When I was looking for a rescue dog to join my family, I found that actually, it was so much easier to adopt a street dog.
For the purposes of this blog post, I’m defining ‘street dog’ as a dog who was born on or lived on the streets of a foreign country, or a puppy that was born from a street dog that was taken into a foreign rescue shelter whilst pregnant.
Why are they so much easier to adopt?
Many UK rescue centres take in street dogs now, and some even try to hide their history, claiming they were born in the UK.
Despite street dogs typically having more behaviour problems, rescue centres know that the demand for puppies and young dogs is so high that they will be bought / rescued, even at a higher price.
These rescue centres also are less ‘fussy’ about who they rehome to. Places like RSPCA and Dogs Trust are known for having strict policies, particularly when rehoming dogs with children. Many (not all) street dog rescues will rehome to almost anyone.
Many people love the idea that they can adopt a dog who has had an awful past so they can give them a second chance, and whilst that is wonderful, street dogs are not your typical rescue dog, and it is important that research is done to ensure that a street dog is right for you. The ‘return rate’ for street dogs is much higher than that of rescue dogs because people don’t realise they are not the same.
What should you expect from a street dog?
A genuine street dog has no education about living with humans. They were born into a society where they would have to find (and fight for) their food, seek shelter, defend their territory, and keep themselves safe from both other animals AND humans. In many of these countries, humans have a low tolerance for street dogs and are cruel to them, beating them and worse. These dogs often have emotional scars that they will never lose.
The street dogs that are born into rescues, you ask? Behaviour traits are also inherited, meaning that the puppy is likely to be born with the skills needed to survive on the streets. These traits will include being instinctively fearful of humans, resource guarding, territorial behaviours, food stealing, and being a creative escape artist. In addition, stressed mums during pregnancy will pass on that stress to the puppies, so they will likely be predisposed to stress.
When we take into account that these puppies live in the rescue centres until roughly 4 months old, we have to understand that they are also missing that vital socialisation period. With the genetic history, early socialisation would be the best shot at giving these puppies a fighting chance at living with humans, but unfortunately most foreign rescue centres don’t have the time, knowledge, or resources needed to provide this.
What’s so different about them compared to our typical rescue dogs?
Our domesticated dogs have evolved to live in family homes over hundreds of generations. This means that they don’t show many natural canine behaviours anymore, because they simply don’t need to. These dogs are typically more social with humans than a street dog is, because they have been bred to be that way.
Living with a street dog
The problem is simple. We expect these street dogs to come into our lives and be happy because we give them everything they need. But they have to live with all these rules and expectations.
We expect so much from them which isn’t natural to them, and when they do show their normal behaviours, such as guarding, biting, digging, and marking, we get annoyed. The pressure to show unnatural behaviours creates unbelievable stress on the dog.
Is it all bad?
No...absolutely not! Many street dogs live incredibly happy lives here. But those owners will have needed to be patient and put a whole lot of time into training and socialising their dog.
Typically, the owners who live happily with street dogs were the ones who put in plenty of research into how to care for a street dog and how to meet their needs.
If you have a rescue OR street dog, or are planning on rescuing one...
I can help you through every step in your preparations and first days, into the following weeks and months of having your new family member. If you would like more information about how I can help you, you can book a FREE discovery call on this link: https://calendly.com/muckypupsdogtraining/free-discovery-call
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