How was the adoption process for you?
Very straightforward, everybody was exceedingly kind, highly informative and extremely helpful. After showing interest in the adoption process, we received a telephone call, here we had an informal chat with a member of the team who got to know us and explained the entire process to us and what it would mean to adopt a dog from Romania.
The next step was to undergo a video home check, this was very straightforward. We also took this opportunity to introduce the team to all our family members. This included our three children and our resident husky.
After explaining our family setup, the ages of our children and our current family pets, we worked with the team to place the correct fur baby to our family…. and here we have our Stevie
What was it like the first moment you met your rescue?
Waiting for Stevie to arrive and following her journey was something the whole family got involved with. We were posting Facebook updates, friends and even extended family were calling up wanting updates. When she finally arrived late in the evening, we had allowed the children to stay up. Words cannot describe the excitement we all felt.
How was the settling in process?
We have had Stevie a year now and we would not be without her! It is true what they say that it takes a long time for them to truly settle in. Within weeks she was smitten with me and the children, even pretty content following her big brother (our other dog) around like she had always been here. But my husband and any visitors into the house she kept her distance (and by distance, I mean the bottom of the garden) fleeing in all directions if any movement was made towards her. This continued for a few months, obviously her aversions of my husband were a bit of a problem, so we tackled this with him being the one to feed her daily and be the one to make the most fuss of her. Like a true Clarke she soon was won over by food! They are as thick as thieves now.
With our regular visitors she now welcomes them with no problem, but can still be wary of people she does not know. Importantly, she has never shown aggression, she will just scarper or pace showing she is uncomfortable.
She has been easy to train in other area’s we can now walk her off lead with good recall and have taken her round shops such as Pets at Home, something that in the early days would have set her anxiety sky high.
Advice for others considering to adopt a Romanian rescue?
One of the biggest challenges we have found with adopting a Romanian rescue, especially one that is that little bit older is that she has been hard to potty train (for use of a better phrase), even a year on we have gotten 80% there and when we do get accidents, we do have them on training pads which is good. But this is understandable considering her upbringing. We really do not mind and I am sure with continued work she will get there. It is just something worth keeping in mind when considering adoption.
A little myth buster I wanted to mention was how rescue dogs are dangerous around children. Now I know all dogs are different, and even with seemidly good dogs you can never 100% leave children unattended or fully know a dog behavior pattern (or that of a child!). But in our case Stevie has been an amazing family dog! She seems to be drawn to the children. Considering she is a very jumpy little thing, the children knew to be careful and calm round her (to the best of their abilities) but she never seemed afraid of them, nor jumpy around them. If anything, she would go to them when she needed emotional reassurance. It was extremely sweet. She has an incredibly beautiful little soul. Always wanting to give licks and affection and to just be around people. We are so very lucky we got picked to be Stevie’s family!
To find out about other sweet fur baby’s still looking for their forever home, check out our pages for our Stray Cats and our Stray Dogs.
