgate and watch the dogs who came over to her to say hello. I then allowed them access to the kitchen and she watched me interacting with them and would sit under the kitchen table watching she then started to take treats from my hand but I was careful not to make eye contact. While she was standing by my dogs I was able to gently stroke her at first she was alarmed but the minute she moved away I never pressured her, gradually she started to accept it and even enjoy it.

I was extremely lucky in having Cayla as a friend and shortly after the above Cayla came down for her annual stay. Zara the Rommy dog was quite confident by this time and loved Primula, we coaxed Zara on to the sofa with Primula and Cayla removed the ear tag and fitted a collar which was a game changer as I could start to house train her. As the weather was so good we even bathed her which she seemed to enjoy.

To cut a long story short she is the sweetest loving dog, very different to most dogs she is very independent, she was rehomed but they lost her twice so I kept her to keep her safe, she is very much enjoying her life and loves my dogs and I would say out of all my dogs she is the one who loves me the most. Ive never let her off the lead but she doesnt seem to mind, she has been tested for BC and is negative.
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I do think having other dogs in the house much make a huge difference to these rescues. I'm glad she got to stay with you in the end.
 
Amymay Again said:
I was a sceptic.

But she’s amazing, and they are the most wonderful, caring owners.

I had the pleasure of meeting them all a few weeks ago.

The empathy, understanding and devotion they have for her is just remarkable.
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I am sure they are lovely people. But I looked on his Twitter account and there's a 'funny' video of her being very uncomfortable with a promotional cardboard cut-out of herself that they brought into the house for her to look at. That's not empathetic or understanding, that's using the dog's discomfort for likes and shares and is never something I will agree with.

If it's bad for Tracee and Jayydon to make videos of their XL bully with whale eye and lip licking at baby Jaxxxxxonn then it's bad for a nice middle class couple in London to use their traumatised rescue dog for a similar dopamine hit, IMO.
 
Amymay Again said:
I was a sceptic.

But she’s amazing, and they are the most wonderful, caring owners.

I had the pleasure of meeting them all a few weeks ago.

The empathy, understanding and devotion they have for her is just remarkable.
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That's splendid. And do you think as a result of the book we will have more dogs imported into the UK from Romania or less?
 
skinnydipper said:
That's splendid. And do you think as a result of the book we will have more dogs imported into the UK from Romania or less?
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I know this question wasnt aimed at me, but I did ask myself the same question.

Will people see how long the journey was and realise how awful it is for both dog and owner? Or will they romanticize and want to create their own fairytale.

I daresay I think it will be the latter.
 
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