# Our Romanian dog rescue experience



## Walking Pierre (Nov 5, 2019)

Hello all, a first post about our experiences fostering two Romanian rescue dogs. We will not do it again.

We aren't setting out to apportion blame, or encouraging anyone else to do it. Hopefully the following will be useful to anyone thinking about fostering. We are sure there must be many good news stories as well. We'd also point out that we are experienced dog owners, and have our own rescue dog from the UK, who had many problems.

The first dog was 3 years old according to the passport, it was delivered directly to us off the transport. Like many, it was a street dog. It was medium size, in what seemed like good health, but underweight. It was very friendly, and mild mannered, picky about food. There were no accidents indoors, so we suspect it had been a pet. So that all sounds good, but lead walking was poor.

One quirk was an obsession with trying to escape, whenever it was outside we had the sense it would be off if it could. It did manage to scale a 6 foot fence, and we were fortunate to quickly recover it. So after that we kept it on a long lead in the garden, but it managed to chew through the fabric, so after that we used a plastic covered steel cable.

Another quirk was it wouldn't play. Presumably the poor thing just didn't know how.

It has been adopted, with warnings to the new owners about keeping it on a lead even when in the garden. We talked to them about using a tracker.

The second dog was a puppy. It was presented as 5 months old, but a vet (more about that later) felt it was younger, maybe 4 months. It was a friendly puppy, loving a cuddle, no house training of course.

It was bright and took to its crate very well. Maybe that is enforced by the 1500 mile drive to the UK in a crate. It learned some commands readily, and house training was progressing.

We had to take it to the vets, as from arrival it was passing blood in its motions which were runny with mucus, the vet felt it needed worming. It also had kennel cough, and what the vet felt could be dermodex. Otherwise it appeared healthy but underweight.

In all of this we had to consider the well being of our own dog. The vet reassured us in the case of the illnesses, but our dog is timid and ended up very anxious.

So overall it was an experience we will not repeat. As above, we are sure there must be many good news stories as well.


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## simplysardonic (Sep 1, 2009)

> One quirk was an obsession with trying to escape, whenever it was outside we had the sense it would be off if it could.


That's not really a quirk when it comes to ex street dogs, it's attempted by many, understandably, given their often trubulent & fear filled past lives- they can be very different to any dogs from the UK.

Did the rescue not tell you to keep the dog double leashed while outside, even in a fully fenced garden?

That's basic information that should be passed on to both adopters & fosters.

TBH it doesn't sound like a reputable rescue (unfortunately there are now a lot of them about, cashing in on the dogs) if they're allowing sick dogs to travel & not advising on basic canine safeguarding.


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## Linda Weasel (Mar 5, 2014)

TBH I think if you take on a foreign rescue you must be prepared for the worst, then double it, then if it’s better than expected it’s a bonus.

And don’t think that just because you’ve given a dog a better life that it will be ‘grateful’ and out of that gratitude become a perfect pet, because that isn’t going to happen.

Yes, some people strike lucky but expect it to be the exception to the rule.


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## Huds (Mar 26, 2019)

Walking Pierre said:


> Hello all, a first post about our experiences fostering two Romanian rescue dogs. We will not do it again.
> 
> We aren't setting out to apportion blame, or encouraging anyone else to do it. Hopefully the following will be useful to anyone thinking about fostering. We are sure there must be many good news stories as well. We'd also point out that we are experienced dog owners, and have our own rescue dog from the UK, who had many problems.
> 
> ...


Hi. I think it is definitely worth writing about these issues as many animal lovers may go ahead and rescue a street dog seeing only the wonderful images and videos online of their incredible improvements. Very rarely do we hear about the extra patience and time and compromise that often/ usually/ understandably is needed for these dogs.
I jumped in at the deep end taking our first ever family dog from a uk rescue site. He was a beautiful 6 month old gsd cross and ticked all the boxes on paper. We travelled many miles to meet him in his foster home and only then were told he was a Romanian import. I had not researched these at all but was told he was just a pup from a farm that was going to be drowned if he hadn't been brought over. He was very sweet, housetrained and cat friendly and great with all of us so we agreed to take him on. 
Over the next 6 months he developed extreme fear aggression so could not be let off lead. He was fine with dogs and people he knew but was very scary to those he didn't recognise. I would never have been able to let my teen kids look after him inside or out so I was solely responsible for his care. My dog sitter refused to take him when she had young dogs as he was aggressively dominant. We took him to a behaviourist and a local trainer but in the end I realised I was out of my depth and the sweet and wonderful dog needed a more experienced owner with lower expectations. I had to take him back to the foster home and we will never get over the heartbreak. Luckily for him he was rehomed quickly and is, as far as I will ever know, happy.,
People do need to know that these dogs are special. A recent documentary on street dogs from a biological point of view shows how quickly evolution can return these animals to their semi feral state and although many do make wonderful pets, new owners must be made aware.
My dog also came with a heavy worm load which I am sure didn't help with his behaviour as it took months to eradicate them all.


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