rescue dogs and small children

Thank God there are those of us on here who are willing to rescue from abroad, yes we have dogs for re homing here but once you see the appalling cruelty with which many dogs are treated in some countries there is no question of not helping them.

DH breeds Spaniels, primarily focusing on getting excellent temperament - he will not entertain homing any pup to a house with children under 5 - because little children don’t understand canine behaviour and it’s not fair on either dog or child

I can understand your concerns. I have a UK rescue dog who was badly treated for 2 years before I got him. His only issue is separation anxiety.

Two friends have taken on dogs from Romania and both have been wonderfully friendly and easy going. That's not to say all imported dogs will be like that, but it indicates that success is possible.

Some dogs actually love crates because that becomes their secure base.

A good, kind understanding trainer may be the answer. Someone who really knows dogs especially the rescue king.

Caro57, your DH is a responsible breeder. The breeder our puppy came from was happy for us to bring the pup home last week because (sadly) our grandchildren won't be here over the exciting Christmas period. They would have kept our pup until January had the house been busy with lots of visitors and children. Good breeders.

The charity I volunteer for places large dogs, it will not place in families with children under 8, or where there is not a safe, enclosed garden. I'm a member of facebook groups for specific breeds. It isn't uncommon to see posts from people who say they will rescue from abroad because our own shelters won't place with people who have children under 5, or where the dog will be left all day because the adults work. These people seem to think the dog shelter staff know nothing about dogs.....

I’ve been checking out UK dog rescue sites since losing my boy couple of years ago. Battersea for example says they have very few there as lockdown prompted lots of adoptions. Which is good, as long as they work out.
Do hope it works out for your family. And the dog!

Im going to agree with you.
Unless she has an infinite amount of time to train this dog she should rethink.
My friend (with teenagers) has taken on a foreign rescue. It is very bitey. Unfortunately she hasn't had enough time to train it/take it to training. I would not have this dog around small children!
It seems very easy to get a foreign rescue, there is a reason uk rescue homes do such checks.

I would not home a rescued dog with small children. There is no way of knowing whether its past experiences, with children or indeed any situation at all, have been positive or negative ones, there is no way of knowing what, if anything, is its trigger point. I would only ever have a puppy, reared in a home and loved by a breeder I either know, or know of through other happy owners, where I can be absolutely certain that when that pup comes to me at 8 weeks old, all its experiences since birth have been wholly positive.

And I would not home any dog with a two year old child, who is far too young to respect the dog, and to understand the potential for a split-second reaction to be catastrophic. Let the child grow up and learn how it needs to behave around dogs, and maybe fewer dogs would end up being rehomed when their unacceptable behaviour was triggered by the unacceptable behaviour of the child it was expected to tolerate.

Crates are a great tool for dogs. If introduced properly in short bursts they do indeed, as others have said, become a safe place.. Crate should never be used as a punishment or "Naughty step" I was a fosterer for a local dog rescue and I must admit we never placed dogs with families who had very young children.
This could have been because a lot of dogs that had been given up to the rescue were from families who were finding it hard to cope with dog and small children.

We rescued two dogs from Battersea, one before our first child arrived and one when both children were 6 and 8, when the first dog died. They gave us such joy, the children loved them and the dogs were thoroughly checked for suitability, as were we!

I agree about placing a rescue dog with young children. We had a rescue terrier cross when our 4 were 6-12. She had a lovely life.
I've been watching a very interesting series on BBC1 called 12 Puppies and Us.
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m000pbg3/12-puppies-and-us
Covers most potential problems. One is a rescue dog , but they were lucky , she has a nice nature.

The problem I worry about is the dog itself could be healthy and non-aggressive, but if it has experienced anything traumatic in its life that you may not know about, and a small child grabs it or makes a sudden movement or noise that scares it, that's when there could be an accident. I'd not want to take a dog of unknown background until all the children are school age or above.