At what point is a rescue no longer a rescue?

Is that part of their lives ever really over? I don't think so with Charlie. There are still certain things that must have happened in his previous life that still happen no matter what we do to positively help, yes we have reduced certain things a lot but they are always there on some level. x :)
I think it's over and done with, yes. It bears no relevance to what I do today. I don't know what happened to her, so there's no point wondering what did in terms of addressing today's behaviours. Of course it has had an impact on that behaviour, but I don't know what it was. All I can do is treat the dog in front of me. In the same way I have to with the other dogs whose (almost) entire history I do know. I'm not doing her any service by thinking, "Did this happen to cause that?". It doesn't matter. All I do is try to move forwards. As I've said elsewhere, someone taking Shadow today would assume he had been beaten by a stick. He hasn't. So what value does making those assumptions have to the dog you have today? I'd argue none.

And when is a rescue a rescue?
There's that, too. When people ask me about where Ginny came from, I tell them she came from the protectora. Was she "rescued" by them? Well, they fed her, but that's about it! I know for sure that we saved her from dying in that place, and my heart does swell to think of what we have given her. I'm incredibly proud and grateful to have been able to have such a profound impact on her life. She probably was "rescued" to a greater extent than many. I just have this little voice niggling at me every time I go to write "my rescue dog, Ginny".

With friends, I will call her "the new one" or "the three-legged one" because I have four dogs and don't expect anyone to remember their names unless they spend a lot of time with them! But that's just descriptive - I will also say "the brown one", "the black one", and "the light one" - people often don't get the idea of "chocolate" and "yellow" :D
 
My dog growing up was just “our dog”. I don’t even remember referring to him as a rescue, if people asked we’d just say “oh we got him from dogs trust”.

I don’t think he was rescued, he was rehomed. His elderly owner had died and his family had given him to dogs trust, you could see how loved he’d been and he was a delight. I hope his owner was happy he’d come to us.

I do think people like to promote their rescue, sometimes probably to try and justify their other breeder dogs to the “adopt don’t shop” brigade. And I think quite a lot of them are the adopt don’t shop brigade. Then some people probably say it without realising 🤷🏻‍♀️😂
 
sometimes probably to try and justify their other breeder dogs to the “adopt don’t shop” brigade. And I think quite a lot of them are the adopt don’t shop brigade.
Ah yes, I hadn't thought about that side, too. I'm more likely to say "my rescue" when I know I'm dealing with people with dogs from shelters to avoid the judginess (autocorrect just changed that to pudginess - yes, I know it's not a real word, but I like making my own up, OK?!) :D
 
And when is a rescue a rescue?
I think there is a difference. Rehomed to me means the owner has maybe passed away or can no longer keep the dog etc. so you rehomed her. A rescue is a dog that has been abandoned, badly treated, removed from the owner, behavioural issues and so on. Charlie came from the Pound so to me he was rescued from death as a puppy. xx
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I think it's over and done with, yes. It bears no relevance to what I do today. I don't know what happened to her, so there's no point wondering what did in terms of addressing today's behaviours. Of course it has had an impact on that behaviour, but I don't know what it was. All I can do is treat the dog in front of me. In the same way I have to with the other dogs whose (almost) entire history I do know. I'm not doing her any service by thinking, "Did this happen to cause that?". It doesn't matter. All I do is try to move forwards. As I've said elsewhere, someone taking Shadow today would assume he had been beaten by a stick. He hasn't. So what value does making those assumptions have to the dog you have today? I'd argue none.
The gorgeous Nando Brown always refers to his Pit Bull as a 'rescue' I don't think he knows it's history but he still says 'rescue'. He is still training the dog infront of him, he doesn't have to say the word 'rescue', so if it's good enough for Nando ..... :inlove: xx
 

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
I don't think we rescued Nelly , she was posted on FB as needing to be rehomed as quickly as possible but she was in a home , albeit not a good one . I was appalled when we got her old Vets records , showing that we were her 4th home , so where she was before is anyones guess . All that matters to me is that we are her last home x

You rescued Nelly. :nod:
 
Many people ask if Homer is a rescue when I'm doing extra training or desensitising with him.

I once saw a competition for rescue dogs doing tricks or agility or something like that, it might even have been on Crufts, but most of the rescue dogs competing had been rescued as young puppies which didn't seam fair to me and that they weren't really rescue dogs anymore.
 

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Not that it really matters, but to me 'rescue' and 'rehomed' are the same. Maybe because of my US background with rescue. The last organization I volunteered with actively encouraged people who didn't want their dogs to keep them while the organisation looked for a new home - so in a way fostering their own dog. Whomever adopted those dogs were definitely adopting a rescue.

Of course the situation in CA is different than the UK in that if those people had taken their dog to a shelter vs. rehomed through the rescue group, in all likelihood the dog would have been euthanised.

Pit bulls are almost always rescues as if they go into a shelter their chances are almost nil. Mama Jodhi was surrendered by her first owner's daughter after the first owner passed away. The daughter thought it was for rehoming, but after three days pits are euthanised. I was very lucky to get her only because the volunteer coordinator had seen her in the kennels and thought she looked like such a sweet dog and couldn't stand that her number was up. I won't say she had nine lives, but she had a least two! :)
 

Atemas

UK Tour Guide
I am getting rather tired of people always referring to their dogs as rescue dogs. Surely once they have been rescued that’s it.

Last evening one of our neighbours asked to come over As he wanted DH to restring son’s guitar. He bought his son with him who is nearly 7. I was asking after the dogs (they have two) and the young boy said what one of them had been up to - a bit negative. He then said ‘but of course he’s a rescue dog’ and so is .... referring to the other one. Don’t know why but I felt really irritated. They have had those dogs now for about 18 months.

Another neighbour - the one who lost her husband this time last year manages to get the word ‘rescue’ in every time I see her and that is beginning to pall.

Sky could be classified as a rescue dog if I chose and my daughter’s greyhound is definitely a rescue but she has never ever used that word in relation to him.

Sorry, this is a bit of a rant but this village seems to be full of rescue dogs and I’m tired of hearing that word. Hope this doesn’t offend anyone who has a rescue dog here - I do appreciate these dogs aren’t always easy and it takes hard work and patience and it is great that they go to loving homes ......but surely at some point that word should be dropped?
 
I’m a lot more tolerant of dogs being described as rescues when it’s by the owner using it to justify their dogs behaviour. Same as “oh they’re a puppy” etc.

The only time it annoys me is when it’s used in a judgey way to make me feel bad for buying a puppy rather than rescuing.

EDIT: that should say *try* to make me feel bad. It doesn’t at all - if I’d rescued who knows who Stanley would’ve gone to. And he probably would have ended up in rescue because only I’m daft enough to deal with the big div. So really I did keep the rescue population down 🤷🏻‍♀️
 
Funny you should put this on today, I've been thinking about this term lately too. Like you @Atemas , I am not at all wanting to offend those who have given committed homes to dogs that were given up for whatever reason, not always knowing what sort of experiences they may have had in their early lives. Indeed, I have the utmost respect.
But sometimes with Cassie I have felt that I was dealing with many of the same or similar issues as those with rescue dogs, especially throughout the hormonal hiatus between one and two years of age, not now as she approaches 3 years of age. So I wonder to myself that those difficulties could well have resulted in her being put up for rehoming had she been in a different set up. She sure wasn't easy, but always in my head was knowing we would emerge from the other side and we have.
This is not being judgmental in anyway, my circumstances now mean that I could devote myself to getting through it, but if you had a major life crisis going for example I see how difficult it would be to do as I did.
 
Top