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[westjes]

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Hi, I'm Pat. Me and my partner have had dogs for over 30 years and had to say goodbye to our beloved collie boy, Ben, in March. Needless to say, it's been a difficult few months! But I signed up to BorrowMyDoggy and have been lucky to spend time with an adorable lurcher boy

Anyway, my main reason for joining the forum is to hopefully get some advice on finding a new dog to rescue. There seems to be a huge number of different organisations, don't really know where to start! Any suggestions are welcome – we're in Newcastle on Tyne.

 

[JudyN]

Are you unsure what type of dog to get, or just how to find a reputable rescue? If you're drawn to lurchers, I can recommend Lurcher Link, which is based in Yorkshire.

When looking at other organisations, I'd favour one where the dogs are fostered out (when possible) rather than in kennels, as they often don't reveal their true selves till in a home situation. I would also avoid any rescue that is happy to let you have any dog you want - you want one that is very careful about matchmaking.

I dare say it's also important to consider in advance what you need in a dog: how much exercise you can give it, how long it will be left for, whether there are children in the home or visiting, whether you want a lively collie-type brain or more of a sighthound couch potato, and so on, as any decent rescue will be asking this.

 

[westjes]

Are you unsure what type of dog to get, or just how to find a reputable rescue? If you're drawn to lurchers, I can recommend Lurcher Link, which is based in Yorkshire.

When looking at other organisations, I'd favour one where the dogs are fostered out (when possible) rather than in kennels, as they often don't reveal their true selves till in a home situation. I would also avoid any rescue that is happy to let you have any dog you want - you want one that is very careful about matchmaking.

I dare say it's also important to consider in advance what you need in a dog: how much exercise you can give it, how long it will be left for, whether there are children in the home or visiting, whether you want a lively collie-type brain or more of a sighthound couch potato, and so on, as any decent rescue will be asking this.

Hey Judy, thanks very much for your thoughts – tbh, I'm in a quandary about everything! But guess I should start with finding a reputable rescue...

Ideally, I'd like to foster initially, but the organisations I looked at seemed to require us to have a garden – we don't. However, we have ample green spaces nearby.

Now that we're retired, our dogs are our main focus, ie they wouldn't be left alone, or rarely; we're also pretty active and walk miles every day, with or without dogs!

I'm thinking that maybe our age will count against us... to be fair, I think we only have one more dog in our life-span... who knows?! But certainly feel we could give a good life to a young-ish dog.

As for breed, we've always been suckers for collie-types (or lurchers since we met Luka!), but generally love most dogs.

Phew, lots to think about, eh?

Thanks again

 

[JudyN]

Having a look around online, Battersea, Blue Cross, RSPCA and the Dogs Trust all say they will rehome to homes without gardens if the dog is a good match, so don't give up. I wonder if there's a rescue near to you who would be happy to let you help walk their dogs? Then you could build a relationship with them and they could see that you've still got plenty of active years in you.

 

[JoanneF]

A good litmus test is to find out what back-up you can get afterwards if you need it. Some rescues - and I hate to say this, but particularly some of the foreign ones - are actually just puppy farmers turning out poorly bred dogs for export. That sort of rescue won't have back-up.

Regarding your age, yes some rescues have very rigid rules - I know a very dog-savvy family who was turned down because the adults worked full time. They worked shifts, and could absolutely guarantee the dog wouldn't be left, but 'rules are rules and no argument'. Some of the smaller, independent centres have more flexibility. Many Tears springs to mind.

 

[Tinytom]

Rescue Remedies rehome all over the country and are based near Gatwick they rehome to older people with no question ...
Good luck with your search ...

 

[westjes]

Having a look around online, Battersea, Blue Cross, RSPCA and the Dogs Trust all say they will rehome to homes without gardens if the dog is a good match, so don't give up. I wonder if there's a rescue near to you who would be happy to let you help walk their dogs? Then you could build a relationship with them and they could see that you've still got plenty of active years in you.

Will check them out, thanks for the encouragement - I won't give up! I did submit a volunteer-walker application with our local dog shelter … but they subsequently changed the job description!? Many friends & dog-walking acquaintances keep telling us we should get another dog – and I think they'd give us a reference, maybe that will help. Fingers crossed!

 

[westjes]

A good litmus test is to find out what back-up you can get afterwards if you need it. Some rescues - and I hate to say this, but particularly some of the foreign ones - are actually just puppy farmers turning out poorly bred dogs for export. That sort of rescue won't have back-up.

Regarding your age, yes some rescues have very rigid rules - I know a very dog-savvy family who was turned down because the adults worked full time. They worked shifts, and could absolutely guarantee the dog wouldn't be left, but 'rules are rules and no argument'. Some of the smaller, independent centres have more flexibility. Many Tears springs to mind.

Thank you!

 

[westjes]

Rescue Remedies rehome all over the country and are based near Gatwick they rehome to older people with no question ...
Good luck with your search ...

Thank you! I now have quite a list of rescues to check out, hope boosted again

 

[westjes]

Eeh well, I have some wonderful news to share! We brought an adorable young collie boy home with us two days ago

It all happened PDQ – got in touch with Morgans Dog Rescue (Alston, Cumbria) on Thursday, they came back to me with questions on Friday, came up with a match, we met him on Saturday and fell in love

I'd heard of them over the years: they specialise in rescue collies from Ireland, have a good reputation, and I can now recommend them myself!

Now I'm boring everyone silly with doggy updates! Trying to attach a pic...

 

[JudyN]

Oh that's wonderful news - congratulations

 

[westjes]

Oh that's wonderful news - congratulations

Thank you! He's a gem - just let him off lead and it was a joy to see him playing with another collie... and then he came back to my whistle

 

[an_an_an]

Eeh well, I have some wonderful news to share! We brought an adorable young collie boy home with us two days ago

It all happened PDQ – got in touch with Morgans Dog Rescue (Alston, Cumbria) on Thursday, they came back to me with questions on Friday, came up with a match, we met him on Saturday and fell in love

I'd heard of them over the years: they specialise in rescue collies from Ireland, have a good reputation, and I can now recommend them myself!

Now I'm boring everyone silly with doggy updates! Trying to attach a pic...View attachment 111980471

Congratulations happy for you

 

[Linda March]

We have adopted a Romanian rescue from Safe Rescue over a year ago as we lost our beautiful girl at the start of lockdown ,as we are getting on we couldn’t have a dog younger than 6 but if you can start with a puppy it’s probably best.

 

[Flobo]

Lovely, congratulations! What is his name? And always love updates and pictures!

 

[Linda March]

It’s Becky

 

[westjes]

We have adopted a Romanian rescue from Safe Rescue over a year ago as we lost our beautiful girl at the start of lockdown ,as we are getting on we couldn’t have a dog younger than 6 but if you can start with a puppy it’s probably best.

Great to hear that you've adopted a Romanian rescue, love to hear it when people adopt an older dog Well, we were maybe lucky that Morgans didn't ask how old we are! They did the match-making based on our info... was happy about that. I could only spend a few minutes looking at those photos of beautiful dogs on various websites before I got too emotional and gave up.

 

[westjes]

Lovely, congratulations! What is his name? And always love updates and pictures!

His name is Ben... same as our last dog! I know, not ideal, possibly should've changed it, but I figured we'd be calling him Ben anyway, accidentally... So, to avoid confusion, he's “little Ben” or “Ben II.” No risk we'll think of him as a replacement, apart from anything else, he's about ½ the size of big Ben

It's been less than a week, but he's doing great, particularly on the nearby field, meeting all the other dogs, and running free as a bird. Just had a play-date with a young whippet – they are well matched, he almost keeps up! Indoors and in other places, he's still a bit timid and skittish, but less so as the days go by...