Living in Thailand the issue is not so much getting a dog on its 2nd+ home - although you can do that, it is more that if you rescue you get what we call a Soi (street) dog. A Soi dog is one that has had no intentional selective breeding. That means a dog pretty much like there was 1000s of years ago.

Saying that the first dog I rescued here is mostly a definitive breed - by chance a breed developed through geographical barriers. Anyway we got him at 4 weeks. Too early I know and as a result he loves people but was nervous of other dogs when he was younger. The issue with him is that he can turn from a friendly dog to a viscious one in the blink of an eye but as long as you know that there is no problem but if we have children we will have to be extremely vigilant.

The next dog we rescued was 5 months and I think had been feral and was in a bad way when we got him. He would never bite anyone and is the sweetest damn dog! He is very confident with dogs but is afraid of people to varying degrees. If an old thai woman is raking the beach for scrap he will try and play with her. Even if a relaxed thai man comes in the apartment he is fine but with white people and especially white men he is terrified and barks. I am hoping that he will learn that nothing bad happens when they visit. It is very unlikely that he had a bad experience with white people so I think it is just the more confident manner of white people on the whole.

Many years a go when we got married , we rescued a OES , a bit of an impulse to be honest, and with hindsight was the wrong time.......he came with issues, food aggression, along with others.........at the time we myself anf new hubby were not equipped to deal with it, so sadly he was returned.

Funny enough we were only talking about him the other night and wondering if at another time would we have been able to keep him

He did get re homed to a more experienced one in the end, as all was not lost, but I often wonder how he would have turned out if we were more equipped to deal with his problems?

trip had a lot of fear agression towards dogs and men, and a very high prey drive. she was about 1yr old found straying in south birmingham, no history on her other than that.

we think that she was owned at some point by a family, as she would 'check' prams and small children for the first couple of months we had her to see if they were hers, and you could see the dissapointment when they weren't. walking on a lead, she would 'defend' the area that the lead encompassed by barking and lunging.

putting two and two together, we guess that she just got too bouncy and aggressive to be walked, especially if the owners were trying to walk her with a pram, and had probably spent more and more time away from the family and left in the yard. as a staff x collie she needs a huge amount of exercise and something to occupy her collie brain, and i'm guessing she got neither, reinforcing her 'bad' behaviours.

she has always shown extreme fear agression towards street drinkers, so much so that she would growl at them from the car and will not let them near enough to pet her (can't say i blame her though!) we wonder if she'd been passed on from the family to someone like this as a 'begging dog' and been discarded due to her defending of small areas. she's also terrified of fire, so we wonder wether she's been involved with a house/squat fire at some point.

she now lives with cats, which she could never have done before, although she's not trustworthy with cats that are not her own, she will come off the chase when you ask her to. other small furries such as bunnies and rats are a definite no-no, and i wouldn't trust her for a minuite with a chicken! she can play with small dogs under supervision now that she's learnt that they are dogs too.

getting mabel was the best thing we have ever done for her, as it's let her become more 'doglike' in some ways, and improved her dog-dog communication skills, but we had to choose carefully, we needed something that was not too dominant but could hold her own and give trip a telling off when necessary! trip's really all mouth and no trousers, and when told off by another dog for being too boisterous, will instantly back down.

i shed a little tear the other night thinking about how far she's come, and shudder to think what would have happened to her if she'd been picked out of the dogs home by someone with less dog experience, i'm a 20yrs+ dog owner and ex vet nurse and even i had moments when i thought i'd made a rod for my own back, but i knew that she would be worth it, and she's proved me right.

Both of mine came from rescues,

Bella from RGT , a 2yr old grey at the time who had been schooled but never raced, no issues other than the usual stuff with a grey of getting used to the big wide world, seeing things for the first time and living in a house, with a plan that all went really well and she is the easiest dog to have around with people and any other dog. She has thrived in the big wide world and has been to Crufts, got Bronze and Silver in KCGC and is a star at RGT meet and greets. Like most greys she has a chase instinct and as a responsible owner I recognise and manage that. I was so chuffed on Monday at the vets that he commented that she was in 'superb' condition, I must be doing something right !

Tom came from the pound with no history , he was very friendly and loving on the 3 occassions I met him before coming home , he was house trained from day 1 , he was very nervous and wary of men but settled quickly with my OH and son. he reacts to other dogs now , not all and with work he has improved dramatically, he needs a gentle intro to a new doggy friend and then all is well, this is not possible on a day to day basis on walks when you meet dogs he has never seen before so I will never be complacent with him and use a muzzle as appropriate, he is the most loving loyal boy with people he knows and has great fun runnning and playing with my friends dogs who understand his issues and have taken time to do a careful introduction and we repeat this every time we visit each other to be sure all is ok, I have had various different types of advice from qualified dog behaviour professionals who have given me useful tools and techniques to manage Tom but in the long run I accept that Tom is Tom and I am in complete control of him at all times and this issue is a very small part of the wonderful life he has and the joy he brings us. Friends who have seen him react and then see him in his home environment realise why we love him so much and understand why we make the effort to deal with this one part of his behaviour that maybe others would not tolerate. I am so glad Tom came home with us as the other people lined up to take Tom (there was a queue) may not have had the patience and tolerance to see beyond the one issue he has and may have returned him to the pound, I am not saying I am a better owner than others but I will put the effort in , I committed to Tom , he loves us unconditionally and he deserves the same back.

I think the important thing about dogs with 'issues' is recognising there is an issue and put a plan in place to manage it , I think rescue organisations could maybe support prospective owners a little more to recognise this before they commit to taking a dog on rather than worry if they work full time job or have a garden ! Just my opinion

Kiara and Poppy - no issues

Bailey - yes - the rescue didn't tell me he was blind! Don't know if it was a deliberate oversight or if they just didn't notice. He'd been very badly beaten in his former 'home' he wouldn't stand up straight - he commando crawled everywhere he was so scared

Some training to work on his directional skills! Loadsa time, patience and kindness has allowed him to come out of himself into a lovely dog.

Just to mention that there are SO many lovely Labs in rescue - my Lab was a rescue and honestly, though we had some problems at first, he is the sweetest, friendliest dog you could wish to meet

There are several Labrador-specific rescues, also.

Only got as far as this post (for now)
well I may be wrong but if its the thread I'm on I dont know where anyone was 'bashing the rescue dogs'? Maybe you could provide a link to said thread/posts?

I would think this would be in Dog Rescue Chat because it is, er, dog rescue chat. The other was a question about how people felt...IF its the thread I'm thinking of.

As for the last comment people have every right to pick 'a brand new shiny' one if they want/for their own personal reasons.

Just for the record I have seen very few dogs in the area that meet my requirements of breed alongside being able to live where I do, with the existing pets I have. So what would be the point of not getting a 'brand new shiny one' just because I couldn't get a rescue at the time?! or taking a dog I do not actually want

As much as I do not think rescues are to be overlooked, I certainly refuse to feel bad over buying 'a brand new shiny one' and giving it a good home.

I guess that is a big part of rescuing, knowing that you have made their life better if not actually saved a life. So in a way, the more issues your dog has, the better you should feel about yourself as the more issues the worse their life used to be and therefore the bigger the improvement you have made! If that makes sense?

Who is trotting out the lie that all rescue dogs are problem dogs? Which poster/post declared this to be true?

As for trotting out lies about rescue dogs, perhaps you should take your own advice and not trot out similar lies about others who, for various reasons decide that a rescue is not for them. This is a view that they are entitled to.

There is no moral high ground reserved for those who have rescue dogs, they are no better or worse than those who decide not to.

I am not sure what posting such invective is supposed to achieve other than to vent your spleen but it is misplaced on this forum.

And for someone who purports to be against the labelling of rescue dogs, you appear to find it perfectly acceptable to label others with your own tags.

The words pot, kettle and black come to mind!

Something else I must have missed, who is "bashing rescue dogs"?

What is morally wrong with shopping for your "next shiny new breed"?

the only thing I find sickening on this thread is your extremely bitter outlook which appears to be aimed at anyone and everyone with absolutely no justification.