UKC

Hoping that the knowledge and network of UKC can help.

Our rescue Weimaraner died in September. He was faithful friend in the 12 years he was with us. In that time we started a family and he great around our two girls, youngest is almost 7 now.

We would like to get a couple of dogs now as we miss having him around but I think two dogs make for a better support for each other when we need to go out thus hopefully reducing separation anxiety issues. I really miss running with a dog and would look forward to training them to be obedient for any sessions when they are off the lead.

Since we last rescued nearly every rescue group insists they will not home animals with families who have young children. I guess they are concerned about possible litigation over any future attacks. That leaves puppies. No problem with getting a pup but I hate the idea of feeding this crazy lockdown puppy market which sees cross breeds selling for more that £3k.

So what are our options? Ideally we are looking for an athletic breed that will run 10 miles like our Weimaraner used to. A little smaller than a Weimaraner would be great so possibly something like Vizsla. No need for a pedigree. Does anyone know someone who’s dog has had a happy accident and is now expecting? This is very much a family pet and we are not looking to breed or profit from a dog.

Any ideas or contacts?

Based in Devon if that helps.

Thanks in advance!

There are quite a few specialist breed rescue places that occasionally get puppies that they will house with families, as will dogs trust and rspca, but the waiting lists are long.

If you can wait until summer prices will likely fall as people go back to work. Be careful finding a good pup though there's a lot of shisters out there.

Don't know how plugged in with the Devon rural community you are but field sports enthusiasts are well into their dogs, often own multiples and frequently have them out in settings with other owners where accidental pairings and subsequent litters occur (mostly between the dogs). Maybe ask around? Ours came from just such a background, we picked her up a week ago and she was a fifth of the prices you're quoting.

Good luck.

First off, so very sorry you lost your dog. 

I don't know about the running side of things but during lockdown 1 our 18 month old pup was missing all his friends in the park and woods and we ended up getting a second pup to keep him company (we have 4 house rabbits so pups only that grow up along side them). 

Best move we ever made, the 2 are inseparable and are either running and playing together or curled up asleep together.

Be warned though, the level of damage and disruption to your household with 2 of the furry little bastards is unbelievable. I thought 2 dogs would be twice as bad as 1 but no, try 10 times worse. I swear they plot and dare each other to see who can make the biggest mess. 

Thanks for the reply. I am also hoping that prices will drop in the summer but breeders we have spoken to are still quoting more than £2k for a Viszla in September/October!

I will try the various rescue groups again and see if we can add our names to their waiting lists.

Thanks for the reply. Now this is exactly the type of situation I was referring to! We are not into any of the local dog scenes (gun sports, agility etc...) I was hoping that this post might help to tap into someone who is in those scenes and knows someone who who is in this position. We will try the local FB groups but as we are not known I think people may be suspicious that we are just after dogs on the cheap to breed from.

It's a bigger risk, but some of the international rescues (Cyprus, Romania etc) are happier to re-home with kids. I have friends with kids who did that for the reasons you state. I guess it's harder to know what you are getting though as I don't think you meet them first. Worked well for my friend though

Thanks for the message and thanks for your condolences. I was very determined to wait until getting another dog(s) was not just an emotional knee jerk reaction. We know the drill, taking on a puppy is 16 year commitment. 

I really want two this time. Our last beast was naturally very clingy and needy as we were his only pack. I would like our new dog arrangements to be a little bit less needy with the dogs gaining some companionship, engagement and security from each other.

You comments on damage are noted with due respect and grave concern...!

This!

We are Devon too and all of ours have come from this background.  We have always had Springers (gluttons for punishment) from working and farm backgrounds. Found them all by luck...ads in rural pet shop windows, friends & family who are connected to the shoots etc. Start in mid Devon,  Crediton,  Tedburn,  Copplestone, Hatherleigh all seem to be good places to look.

Our current  chap was one of an accidental litter. So much so that the vet didn't quite pin the due date correctly when telling the owner that a litter was on the way.  So they arrived 3 weeks "early" and while the owners had popped out. Ours was one of the first born and left on a cold floor he was seemingly dead when the owners found the mother was already delivering. Half hour under a hair dryer he came to. His kennel name was lucky...!

Think carefully about having more than one. Dax has the trouble multiplication rate spot on. The experts warn also that a single dog will strive to be part of your pack. Multiples set up their own pack, and attempt to make their own rules!

Best wishes with your search.

All our dogs are re-homes, we picked them up before they ended up in a rescue. Facebook is handy for finding people trying to find a new home for their dog, rather than put it through a rescue. I should imagine there’s a good number of young’uns on there that people have decided that they can’t handle! 
As for breeds we’ve an old Staffie who’s an absolute tank but soft as.. she was a good runner back in her day. Then we’ve got a lurcher and a Dutch shepherd, both of which run with us almost daily. The lurcher is happier over shorter distances but the dutchie will go all day and probably tomorrow too..

I think a lot of the breed specific rescue charities also have long waiting lists at the moment. But I'll throw in this breed for you to consider, we found them by chance after meeting them on a race day on the lake District fells.  

http://www.trailhoundwelfare.org.uk/

We are now with our second retiree, they do have puppies as well if they don't take to racing. Great breed, soft as muck, no problem rehoming with kids. Plenty of folk doing canicross with them. We have trained both of ours to run off lead in most environments.

Good Facebook group as well https://www.facebook.com/groups/312957000675/?ref=share

This group may help with a viszla:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/VizslaRescueCyprus/

We got our Harley from SW Springer Spaniel Rescue in Tavistock. He was 18 mths. They have a magazine with some of the dogs looking for re-homeing. There is a web-site as well. Cost was very reasonable.

I would advise speaking to your vet. They will be able to advise about the advantages and disadvantages of various breeds (primarily with respect to the common health conditions) and they will have contacts locally with rescue centers/breeders. They will also be able to advise about the things to look out for with regards to good bad/breeders which is particularly important at the moment with the recent rise in prices. In some ways it's like buying a car - there are real bad ones being sold on gumtree that will give you real problems and there are honest breeders who love what they do and want the best for all concerned. If you don't know what you are looking out for you can get in trouble.

People often treat their vet as a last resort when their pets are ill and think vets are just in it for the money, but vets are primarily interested in animal welfare and would much rather see happy animals than sad ones, so they are happy to give advice if it can avoid problems in the future. If they are not helpful then find a different one!

Could you try posting more or less what you've put in your OP on some local Facebook groups. You might find someone who is totally out of their depth with a lockdown puppy (now in that challenging 6-18 month age bracket) but who genuinely cares about the dog that would choose to re-home it/ sell it to you rather than handing it in to a re homing centre.  Also reputable breeders will take back unwanted puppies so they might see your advert and contact you.

Apologies for intruding into the thread but out of interest do you know if there is a main reason for not having neutered those sports dogs? I can actually think of several including wanting to breed from them in the future, dislike of subjecting them to an op and altering their behaviour and life. not able to afford the op, and alteration of useful aspects of behaviour cf unneutered.

Paws2rescue are a UK Charity which rescue dogs from Romania. There is a huge variety of dogs available. They are a lot more pragmatic when it comes to rehoming than some of the other uk charities you may have looked into. I’m sure kids will not be a problem for the right dog/dogs. Can’t recommend them enough. Happy to answer any questions you may have. Send me a pm. 
 

Have a look for a breed specific rescue, they may be able to help. 

There has been a sharp rise in the number of foreign rescues in the last 10 years. There are good and bad tales about these, much as there are good and bad tales about any organisation.

I have two EU refugees currently, a Spaniard and a Cypriot, both were managed really well and both dogs healthy.

Part of the reason we used these was the restrictive nature of uk based rescues; can't have a dog if you work, dog needs company, can't have a dog if you don't work, you can't afford it. One rescue on a home visit said, you can't have a dog, your house is too nice! UK rescues tend to limit themselves to a finite pool of fit retirees with large gardens surrounded by tall fences.

Best of luck. Even if you do pay £K s for a dog, you know he will be worth it in the long run. 

Its mostly about neutering subduing it's prey drive/ instinct/ initiative, plus a history of breeding as a hobby, second income or ( and don't take this the wrong way) social activity. I rehomed a prison dog once, who was kept entire so he would focus on the job. As it was they sacked him because he was still rubbish. The fat and lazy neutered dog is a cliche, but has some truth to it

My most recent dog was bred by a keeper's mrs. She had a litter of dogs off her working lab as a cash bonus. As it is, this was pre lockdown and I took him on as a favour as she was struggling to shift the last couple of pups. If it had been 12 months later, she could have named her price!!

Some health benefits associated with later spaying/ neutering, plus dogs kept intact can tend to maintain a smaller stature (an advantage if you’ve got 6 labs in the back of your Land Rover).  The gamekeeper my pup came from bred his favourite as and when he reckoned he’d need to train up a new dog (working lifespan is shorter than lifespan). He also reckoned it can impact prey drive. 

Surprised to hear that the rescue organisations won't house in families - when we got our 2 rescues they restricted to those that had been looked assessed or looked after in foster homes with families so that they were known quantities.  Could all the news reports of "random" attacks in family homes have worried them as you suggest.  Did you ask if this is a temp. measure?  Quite a few are reticent to re-home to families over the winter to avoid the Christmas Dog problems a few months down the line.

You could look abroad - all 3 of our pets came from France (SPA Carcassone - https://www.refuge-scpa11.fr/adopter/) and have been great.  I can say from personal experience that they are very thorough in their assessment of the dogs before offering them up, and in their assessment of potential homes - inc. home visits by sister organisations in the UK.  I still get occasional contact from the fosterer of our collie checking on how she's doing  

Slightly more complicated now due to brexit though unfortunately!

Cheers!

Stu

That is interesting and explains a lot. It's worth it though, might be 10x more damage but in my opinion it's also 10x more joy and fun. 

I've got a lab/hound mix. More like a field lab type thing. Less high maintenance than a border collie, but he's a rescue so still super anxious. I got him at 6 months from a kill shelter at numerous homes so he's never been normal. But he's awesome with my kids and a great running buddy.

I've often had two dogs, it keeps the other dog entertained. I think once a dog has been in a pair they struggle without it. But a dog on its own is fine if that's all they know like my thing.

Some really good suggestions here. Like someone else mentioned, I got my last dog through someone before she was put into a rescue (after comforting a crying colleague in the loos which led to finding out about the dog, but posting on Facebook would also work).

That dog died two years ago and we'd like to give a home to another older rescue dog but it's really hard at the moment. I've always had dogs that were rescued/rehomed and have always flown the flag for rescues (and wouldn't dream of paying 3k for a puppy), but having had a bit of a search I think some of them are in danger of letting perfect be the enemy of good (though perhaps demand right now justifies their approach). We don't have kids but there's plenty of other stuff that excludes us if you take the stuff written on some rescue websites at face value (our garden is secure but small, some dogs need a rural area/can't be homed with men/need another dog). 

You need to be a bit careful with some rescues abroad as apparently some of them are fronts for puppy farming but the decent ones can be a good option - I know of at least one, Sadies, that seems legit and their policy is children need to be 7 or older (depending on the dog). They only just found a litter of dumped puppies according to their fb page. However, I've applied for an older, blind dog of theirs who's currently in foster in the UK (though the wrong area of the UK) and apparently they're still making their way through applications made in September, so I've not heard anything.

Good luck!

We have a Viszla...he's 8.

He's almost human,very needy,we can't put him in boarding kennels as he stops eating.

Can't exercise him enough...he will run all day.

Craps for Britain though....the only down side.

Sure he does it on purpose..he's always looking at me when he's pushing one out....😅

We're in the same boat, looking for another dog, prices have gone stupid, even for mongrels (sorry "designer breeds").

Careful with the re-homing charities.

Good friends of ours, first time dog owners with special needs children, went to a local re-homing place (charity) who import dogs. They were given a totally inappropriate dog with very little in the way of support. I strongly suspect the dog was picked up of the streets, no history and a very optimistic guess at the age and numerous behaviour issues. It had to be returned very quickly, it was certainly not a dog for novices .

A bit of trawling the internet showed the dog re-homing charity business is quite lucrative. The two directors were paying themselves each a £60k salary with a few support staff on £25K. 

I paid $600 for a lab thing nobody wanted.. who had heart worm which cost another $1000 to treat.

The view here is supposedly charge a good amount, even got rescues so it's a considered investment. Though I suspect a few directors make good money.

Here though most rescues ship dogs from the southern states so the transport costs money. Lots of those states don't steralize dogs due to pro life views so loads of unwanted dogs..

We've got a little Staffie who we adopted off a friend who is great.  She doesn't seem to suffer from separation anxiety (although she hasn't been alone much over the past year, for obvious reasons so that may have changed) is super friendly to other people, good with kids etc.

Definitely a breed I'd recommend as they're pretty easy to look after and will really become part of the family however running 10 miles a day might be a bit much for her, if that's important I'd steer clear of them.  They're not distance athletes.

Best of luck, I'm sure you'll find the perfect pooch.

We found our pair - half brother and sister collies - on preloved.com, a kind of ebay-lite, after our springer left us for the great bicycle chase in the sky. The owner (who couldnt devote enough time to them) wouldn't hand them over until he'd seen our place and checked us out. We post their adventures on FB for him still. We totally lucked-out in getting a pair who were so well bonded together. They bring us more happiness than anything else in our lives. I really wish you luck finding what you want.

You will probably find a glut of dogs available later in the year as the vaccinations roll out to more people and lockdown ends, when people go back to work and dogs become a hassle the shelters will fill up fast unfortunately. 

I reckon this is pretty likely, though I hope I'm wrong.

A salary of 60k doesn't sound unreasonable for a director of a large charity, neither does 25k for support staff.  I'm sure they work hard for every penny. What do you think they should earn?  Definitely not what I would call a "lucrative business."  I suppose the fact that other charities have entirely voluntary staff makes it difficult to quantify. 

The experience of you friends is very disappointing, but I can assure you that the vast majority of re-homing charities work very had to avoid such situations. 

Well said. It's important that any rescue importing dogs provides full rescue back up in event of problems. The rescue I volunteer with does this, so no dog is left in limbo if the adoptee changes their mind down the line. They work incredibly hard to get the best match, each homecheck takes an hour or more. They also run at a loss, so definitely NOT lucrative in their case.

Sorry I wasn't clear. They are not a large charity, they have one building the size of around a 4 bed bungalow. As well as the paid staff they also have several volunteers. Seems to be well paid for such a small outfit. 

Fair enough, that does sound a bit suspect .