📣 This article assumes that you have already read our collection of articles entitled, "ROMANIAN / OVERSEAS RESCUE DOGS", which are blog articles 1 - 10 (excluding number 7.) This article is intended as a continuation of that series. If you haven’t already done so, we would recommend you read those articles before continuing to read this article. 📣 Here we hope to help you to gain a better understanding & awareness of your new Romanian or overseas rescue dogs background & why you should give this consideration as you move forwards with an adoption. 📣
We have talked a lot about the potential differences between a Romanian or overseas originating rescue dog & a typical U.K. rescue dog. It is clear that they have lived very different lives up to the point of rescue!
Just like humans, dogs can experience trauma & P.T.S.D. from their life experiences. And, just like humans, some dogs are more resilient than others. Some dogs are better able to adapt & evolve than other dogs in extreme survival situations.
So, why are we comparing dogs to humans here? It's simple, because, just like humans, dogs are sentient beings. They have feelings & are able to perceive things, just like us. If we understand this & see them more from a sentient perspective, then we can begin to truly understand our dogs.
As you already know, we are very experienced overseas rescue dog owners, particularly with Romanian rescue dogs...
📣 But, before you read on, please be aware that some of our dogs personal stories may seem a bit upsetting to some. We talk about them here not to deliberately cause upset, but as a necessity in aiding your understanding of these very special dogs. 📣
Let's start with our Sophie who was liberated from the illegal meat trade in Thailand. Sophie was very sadly rescued off a van going to slaughter. Most barbarically, she was destined for a human dinner plate. She was found tightly packed into a small crate with other dogs, unable to move, hardly able to breathe. I don't think much more elaboration is needed here as I'm sure that short description has already conjured up the most awful imagery. So sorry, but it is the hard, awful truth.
Our Sophie actually features in this short Soi Dog Foundation film from 2015:
Dear Sophie has been left traumatised by her experiences. She still has her "moments" even now, after 9 years with us. She suffers with separation anxiety & will attempt to "help" a dog in distress. We unfortunately believe she's been put in situations where she's needed to "help" a suffering dog. 😔🙏 She is extremely in tune with mood & particularly sensitive to nervous & anxious energy.
We stepped in to rehome Sophie as her first U.K. home didn't work out. The poor girl had been labelled as a man hater as she didn't seem to like the man she was living with, but she was perfectly fine with the lady. However, because of this label, it was becoming increasingly difficult to find her a home.
So, in we stepped. And it turns out that she doesn't like SOME men. She doesn't seem to like nervous men or men with a certain energy. But luckily, she seemed to gel well in our home environment.
Sophie has been a bit challenging around some of our dogs & took a good 18 months to really settle in. But she's made incredible strides.
With regards to our Romanian dogs, we've taken in abandoned dogs, dogs found barely surviving on the streets & dogs rescued from public shelters & kill shelters.
Our Ollie-Bob was about 9 years old when he found himself abandoned on a frozen field at -20 celsius. Luckily, he was spotted in a familiar, but remote, regular dumping spot just outside of a city & rescued. He is such a sweet boy.
Unfortunately, the abandonment of dogs & puppies is an all too familiar occurence in Romania. Sadly, they are often abandoned to die in the most remote locations, away from any life sustaining resources. Sometimes they are dumped alongside busy roads, where the chance of survival is quite low. It's tragic! 😔
Dogs there find themselves abandoned for a variety of reasons. Some examples are that a dog has become too old, they might be experiencing a health problem, they may not be able to perform as a working dog as intended anymore, or they have fallen pregnant or have recently had puppies. Sometimes, very sadly, puppies are even dumped without their Mum, with absolutely no chance of survival. Sometimes dogs & puppies are literally "packaged up" or left in such a predicament that the owner realises that they'll have absolutely no chance of survival. 😢
I know this is really hard to read & I write this with tears in my eyes, because I just cannot fathom how anyone could be so cruel.
Our Rossi was also found abandoned near some flats with two other adult female dogs & their puppies. At some point she had sustained a nasty break to one of her back legs which had been left to heal naturally. Sadly, it hasn't healed up brilliantly & has left her leg looking rather deformed, but it has healed up nonetheless & doesn't seem to cause her any issues. She was also extremely skinny.
I have never cried so much over a rescue video in my life. When Sadies Dog Rescue found the little family quite by accident, after taking a wrong turn, Rossi just sat there as the two Mum's & their puppies were rescued. She looked shell shocked, shut down & as if she had given up. She wasn't even expecting to be rescued. The image of her sat in a box & looking like her life was over, breaks me every time I think about it. It honestly breaks my heart that anyone could have done this to such a beautiful soul. She is just the most gentle, loving & loyal girl, so full of life & character. She is so sweet & kind to every new dog we welcome into the family. She's our little welcome host & pack integration officer.
We have also adopted young dogs who have somehow managed to survive puppyhood on the streets. Believe me, this is an amazing achievement in itself!
We have other dogs who have survived the horrors of living in a Romanian public shelter or kill shelter. The public shelters are very different there to the rescue shelters that we have here in the U.K. You might remember our earlier discussion about the generally held perceptions of these dogs. Unfortunately, a large proportion of Romanians view stray dogs as a "problem" & a "nuisance." This is because the stray population is so large, resulting in rapid reproduction rates. Dogs are either turned into the shelters, as they are no longer wanted or needed, or they are rounded up, not always very humanely either, by dog catchers & taken there. These places are often overcrowded, very dirty & disease ridden. Sometimes these dogs are fed very little or nothing at all. Dogs often fight to the death, still in survival mode. Some of these shelters have a kill policy in place after a certain amount of days, which is often not done humanely, or if the shelter gets too full, then they will order a cull. Sometimes these shelters allow nature to take its course. I'm sorry to say it, but dogs killing each other becomes an alternative way to control the numbers. 😳 And not feeding the dogs enough or at all, helps with this process. As you can imagine, this also means that sometimes dogs will literally starve to death. 😢
I'm sorry that this is such uncomfortable reading but again, it is the truth & will help you to gain a better understanding of what your dog might have been through. 🙏
Our Gracie came from a public shelter where a no kill policy was in place. However, unofficially, dogs were dying of starvation & in other ways caused by neglect. Gracie was literally skin & bones when she was rescued. How much longer she would have survived is anyone's guess?!
Gracie has been with us for around 18 months now & it hasn't been the easiest transition. She has clearly been attacked by other dogs & has taken many months to really settle in & to feel safe. To be perfectly honest, she is still really settling in now. She clearly carries a lot of trauma & P.T.S.D., but we give her the time, love, patience, understanding & space that she needs - & everything in her own time!
She is a very sweet & sensitive soul & we always exercise a high level of hypervigilance around her. This is where it's important to learn to read your individual dog. Learn to read their eyes, their communication & their body language. If you do this, you can generally learn to read their mood & whether they are feeling particularly vulnerable on any given day.
I must say that the late & great Lily was our biggest teacher in hypervigilance. Poor Lily also came from a public shelter. She arrived with us with a rope burn around her nose & mouth & parts of her fur on her head were missing in clumps. 😔 This was a dog who had had some rough treatment.
It was quite clear upon arrival that she wasn't very well. Her moods swung between happy & fun & then very grumpy. She very quickly started to have cluster seizures. Having had an idiopathic epileptic dog before, we knew what was happening & she had all manner of tests. Our vet concluded that she'd probably sustained some head trauma. 😢 It really doesn't bear thinking about!
Poor Lily couldn't bear wearing a collar or being restrained by a lead. She was absolutely petrified of leaving the safety of her home & garden. The result of trying to push her outside of her comfort zone was seizures. This made vet appointments very challenging.
Between keeping a seizure diary & learning to recognise her subtle pre-seizure signs, we were able to learn to recognise when she was about to fit. We became her carers as well as her pawrents. Sometimes it was emotionally, mentally & physically draining. She tended to have cluster fits which would last for around 24 hours & we had to always ensure that she had her own space away from the other dogs - not always an easy task with six other dogs in the house!
The saddest part was, once the cluster fits stopped, she wouldn't recognise any of us for a day or two afterwards & then she'd gradually, but slowly, return to normal.
Outside of her very severe epilepsy, she was just the happiest & sweetest little dog. She was a lot of fun & extremely characterful. We learnt to never push her & just to "let her be." We always let Lily lead us.
But... it isn't all bad... 🥰
We've also had several Romanian dogs who have arrived & settled within 2 - 6 months with few issues at all. Many just needed some toilet training &, in our experience, the older dogs seem to pick it up quicker.
One of the prevailing themes in these dogs is that they often have no experience of living in an actual home, despite possibly being previously owned. Some owners would have kept their dog as a working dog for livestock or as a guard dog. Most of these dogs would have lived outside of the home.
We've already touched on this in past articles but, just to reiterate, we've had dogs who were scared of, or unsure about, our big wall mounted tv, fans, & the vacuum cleaner, to name just a few. This is because they have never seen, heard or experienced them before.
It must be so overwhelming to arrive at a stranger's house, either after a two day journey from Romania or after being in U.K. kennels or at a U.K. foster home. On top of that, everything is new. New smells, new people, new dogs, new noises, & new things to look at. Plus, not understanding where it's ok to go to the toilet & being so scared & anxious that they might pee themselves. Your dog might even chew wires (but again, as we've discussed before, you can prepare & be pre-emptive before your new dog arrives). I can only imagine how overwhelming & scary it must feel. Just realise that a new dog won't do any of this on purpose or because they're being naughty - they just might not know any different (yet) & are scared & anxious. Chuck into the mix human expectation & being forced into interactions & walks when the dog hasn't even had the chance to establish trust, feel safe & settle into their new, frightening & unknown environment.
This in fact very nicely leads us into part 2... Here we're going to discuss your mindset, expectations & approach to your new dog & how you can harness a more conducive & open mindset.
We hope that you will now have a better understanding of what, potentially, to expect & a better understanding of what your new dog might have been through. Understanding goes a long way. You will need to be understanding & patient towards your new Romanian or overseas rescue dog & also have lots of empathy.
When you go to choose a Romanian or overseas rescue dog, always ask
the rescue about how the dog was rescued, where from & basically, for
as much information as possible. As we have discussed before, always
choose a rescue carefully (we have previously outlined how you can do
this) & please avoid choosing a dog on looks alone. These
free-street-bred-dogs are often a special mix over generations so it's hard to be breed specific in terms of specific characteristics &
temperament. It's always best to find out what an individual dog's personality & temperament is like directly from the rescue & their foster shelter &/or foster home. It's up to you to find out as much
information as possible about your new dog. This will help you to find a good match for you, your family, & your lifestyle, as well as help
you to gain a better understanding about your new dog. You will also need to be aware that your dog's personality might indeed change in their new environment, in your home. Also, the dog who arrives with you on day one will be a very different dog after a few months to a year or so (the timescale depends on the individual dog & is
determined by your new dog!)
For ours, the changes have been largely positive. We've seen dogs thrive with us & turn into beautiful butterflies. It isn't always perfect, none of them are & neither are we, but we can all strive to be imperfectly perfect together!
Please remember to pop back for part 2...
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These reasonably priced courses & webinars start from just £25 (& some are even FREE, no catch 😱🥰) & are specifically tailored towards Romanian & Overseas rescue dogs, however some of these courses might also prove useful & relevant for U.K. rescue dogs too, so well worth a look.
You can even join the training & support group where you will be able to access ALL online courses & webinars for FREE, 100's of step-by-step teaching guides, progressive training plans, optional weekly zoom calls, & get qualified trainer support & advice whenever you need it for as little as £27 per month! 😃
Some topics covered include:
🐶 fearfulness & social shyness,
🐶 prey drive,
🐶 building calmness & confidence,
🐶 techniques to rebalance & calm,
🐶 reactivity on walks,
🐶 reactivity with visitors,
🐶 the quirky nature of Romanian dogs,
🐶 how to set yourself up for a successful adoption.
The course & webinar content has been carefully constructed by Meesh Masters, who is an Holistic Canine Behaviour Consultant specialising in working with Romanian & Overseas rescue dogs. 'The Dogs Point of View' is committed to following the latest scientifically proven fear free methods.
Thank you so much for being here & for supporting Patchwork Paws U.K. 🐶
We always welcome your feedback, so please feel free to leave us a comment or email us. 🥰
📣 Please remember to always choose no harm, fear free, force free & non-aversive training methods based on mutual respect, trust & positive reinforcement. Please always consider that a behaviour that YOU might find undesirable might be quite normal behaviour to your dog, the behaviour might be motivated by a past trauma/fear, or it might be motivated by your dog's emotional response to something. Always treat your dog with love, patience, empathy, understanding & kindness - even if they do have toileting accidents or if they chew your favourite slippers. 📣🙏
📍 The dog behaviour & training world is largely unregulated here in the U.K. & not all are equal. Please do your homework & always choose a behaviourist or trainer carefully. Look at the methods of training they use & the stance they choose to adopt. Always check their qualifications, accreditations & references/feedback carefully. 📍
🐶 Pictured is our Sophie from Thailand, rescued from the illegal meat trade there. 🙏
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