Dylan came to my home at five months old with no vices although he was not 100% house trained and wasn't dry in the house for another 7 months.

After 18 months in training he is my perfect pup and compliments my old boy Jasper.

I consider myself very lucky.

Yes,we took on a large powerful dog,2 1/2 years old apparently had lived with children and was accessed.

A day I won't forget is the awful day he attacked my eldest son who was 12 yrs old at the time,O/H was present but couldn't stop him attacking Luke.
I had the dog pts the same day,it was a sat and I did contact rescues and breeders before we made the decision.
Luke spent 4 hours in A&E and had a community nurse come every few days to check on his injuries.

We also took on a young springer who had issues,SA,aggression towards other dogs including Meg and Tyler, and was possessive towards hubby.He used to pick fights with Meg regularly and they did have a few spats.
We felt we could work on those issues and did make some progress,however he was returned to rescue when he went to bite my daughter.I could take that chance again.

Georgie came with a few issues as a 5yr old. He had no recall whatsoever as he was never let off the lead in his previous life He had issues with people when we came across them in isolation, early mornings, he would stamp and bark at them too although fine in a busy environment. I worked hard on his issues, had another well trained gsd to help me with my case and resolved everything apart from his recall which has never, been 100% if I'm honest, unlike dogs I've brought up from pups, it's my number one perogative.

He had never been indoors either, so the kitchen was totally alien to him, everytime I opened the fridge, he was in there, or the dishwasher, he was food obsessed. Another strange thing about him I noticed was the fact that everytime I let him outside, he would have a wee and a poo, as if he might not get another chance, and I since found out that he wasn't let out or fed on a regular basis, so used to poo in the house and then get scolded so resorted to eating it to hide the evidence

He lived with an alcoholic, he was lucky if he got taken out around the block, so other kind people used to offer to take him out down the beach sometimes (I know because I've since spoken to those very people). He was fed randomly and let out randomly, and had a lean-to built for him on the side of the house she lived in because she didn't want him indoors

I know he was previously abused (hit!), because I once went to take something out of his mouth and he cowered down, closed his eyes, as if he was waiting for a good beating, which of course, he would never be getting from us here. Poor boy, I don't really like to think of his past life it upsets me too much.

ETA:I forgot to mention his skin problems, which were pretty horrendous at that time. He had 3 massive, puss filled wealds (that's what the vet called them) along his back where her 3 kittens (who were allowed indoors!) had been suckling on him!!!! He had lived on steroids from a matter of a few weeks old, and ab's and nothing cured him. He was at the vets apparently once or twice each week having steroid top ups via jabs and by the time he got into the hands of the dog warden, he was on death row, because of course, who in their right mind would want to take on such health problems, you only had to look at him, but I was meant to have him, and I sometimes went 6 months without ANY steroids or ab's (how good is that!) and out of all my dogs, this one has taught me more than any other dog could have! He's my favourite dontchaknow! I know most about his previous life, because I used the same vet who had been treating him almost since birth, so I stuck with him for this dog.

But thank goodness he ended up with you, he sounds so sweet.

I hope a special place in hell is reserved for his previous owner and anyone else out there who has ever hit a dog!

Some such lovely inspiring stories from all of you that have done so well with your rescues

2 of my private rehomes came with issues that I was fully aware of when I took them on, they both had aggression issues. Milan had a multitude of issues, all involving trust, she was very guarded and defensive, she would bite first and ask questions later. She would constantly try to steal food and would resource guard. She'd been living on the streets so hardly surprising really. Day to day management of her was sorted quite early on but she was very unpredictable and could not be trusted with children at all. 3 years later I would say she's now a loving, gentle dog who trusts family members completely. Frankie came from a family that adored him but the other dog in the home would not tolerate him at all. He had learnt to attack first rather than wait to be attacked, he would also resource guard anything. I would say it probably took about a year before he finally accepted he didn't have to defend his right to breathe, he will still resource guard but these days it's become a game, he sets traps for the other dogs and as soon as they approach the object of his desire he leaps out on them and mock attacks. Syd, Rio and Diesel played a huge part in their rehabilitation and their tolerance and endless patience has been much appreciated.

Not sure which box to tick

My first rescue dog Rusty came with no problems other than a bad case of kennel cough which was so bad the vet didn't expect her to make it. She was about 7 months old, house trained, could sit, was friendly to dogs and humans.

oops haha just remembered she was destructive when left on her own. In fact she practically demolished the living room but apart from that was a wonderful dog. She was scared of raised voices which we discovered when I first shouted at my son who was 9 years old at the time. That was fine as we learned not to raise our voices.

Apparently she was taken into the kennels for 2 weeks boarding and no one came back to collect her.

Lana, another rescue also about 7 months old, was reactive to people, men especially, motorbikes, bicycles, people running, anyone coming near, people with sticks or umbrellas and cats, rabbits, squirrels, anything that falls or gets dropped in the house and couldn't be left on her own.

She still doesn't like to be on her own in the house , I used to think it was SA but she can quite happily lie in the bedroom for hours whilst I am in the living room but I can at least leave her for 45mins to an hour without her barking or howling. If I want to go out for longer than an hour I get the dogwalker to take her as she just seems to be scared to be on her own.

She's been a challenge to me as I'm not experienced with dogs, and this forum has been a godsend, so much great information on it to help me learn how to cope. There have been days when I wished I hadn't got her but usually it's because I've felt inadequate and think that I'm not the best owner for her and she would have a better life elsewhere. But then I think how she can't be left on her own, so maybe she was destined for me as I work from home whereas if she'd gone to someone else she might have ended up back in the kennels.

All in all we're doing fine and I can live with the few problems we still have because apart from those few things she's a super little dog, well not so little, will always need a head collar for her as she's so strong and I need to keep her under control otherwise she pulls me along the road if she sees a cat or rabbit or squirrel but we're over the worst, we've learned together, made mistakes together and even if she doesn't improve and become a perfect dog that's alright because I'm nowhere near being a perfect human.

The stereotype of rescues having issues as an inevitability is just trotted out by people looking for any excuse not to have to lower themselves to a second-hand dog. Those people who line up their next dog like you or I would line up a new pair of shoes - only instead of "I'd like to try a pair of Addidas next" it's "Oh I'll try that chi over there."

The dogs I know of who have behavioural issues and are aggressive, overexcitable, sit there in class chewing their leads and disrupting everything... all from breeders. But we don't talk about those ones because they must be perfect right? Or we chalk it down to a "bad breeder" because we can't tar breeder bought dogs en-masse.

Yet it's perfectly ok to trott out that lie again and again and again that all rescue dogs are problem dogs and I won't let that label be laid on perfectly normal well-behaved animals that got failed by their humans.

I ticked no issues because I have had a rescue myself and apart from walking alive with fleas and having Parvo there were no issues after that. ie no behaviour issues. He came from a proper rescue SPCA in Canada.

We had a private rescue as a family when I was about 5 years of age and that dog nearly killed me after a week in our home.


So I would be more wary of getting an adult dog if I had young children.

I have been lucky with both of mine, Kym is an ex racing grey i got her from the RGT, she was dumped by her trainer at racing kennels with her kennel mate. She was rehomed twice before i had her, a pregnant woman who was a childminder had her and sent her back after she growled at at child that was poking her whilst she was trying to eat, so she was sent back. Then she was rehomed again with some people who turned out to be animal hoarders, again her and her kennel mate were left outside in all weathers and occasionally chucked a bone. Both were emaciated and her kennel mate was near to death and Kym wasn't far off either. The RSCPA got involved and all the animals were removed. The case went to court after i rehomed her and the RSPCA had to come round to my house and get pictures of her as she was whilst i had her, obviously much improved. I saw the before pictures and they were appalling. Anyway they were banned for 2 years from keeping animals which in my view should have been for life.
She doesn;t have any issues really apart from being institutionalised from racing. But no aggression issues or anything.

Bella i got from the Dogs Trust, she apparently was picked up as a stray in Ireland. She is an amazing dog and we have bonded totally, she is very affectionate and has an excellent temperament, good with other dogs and people/kids, i couldn't ask for a better dog. I have bonded with her so much more than Kym which i do feel guilty about sometimes but i guess her experiences with racing has shut her down to a certain extent.