UK based Romanian Rescue Dog Charities - are they increasing health risks to animals here?

We adopted from spain after being refused by 8 English charities for a variety of reasons, no available dogs-that was Battersea and dogs trust (really? No smallish dog regardless of sex age or breed in ANY of your kennels?), 2 cats in the home, work hours too long (8-12), youngest daughter being 14, not a high enough fence etc etc we finally adopted 2 siblings after being shown pictures and videos, took approximately 3 months for checks on us to be finalised. Both pups fully vaccinated, vet checked and neutered . Best decision we ever made and not a moment's regret.

A homeless dog needs a home wherever he lives. Humanitarian standards are very low in many countries and compassionate people here want to help. They and the rescue dogs are strictly vetted and followed up after arriving here.
Many former street dogs are traumatised and take a long time to trust people but I’ve never heard of one arriving with an infectious disease.

Family member had two rescued Romanian dogs. They are friendly and socialised.

It is not easy to be accepted as an adopter there are strict criteria to be met.
The Charity continue to pay the vets bills for several years.

I support a Romanian rescue charity based in the UK and I also have a Romanian rescue dog. She had a horrible life out there and is the sweetest natured dog we have ever had and we have always had dogs.

I looked to adopt in the UK and was disqualified because of age.

Before she arrived she was thoroughly checked by a vet. In fact she wasn't allowed to travel until she had recovered from her previous mistreatment. She also had all the necessary injections. She was very nervous and traumatised at first but after two years she is a bundle of joy and everyone loves her.

There can be problems with any rescue dog no matter where from and I think to single out Romania is wrong.

Funnily enough we met a beautiful Border Collie on our dog walk last week. Chatted to the couple and they told us she was from Romania.

I thought it was lovely that this dog was getting a good life after being a street dog. She was very well behaved. Is now clean in the house and is an utter joy.

As Fishpieplease says, it's not just a case of picking a dog and wandering home with it. Lots of checks are in place and it's all done above board.

Of course there are dogs here but my word, so what?

I've had 7 rescue dogs over the years, all from the UK. But I'd not berate anyone for opting to choose from Romania or wherever.

We spent some weeks looking to adopt a rescue dog from this country without success after we lost our rescue greyhounds. After a lot of searching we have a dog from Romania. We were vetted thoroughly and sent videos of the dog and spent time with her before we brought her home. We had to sign to say that if it didn’t work out we had to return her to the charity. I have to admit I was sceptical at first,but I cannot fault the process and the follow up care we’ve received.

The OP mentioned Romania as an example, with over 15,000 dogs coming here from that one country alone. So how many are coming from abroad in total? I believe we have a huge surplus of unwanted dogs here anyway, so what happens to them? Maybe those who are so keen to bring dogs from abroad can explain how the number of homes available can be balanced with the number of dogs needing homes? Won't this mean that for every foreign dog being homed here a British dog has to be put down?

There is a charity near me who import dogs from overseas as rescues. There have been a number of well documented issues between new owners and the charity because these dogs are placed with inexperienced owners and the dogs have a myriad of issues.

So someone hoping for a gentle ,house trained dog that's easily trainable is in for a shock !

I am pro dog but I am also a realist. Not ALL dogs are able to be rescued. Some have been so neglected, so mistreated , so abused that no amount of kindness and training will ever make them reliable family pets.

Sometimes it might be kinder to put them down than pass on the issues to another country or someone else.

Just to inject a little light relief here, there are other not so obvious issues with adopting dogs from abroad. One of those is language - these dogs do not speak English so also need to learn a new set of commands. This takes time. There was a dog from the Scottish Islands a few years ago whose owner had sadly died. The little dog took a while to rehome as it only spoke Gaelic and needed a Gaelic speaking home!

Brainwashed, Namsnanny, quite sad to see really.

Yes Lemongrove I have and they are not clear.

Florence have you checked/ googled exactly what is the case from the charities that bring dogs over here for new owners?

I agree nansnammy battle footing and over ready to wade into the fray shouting ‘racism!’ It’s laughable.

Really just trying to focus on the health aspects of the dogs arriving in the UK. What checks are made by the Rescue Charities as to the health of each dog and is all this documented for the new owner? How extensive is the screening? Is there anybody connected with a charity who could contribute?

Why must there be certain connotations about everything?....

I wonder that to EllanVannin, presumably some folk are on a permanent battle footing?

I was told by a lady who runs a local rescue centre ( unsure about the truth of this) that one reason dogs from overseas are brought here is because so many of the dogs in the GB rescue centres are bull terrier types that people are unsure about adopting, she has several long term resident bull terriers in her kennels.

There'll be an influx of strays once everyone gets back to normal, from those who were irresponsible enough to get a dog during lockdown.

Most of the dogs in this country are vaccinated/ tagged and free from diseases where hopefully the owners can show certificates of up to date jabs against all ills.
You only need one case of parvo-virus to spread like wildfire, so it's a case of whether all dogs have been tested/ quarantined before being flown/ shipped here then quarantined again on arrival.

I can't see anyone going to the trouble of all this with a number of animals ?

It's got NOTHING to do with where they come from.! If everyone was happy about checks being done on animals they could come from Timbuktu for all I care. Why must there always be certain connotations of sorts with everything ?

I would have thought that Battersea dogs home had a surfeit of dogs ?

I think the legislation around dogs needs updating for all kinds of reasons Florence78
Thank you for raising the issue for us to discuss

Romanian rescue dogs do seem to have a lot of problems, not only physical health either.The DD of a friend has adopted two dogs from a Romanian charity, one only lived for a month poor thing, the other is now fine, big and glossy, but is a nervous wreck if any man appears.I have read similar reports.
However, potentially any dog with a bad ‘back story’ from any country could be the same.

EV, I have no problem with the OP highlighting the potential health issues surrounding the import of animals with unknown health histories. But really, listen to yourselves.

My friend adopted a dog from a Spanish re-homing charity. The dog is healthy and it took her a year to get all the right paperwork in place to do it. While there is undoubtedly a need to discuss the responsible re-homing of overseas animals, for 2 of the first 3 posts in this thread to be so negative tells me a lot.

Florence78, sorry for diverting your thread.

I see no veil EllanVanni

I think it's more about the unknown breeds of these dogs rather than your thinly-veiled sarcasm Alegrias !

Sadly there's a huge risk involved in importing rescue dogs and I believe there's lots of evidence that people are making money out of it rather than helping rescue dogs. TBH I'm also against this, we should be putting our money and efforts into stopping puppy farms, here and abroad, rather than lining the pockets of people fueling the dog market. Tough, I know, but it's a similar situation to buying horses from kill pens in the US, done to help horses but actually counter-productive.

Are we really having a thread about those dirty immigrant dogs from Romania, coming over here and using up our comfy homes when there are plenty good British dogs?

? ?