Rehoming rescue dogs - my story.....

gettingready

A dog mad friend of mine has brough her dog number 4 in... She had 2 GS with her when she came to UK, then she adopted a GS number 3 from Poland (some of you may remeber Here the dog escaping from a courier van in Kent and the search for her), 3 days ago she brough another dog from Poland, a little cross breed girl who was in a shelter for 3 years and had no chance to be adopted - deformed paw....

I have no idea how she manages with all of them but she does - she works full time and lives in an upstairs flat and 4 dogs....

bugslet

I've never had a dog from a rescue centre, though I've had a couple of dogs that for various reasons have been returned to breeders, so that's sort of rescue!

My nearest to a proper rescue is the fabulous Lady Miss Till, whom I found all but crawling down the pavement in Garston Liverpool ( hence she is a Garston Terrier:o). Took her to the vets thinking she would be put down, she was virtually catatonic, barely responded, her fur was incredibly matted, and she stunk of wee, terribly underweight, but the vet said all she needed was TLC.

1 day later she was a different dog already - I guess that the combination of some decent food, seeing other happy healthy dogs in the house made a difference. 8 years later, she can still be very anti social in the evening and she'll never be a part of the pack in the way the others are, but she loves her walks, is adored by passers-by, flirts dreadfully with all the boy dogs and loves freshly poured water -something she obviously lacked all those years ago.

I'd like her to be happier in her head but too much damage done in the early years, other than that she is a wonderful dog and I haven't regretted a second of her being with us.

con1888

I have one rescue dog, Kia. Background ?? Who knows !! She has been with a foster home and in the foster home there was cats,dogs and children which she got on with fine so she suited me. She was underfed when she came to the rescue and ended up overweight at the fosterers but I don't know much else, they are contacting vets etc to try get me more info.

Had her 2 months now and she has slotted in to our family amazingly. She's sleeping at my feet just now. They have told me she is approx 4/5... at first I thought she looked and acted a lot older but as she is losig weight and becoming more confident I do not know. I am waiting on her microchip details being changed to mine so may have a better idea when I get the paperwork in....

She is a german shepherd and came from a rescue who have their dogs in foster homes rather than kennels.






Also have Frankie cat... before I changed my working hours I was feeling very lonely at home alone (partner works mon-thur nights) and wanted a pet but at the time we didn't have time for a dog so I decided on a cat. Posted on facebook to see if anyone had any kittens and a friend of a friend had two, I went to see them, they were 14 weeks old and their previous owner had returned them at 10 weeks as they were scratching her sofa. Although I only wanted one and partner told me I was only allowed one, I took both. My brother took one of them from me ( female, Cleo) and I kept Frankie. He is wonderful but oh so smelly in his litterbox. He attacks me randomly but he is just playing, he does hurt at times though. He also needs a litterbox both up and downstairs and if one is steeping, rather than go downstairs and use the other he just does his business on the floor, meaning I am now ripping up ALL the upstairs carpets and going for laminate I now have 3 litter boxes so that when one is seeping, I always have two in use but it's too late to save the carpets.

Frankie was free, but he has ended up costing me hundreds on new carpets and cleaning products !!!

Here is the monster

with his sister


Now

elsien

I got current mutt from a rescue - it hasn't put me off, although lord knows it should have - some of the centres are great, others you do wonder how they manage to rehome anything.
Dogs trust were very helpful and willing to consider individual circumstances. So the flat wasn't a problem, depending on which dog I wanted. They said no to me having big boisterous dog, but ok to the less bouncy one. Which made sense. And at least they were honest about the dogs and any potential problems. But they didn't have what I was looking for and I was too impatient to wait.
So off to a bull terrier rescue. Who gave me mutt - she'd been picked up off the streets and been in Battersea for 6 months before being passed onto them. Total information given -"she's a sweetheart. She chases brushes. The bald patches are from a now cured skin condition."
Mutt was not house trained, or trained in any other way at all. Mutt had sarcoptic mange and hip dysplasia, and a stomach infection. Mutt was completely out of control, a destructive nervous wreck, weeing everywhere, nipping everyone and everything. Mutt was unspayed and came into season 2 days after I got her. She cost me £600 in the first 4 months.
I have no idea why I kept her, other than that I'm a glutton for punishment - I can completely understand why people return dogs as being unsuitable. If I'd had kids, I'd have had no choice but to take her back. I spent the first few weeks in tears, as it was my mother's house and furniture she was wrecking, and I still can't believe mum didn't throw the pair of us out.

So next mutt will be from a rehoming centre or similar as I need a slightly older dog not a puppy. But I'll be asking a heck of a sight more questions than I did last time. And taking a bit more time in getting to know the dog (if possible) before deciding.
I just think some centres really don't do themselves any favours, and if you're a new inexperienced potential owner that's when things are liable to go a bit pear shaped. Which is a shame because it's so unnecessary. I don't want the perfect dog - my brothers dog is very well behaved and (dare I say it) slightly boring. At least life with mutt is always interesting. But if I'm taking on a problem dog, I at least want an inkling of what's in store for me, not the "everything in the garden is rosy" routine.

Notsosharp

I've read this thread with interest, mainly because it fascinates me how people come by their animals and what they're willing to tolerate for the love of a good(ish) dog!

First dog is a "proper" rescue dog, he came from a border collie rescue place and is a good a dog as anyone could wish for really. He's not perfect, he gets frequent upset stomachs and considering he's a collie is definitely not the brightest dog I've ever met but I wouldn't change him for the world despite the fact he has disabled hips and frequently stinks due to the fact he can't !!!! his leg properly so pees up his front legs! :eek:

But he is a very good looking fellow and I still get stopped in the street asking how I keep my dog so clean because he always looks white even when he's been wallowing in mud five minutes before!

Ollie collie loves playing football, can jump seven foot fences despite the bad hips and walk for hours just tootling along sniffing anything that takes his fancy. He tends to ignore people unless they approach him and he loves the attention he gets. Although having said that he can be a bit funny about letting people in the house and "guards" them. I wouldn't trust him with anyone he knew wasn't meant to be in the house. He is also a good barker which can be a problem when he decides to howl at the back door at three in the morning!

The second wasn't a rescue dog as such but I did re-home her. My Mum was walking through town one day when she came across a woman with an odd looking but cute dog. Mum got chatting to this woman and it turns out she's looking for a home for this dog.

Minnie (bit of a silly name) is a jack russell chihuahua cross and she is absolutely tiny, people are always asking me when she is going to get bigger (she won't, she can't weigh more than 8 pounds).

She looks a bit like a gremlin because she has huge ears compared to her head but is very cute looking and my daughter absolutely loves her. DD is going through a hard time at school with bullies and Minnie has made her smile again. Minnie has also cured my prejudice against small dogs, there is nothing better then having a dog want nothing more than to curl up on your lap and she will stay like that all day given the chance.

She does love a good walk though and will go for miles despite her size (must be the JR) and loves a good game of tug of war. She is also cheeky and cocky and I have to keep her on a lead most of the time because she has little to no recall. She loves children and once ran from one end of the park right up to the other to get to some children, so she's always been kept on a lead after that. We also walk along the canal where we live and given half the chance she will jump on people's boats and pay them a "visit", fortunately most boat people are dog lovers but it's something I'm working on because I know not everyone appreciates it!

Minnie is very clever and runs rings round Ollie (literally) which is very funny to see.

So that's my story, not all rescue dogs are dodgy and you do get brilliant rescue dogs but sometimes it's good to ask around because if you're after another dog and struggling with the rescues you might find someone who just wants their dog to have a good home which is what happened with Minnie.

And I'm very glad both of them came into my life

heartbreak_star

Our beautiful Mia is a rescue dog - we think she's mostly border collie. My OH and his ex got her a couple of years ago, and she was nervy but friendly, had a bit of an issue with weeing when excited and barked at everything that moved.

She's still a bit funny with other dogs when she's on the leash, not so much when running free, and she still barks at the postman, but she's loyal, loving, and licky sleeps on our feet and likes to bring us balls and other toys to pile on us

Our cats, rest their little souls, were also rescue and used to love sleeping on us...sadly they were poisoned by some anonymous <insert expletives here> but they will always be remembered with love.

HBS x

Wellyboots6