Seems suspicious anyone having loads of retrievers in Irish rescue. Is this a boni-fidy operation? Cost of importation must be prohibative. How come no homes for these dogs in Ireland. My adult daughter looking for a 2 year old to rescue just checking on her behalf. Hear of so many puppy farms in Ireland breeding for export.

All I know is that one of my puppy buyers has recently got a Golden from this rescue and according to her they are most definitely on the level.(And she is very clued up so I trust her judgement. :) )

I got in touch with them a while back as my sister was going to get a goldie but her circumstances changed and she couldn't. All seemed to be above board like any other rescue. I am sure lab rescue etc have just as many of that breed they just don't put there pics on the internet.

My spaniel came from a Springer Spaniel rescue in ireland, who are definately bonefide. There are loads of unwanted dogs in ireland as it seems attitudes towards dogs can be a bit, well lacking in something. No offence to irish people as not all are like that, but ut seems dogs don't get a good deal in ireland. Bringing them over costs very little, i had to pay costs of £80, which is no more than your average donation to a rescue and i was happy to pay it. Dogs were brough over by ferry overnigt to wales and then driven to meeting points around the country. (Where prospective owners have arranged to meet them.) THere are masses of unwanted dogs in ireland, and not enough homes, so thats why they all come over here.

It seems strange to me when there are dogs on the mainland that don't find a home.  I could understand it if we had totally sorted our own problems out.  Friends of mine adopted a labrador a few months ago.  I was astonished to find the rescue they had bought it from had shipped it in from Ireland.  Now we know that labradors are bred extensively in the UK and many are in rescues up and down the country so it seemed to me that if this rescue was currently empty then they should have been directed to somewhere that did have them.  To me it seemed like they were "stocking" up because although they talk about adoption you do of course pay.  Interestingly this dog had already been "sold" to an absolute no hoper of a home already and returned so the rescue had increased their funds by twice on that particular dog.  I really don't understand what this is all about.  This was not the official breed club labrador rescue by the way.

Every dog has the right to a home though. Most dogs in Ireland end up in the pound, mine was very close to going there. In the pound they only get to stay 7 days or they get pts. Over here there seems to be more rescues, fosterers and potential homes, so why not give those dogs a chance too? I only had to pay travelling costs, they made no profit out of bringing murphy over and had to travel in the freezing cold overnight on a rough ferry crossing. 4 dogs got a home thanks to the rescue that day. I would hate to think of murphy not being here, no matter where he came from. People are also bringing dogs in from foreign countries now too.

Ah but you've got him now and love him :)  Your set up does sound rather different to the ones my friends bought from but I do still question the principle of helping other countries dogs when we have a problem of our own here.  Even if our problem is smaller there are still many dogs PTS here because homes cannot be found for them all.

>To me it seemed like they were "stocking" up because although they talk about adoption you do of course pay.

Gosh, that seems a bit cynical - all rescues ask for a donation which go towards funding the rescue (including official breed club ones) - why do you refer to this one as 'selling' the dog - are you suggesting they are a profit making organisation?

I suppose that was not wording that well.  I don't have any problem with rescues taking donations, of course they must to cover their expenses.  I was referring to, what appears to be, the gathering of stock rather than passing people on to others rescues when their kennels are empty.  So yes I suppose in this instance I am concerned it is a business rather than merely having the dogs interests at heart. 

If it's the same one, then although not personally involved, I must say that I have been amazed and disgusted by some of the nasty lies and rumours that I have heard spoken about this rescue.  I would not expect adults who claim to care about rescue behave in this manner - however, there's nowt so queer as folk :o. 
As you have your concerns and evidence from your friend, would it not be best to approach the charities commission?

Hello all,

I've just started as a re-homer for a retriever rescue, re-homing Labs and lab x's and was always led to believe that Ireland has the highest euthanasia numbers in Europe, that is why there are always loads of dogs looking for homes. I don't have a problem with bringing dogs over from Ireland, as long as the dogs from our location are re-homed as well.  Only my opinion- as ever :)

Ali :)

But if my friends had not been offered dog A by this rescue they would have gone to another and given dog B a home.  So did dog B get a home or was he one of the unlikely ones on a time limit?  My point is, as long as there is a dog Z in the UK why do we bring in more?

How on earth do you know which one I am talking about.    I have had no other dealings with this rescue so am unaware of anyone elses opinions of them I only know my friends experience.  I don't think I would be questioning this practice if I did not care for the dogs in rescue in this country.  I don't even know if they are a registered charity but I doubt the commission would be interested in where they get their dogs from as long as the registration was not obtained to solely assist with the homing of UK dogs.

Gaby, as has already been said, there is a huge rescue problem in Ireland, and there are many good people working hard to try and alleviate the problem.  Many are rehomed in Ireland, but the problems is huge.  Some are rehomed in the UK directly from Ireland and the adoptee pays the transportation costs, but an increasing number of rescues (including various breed rescues not just retrievers) in the UK are trying to help by bringing over a few to rehome here.