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rawsondsr

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I'm looking into getting a rescue dog in the near future, from reading on various dog centres websites, they do home visits to assess the suitability of your home.

 

My question is how does being a liveaboard affect this?

 

Will it be a no because of no enclosed garden/lack of space/other, or does it not matter so much?

 

Many thanks

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6 minutes ago, rawsondsr said:

I'm looking into getting a rescue dog in the near future, from reading on various dog centres websites, they do home visits to assess the suitability of your home.

 

My question is how does being a liveaboard affect this?

 

Will it be a no because of no enclosed garden/lack of space/other, or does it not matter so much?

 

Many thanks

The youtubers Minimal List had an issue with some centres, it was a early episode.   They had no issues with one centre.   I’ll see if I can find the episode.

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5 minutes ago, rawsondsr said:

I'm looking into getting a rescue dog in the near future, from reading on various dog centres websites, they do home visits to assess the suitability of your home.

 

My question is how does being a liveaboard affect this?

 

Will it be a no because of no enclosed garden/lack of space/other, or does it not matter so much?

 

Many thanks

I think a lot will depend on which rescue centre you re home from. The Dogs Trust do seem quite strict on their criteria (but i dont know for certain if they specifically would exclude a liveaboard boater).

 

Some more 'local' rescue centres seem less 'strict'. Either way good luck with it, its a 'good' thing to do.

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I think I will depend on the policy of the rescue organisation.  I did a few home visits for the organisation we got our dog from, and a secure garden was certainly one of the things to check.  BUT, I don't know what their policy would have been faced with a liveaboard situation, so I would makes certain that they understand as much as possible.  Don't assume they understand!

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You could also rescue through word of mouth which is how we ended up with our little dog Sydney. 

 

We just happened to be in the right place at the right time. 

 

Not the traditional route by any means and we did land with a lot of vets bills in the process but we have ended up with one happy little hound who would otherwise have had a very uncertain future. 

 

20180918_064810.jpg

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42 minutes ago, rawsondsr said:

I'm looking into getting a rescue dog in the near future, from reading on various dog centres websites, they do home visits to assess the suitability of your home.

 

My question is how does being a liveaboard affect this?

 

Will it be a no because of no enclosed garden/lack of space/other, or does it not matter so much?

 

Many thanks

Some, especialy some of the bigger named rescue centres do not allow it as they havnt a clue what they are doing. They will let a bloke in a flat with a postage stamp back yard have a rescue dog but not someone living on a boat with miles of towpath and fields outside their door. Our present dog is a rescue dog and the sensible place we got it from were dead chuffed it was going to have such a fantastic lifestyle.

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Our dog loves the boat and probably has the best of it when we're out cruising in the countryside as she's out all day and walks miles. Not so much if we're alongside though I'd guess, as a boat is quite confined and that, when combined with urban spaces doesn't feel good to me, so we avoid that as much as possible. We've had a rescue dog  (before  boat ownership) and the first year was quite a challenge for her as her whole life had changed - I could see why some rescue societies may see a move to a boat as a bit too far outside a dog's comfort zone. 

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1 minute ago, Boater Sam said:

Cast off and failed police dogs and greyhounds are hard to rehome, you may get a more sympathetic reception. Many dogs homes do not accept boaters.

Our dog is such a rescue. From police kennels, she failed in some way during her sniffer dog training. the plus points are that she is very obediant and always comes if shouted, sits etc etc.

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2 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Our dog is such a rescue. From police kennels, she failed in some way during her sniffer dog training. the plus points are that she is very obediant and always comes if shouted, sits etc etc.

Ours is a bit more challenging than that!

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When I was lpoking for a four legged friend a couple of years ago a lot of places I enquiried didn't respond and a few responded in the negative when I mentioned boats.

 

In the end I "rehomed" a puppy who was destined for a home that didn't work out at the last minute.

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7 minutes ago, Boater Sam said:

Cast off and failed police dogs and greyhounds are hard to rehome, you may get a more sympathetic reception. Many dogs homes do not accept boaters.

Was going to suggest a greyhound. I've heard they are very affectionate, plus they don't moult. Living with a very hairy GSD (rescue) on our boat, not moulting appeals. ?

 

Good luck, I do hope you find your new best friend.

 

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When I was l looking I was very particular about the type of dog (size) I wanted. With spending most of my time in a back cabin or travelling between the north and the midlands on the train it had to be something on the smaller side. I didn't want a large dog hogging most of the space within the boat.

 

I found rather a couple of the charities active on Facebook that rehome Romanian dogs in the UK were very happy with considering boaters but I felt that there were already enough dogs needing help in the UK already. 

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Several dog places told us absolutely NO, and one lurcher rescue said a garden with a 12 foot fence was essential. Greyhound rescue west of England (now renamed/merged with another trust) said yes and did a boat visit. However they had a set of pups recently born in the rescue and suggested one of these would be ideal as it would adapt more easily to boat life, so our dog has now lived on the boat her entire life. Greyhounds/lurchers can make excellent boat dogs, but a few ex racers can be difficult, as can some working type lurchers from some traveler communities as in both cases they have enhanced hunting/chasing instincts and have maybe not been fully socialised. There are a lot of rescue greyhounds on the cut doing very well, I think seven was the most I have ever seen on a single boat. ?

 

.............Dave

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It's horrible, and I think the dog for sale section on Preloved should be shut down, though in this instance maybe you could give a dog a good home.

 

On dog forums I belong to, it's known that dogs from Preloved have been picked up and used as bait to train fighting dogs. 

 

Take a look.... https://www.preloved.co.uk/classifieds/pets/dogs

 

Edited to say I'm certainly not suggesting the puppies 

Edited by Jennifer McM
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I took on a 4 year old, male Great Dane many years back from a rescue. They said they thought they would never find a home for him because he was a bit excitable. Once out of the kennels and good exercise he was a great dog, bit big for a boat though.

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2 hours ago, MJG said:

I think a lot will depend on which rescue centre you re home from. The Dogs Trust do seem quite strict on their criteria (but i dont know for certain if they specifically would exclude a liveaboard boater).

 

Some more 'local' rescue centres seem less 'strict'. Either way good luck with it, its a 'good' thing to do.

Dogs Trust, Manchester do not seem to have a problem. Liveaboard friends of mine have a dog from there within the last 12 months. They did an inspection of the boat and were quite satisfied with the 2000 mile garden.

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There is a Greyhound rescue centre on the canal at The Bratch (Womborne) on the Staffs and Worcester and they certainly understand how good a canal life can be - that's assuming a Greyhound floats your boat! (sorry couldn't resist)?

The lock-keeper (Mark) will know who they are I'm sure

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50 minutes ago, jam said:

Dogs Trust, Manchester do not seem to have a problem. Liveaboard friends of mine have a dog from there within the last 12 months. They did an inspection of the boat and were quite satisfied with the 2000 mile garden.

I was just using them as an example of one of the big rehomers who in general seem to have stricter rehoming criteria than say a much smaller locally run outfit.

 

 Good to hear they had no problem in the example you cited though.

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10 hours ago, dmr said:

Several dog places told us absolutely NO, and one lurcher rescue said a garden with a 12 foot fence was essential. Greyhound rescue west of England (now renamed/merged with another trust) said yes and did a boat visit. However they had a set of pups recently born in the rescue and suggested one of these would be ideal as it would adapt more easily to boat life, so our dog has now lived on the boat her entire life. Greyhounds/lurchers can make excellent boat dogs, but a few ex racers can be difficult, as can some working type lurchers from some traveler communities as in both cases they have enhanced hunting/chasing instincts and have maybe not been fully socialised. There are a lot of rescue greyhounds on the cut doing very well, I think seven was the most I have ever seen on a single boat. ?

 

.............Dave

Liams father took on a pair of ex racing greyhounds and they did not make good pets. They were not house trained, had to wear muzzled in public, and chased anything smaller than they were. They were a nightmare but he stuck with it and had them a fair few years in the end. 

10 hours ago, Boater Sam said:

But if you don't get on with your greyhound you can't run away from it.

You would think so but they are possibly the laziest dogs around and if you do manage to convince them to run it won't be for very long!

 

We have far more problems tiring out Sydney than we ever did with George's pair of greyhounds!

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I can confirm that Dogs Trust are happy to rehome to boats, they let me have the best dog in the world almost 10 years back. They also have several stories of Doha rehomed to boats on their website, the most recent from a couple of days ago https://www.dogstrust.org.uk/our-centres/shrewsbury/centre-updates/news/it-s-all-paws-on-deck-for-hendricks

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We have a sort of collie cross who we rehomed - home visit, check the garden etc. and she has a brilliant time at home but the 3 months a year when we are on the boat she is not quite so relaxed, getting on and off the boat is awkward, she hates pontoon moorings with slatted wood walkways and the heat is a problem (boat is in France) so some dogs, in some situations might not fit with boat life quite so well. 

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