# Returning our rescue dog for aggression



## Frankie897

Hello, first post on here but looking some advice.
My partner and I adopted a rescue dog from Romania a few weeks ago, we fell in love as soon as we met her and she seemed to instantly create a lovely bond with us both, very affectionate. We noticed very early on she is extremely reactive to anybody else and ended up biting a guy who tried to stroke her after we’d had her for 1 week- I understand this was fear based and she most likely felt that he was trying to hurt her. During walks she would react to any passer by and other dogs, non of this was a problem and we spoke with an animal behaviourist on the phone a couple of times and had a well recommended trainer booked to come next week. However, a few nights ago, my partner came downstairs and found that the dog had gotten into the living room and was lay on the sofa (something we had not let her do from the start and she had been obsessed with getting on it, but knew she wasn’t allowed). Standing on the other side of the room my partner just told her ‘get down’ she just stared him in the eye for like 2 seconds and then she flipped out, I mean she flew through the air and went berserk. Boyfriend turned and ran- she’s a big powerful dog and there’s no doubt she could do some damage- boyfriend managed to get upstairs before she injured him, but I’ve never seen anything like it in my life, she was frothing at the mouth, she was snapping her teeth trying to grab his leg whenever he tried to calmly walk back out- I called the behaviourist and on her advice I took the dog on a walk by my self to remove her from the situation and calm down- on return to the house she went straight to the bottom of the stairs and sat growling and barking knowing that my boyfriend was up there. She couldn’t even hear his voice without getting into a frenzy- he was talking to somebody on the phone and every time she heard his voice she was jumping up and barking. 
after speaking to the people we got her from, we voiced our concern that what if she does this when we have kids in the near future? They seemed completely taken a back that we are planning to have children and said we shouldn’t have been given a dog from that shelter if we’re going to have children in the family. I had detailed this from the very start of the process- my application form which I still have, details our whole life and plans for marriage next year then kids. 
The dog has now been returned (to a UK kennel) but we feel like the guilt and ‘what if’ is eating us up, we love her, feel like we’ve let her down, boyfriend wonders did she not recognise him and think he was an intruder?? We literally can’t sleep with the fact that we have returned this dog. We are told she will be going to live with a single woman but I don’t even know if they’re telling the truth.
The behaviourist also said, in her words ‘I don’t believe you, he must of done something to her, he must have grabbed her neck’ when we told them about the incident. He was stood on the other side of the room and just said get down, we have never and would never handle her roughly or ever grab a dogs neck but they keep telling us this dog had a great temperament in the shelter and they find it too strange to believe.
We just don’t know if we’ve done the right thing returning her.


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## simplysardonic

From what you've written, I'd say you have done the right thing, there are a lot of dogs in Romania that have very complex needs compared to UK dogs & it sounds like she is having an extreme fear reaction to your partner, & possibly men in general.

Rommies can be very mixed bags, as can the rescues that adopt them out, some assess the dogs better than others, & in a kennel environment it's hard to evaluate a dog's temperament in comparison to a home, where different issues can emerge.

Please don't let it put you off getting a rescue dog, whether from the UK or abroad, there are some excellent rescues that use foster homes to get a much more accurate idea of who the dog is before they go on to their permanent homes


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## Frankie897

Thanks for your reply. I think we just feel really guilty as it was never our intention to return a dog.
In hindsight I agree with what you say about the fostering/assessment process. This dog was brought straight to us from Romania and we hadn’t been told that she had been living in a shelter there for 3 years, so I think they definitely should have put her into a foster placement first as they kept telling us she is not reactive to men and they find our story hard to believe, however since we got her she had been extremely reactive to any man she saw except my boyfriend (until she turned on him as explained in original post).
The organisation have made a few remarks to us, basically insinuating we don’t care about her etc, which is 100% not true, We are massive animal lovers and donate regularly to Romanian and the Chinese meat trade rescues. I think they have placed her in the wrong home without assessing her, I just hope she is ok. My boyfriend is riddled with guilt and keeps saying maybe we should bring her back, give her more chance and keep training her but as explained about the child situation she wouldn’t be suitable when we have kids.
It definitely hasn’t put me off adopting a rescue again but I just need to do more research into the rescue organisation first.


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## Lurcherlad

What a horrible experience for you all, but I think you’ve done the right thing.

We have a rescue dog (UK rescue) and whilst prepared to work with any issues the deal breaker was human aggression. 

It may have been she was asleep and was startled, but her response was pretty extreme and potentially dangerous tbh.

Hopefully, the new owner has the necessary experience to rehabilitate her and provide a suitable environment where she isn’t likely to react in such a way in the future.


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## Trio77

Ive just rescued an engkish dog but the first two days he was aggressive and snarling... Like you i thought about returning him the guilt was unbearable no one rescues a dog to return a few days later. For me i decided to give my dog six months... I live alone... I got him neautered and started from scratch choosing my arguments and going at the pace of the dog dont let it put you off getting another rescue.


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## Linda Weasel

You did the right thing; you gave the dog a chance, which it wouldn’t have had otherwise. The rescue organisation now has that much more information, because of your experience, and will hopefully find a more suitable home.

Sadly, many rescues will pat themselves on the back and say ‘We’ve re-homed x amount of dogs’. Doesn’t necessarily mean those re-homing were all successful, and sadly there are rescues who will try to make you feel guilty/bad/incompetent when you try to return an unsuitable dog.

Som dogs, also, are total Jeckyll and Hyde personalities given the different circumstances between being in a kennel and being in a domestic situation, so it’s not really possible to positively predict how they’ll behave in a new home.


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## July

I agree with what has been said, the rescue was not thorough and should have checked if you had experience with dogs with unknown background.
If I was you I would look for a rescue in uk that is in foster care, and they will check you and match the right dog for your situation.
Don't feel bad, I have fostered many dogs and meet who are interested in adopting and can see straight away if its a match, not your fault Romanian street dogs have learnt to look after themselves, if small littleluns then they can be scary at first, but you still have to know how to bring them round to normal life and not be afraid, its not easy but they can be lovely when they realise there is no threat and only love and food when they are hungary.
Honestly if you go back to Romanian rescue make sure they are coming from legit foster carers with some history of previous life.
Good luck


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## Katiewates

Frankie897 said:


> Hello, first post on here but looking some advice.
> My partner and I adopted a rescue dog from Romania a few weeks ago, we fell in love as soon as we met her and she seemed to instantly create a lovely bond with us both, very affectionate. We noticed very early on she is extremely reactive to anybody else and ended up biting a guy who tried to stroke her after we'd had her for 1 week- I understand this was fear based and she most likely felt that he was trying to hurt her. During walks she would react to any passer by and other dogs, non of this was a problem and we spoke with an animal behaviourist on the phone a couple of times and had a well recommended trainer booked to come next week. However, a few nights ago, my partner came downstairs and found that the dog had gotten into the living room and was lay on the sofa (something we had not let her do from the start and she had been obsessed with getting on it, but knew she wasn't allowed). Standing on the other side of the room my partner just told her 'get down' she just stared him in the eye for like 2 seconds and then she flipped out, I mean she flew through the air and went berserk. Boyfriend turned and ran- she's a big powerful dog and there's no doubt she could do some damage- boyfriend managed to get upstairs before she injured him, but I've never seen anything like it in my life, she was frothing at the mouth, she was snapping her teeth trying to grab his leg whenever he tried to calmly walk back out- I called the behaviourist and on her advice I took the dog on a walk by my self to remove her from the situation and calm down- on return to the house she went straight to the bottom of the stairs and sat growling and barking knowing that my boyfriend was up there. She couldn't even hear his voice without getting into a frenzy- he was talking to somebody on the phone and every time she heard his voice she was jumping up and barking.
> after speaking to the people we got her from, we voiced our concern that what if she does this when we have kids in the near future? They seemed completely taken a back that we are planning to have children and said we shouldn't have been given a dog from that shelter if we're going to have children in the family. I had detailed this from the very start of the process- my application form which I still have, details our whole life and plans for marriage next year then kids.
> The dog has now been returned (to a UK kennel) but we feel like the guilt and 'what if' is eating us up, we love her, feel like we've let her down, boyfriend wonders did she not recognise him and think he was an intruder?? We literally can't sleep with the fact that we have returned this dog. We are told she will be going to live with a single woman but I don't even know if they're telling the truth.
> The behaviourist also said, in her words 'I don't believe you, he must of done something to her, he must have grabbed her neck' when we told them about the incident. He was stood on the other side of the room and just said get down, we have never and would never handle her roughly or ever grab a dogs neck but they keep telling us this dog had a great temperament in the shelter and they find it too strange to believe.
> We just don't know if we've done the right thing returning her.


I'm having the same trouble, we've had our Romanian rescue a year and I've tried and tried everything but he's aggressive towards people, our household, my cat and my 8 yr old daughter sometimes, he seems obsessed with me. I'm having to return him and I feel awful


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## Linda Weasel

Katiewates said:


> I'm having the same trouble, we've had our Romanian rescue a year and I've tried and tried everything but he's aggressive towards people, our household, my cat and my 8 yr old daughter sometimes, he seems obsessed with me. I'm having to return him and I feel awful


@Katiewates , because this is an old thread you may get more responses by starting a new thread in Training and Behaviour.


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## Ian246

Deleted. Same point as Linda Weasel makes.


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## Hattydog3

We too have a Romanian rescue. She is aggressive towards strangers and can never be trusted to go near anyone she doesn't know well. She didn't show any aggression whilst in the rescue kennels but after having her at home a few days, she started to lunge and nip strangers including visitors to our home. She takes time to accept people but when she does, she loves nothing more than laying beside them being stroked and cuddled. Once she accepts someone she doesn't forget them and then shows no aggression towards them. We've had her over four years and I have to admit that I was close to giving up on her but we've just learned how to manage her and know that we could never let her near strangers.


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