German Shepherd Strays in Romania

The German Shepherd breed appeared late at the end of the 19th century in Germany and they were first exhibited at a show in Hanover in 1882. They were not like German Shepherds as we know them today though, being rough coated, short tailed and rather resembling mongrels. The German Shepherd Dog as we now know it didn't really appear until after the Second World War.
The breed was actually created by the cross breeding of working sheep dogs from rural Germany by an ex cavalry officer called Max von Stephanitz whose aim was to create a working dog for herding which could trot for long periods.
A breed standard was drawn up and the first breed show took place in 1899 following which the GSD became firmly established across Germany. In 1906 the first dogs were exported to the USA .

CHECK OUT OUR ROMANIAN SUCCESS STORIES

So if you are a German Shepherd owner, you have that dog because of dogs that were imported to the UK. The GSD is not a native breed to the UK and as stated above, was originally classed as a cross breed ie a mongrel. If you have pedigree papers, you will invariably see imported sires and dams. Reputable breeders use imported dogs to improve their lines

So for the small minority of shepherd owners who have criticised us on social media sites for helping a small percentage of European GSD's, you are at best hypocritical, especially if you drive a German/Japanese car, own a mobile phone made in some sweat shop in China or fill your homes with plastic landfill made out in the far east, at great human cost. If you had been as passionate about buying British goods as only helping British born dogs, we would still have a thriving manufacturing base.

Britain was abolished in December 2009 when the Lisbon Treaty (the final EU treaty) was ratified. We have lost our sovereignty, we have no borders, we are part of the EU. Dogs do not understand borders and a dog in need is a dog in need

Before Christmas 2014, we have committed ourselves to helping a number of very old and very young dogs who would most likely not survive in the sub zero temperatures out there. GSDR are not funding either preparation or transport, a wonderful lady called Corinne is working tirelessly to raise funds to bring them over to the UK. Once here, we will house them safely until new homes are found. We need foster homes, permanent homes and we need to raise funds to pay our kennel bills over the festive period.

WHY WE HELP A FEW ROMMIES

The options for these dogs are 
1. Give up and die 
2. Die of disease or illness without any treatment 
3. Being left to starve to death - a slow long lingering death.
4. Euthanasia - the preferred method in Romania (because it costs nothing) is  being bludgeoned to death with either a shovel or
sledgehammer. This is the  reality
5. Being thrown a lifeline by a rescuer

Terrified GSD in a notorious kill shelter.

I have been involved in German Shepherd rescue for over 20 years and since I formed my first rescue in Scotland back in 2001 which then became GSDR, we have rehomed thousands of German Shepherds. A significant portion of the dogs we help come from UK pounds, many of whom are on death row.

Max didn't make it to the UK, sadly he died before he could know love

Since the end of 2012 we have helped a number of foreign dogs, particularly from Romania but the number of dogs helped is a small fraction of the total number of UK dogs helped.

Many groups internationally have become involved with Eastern European rescues because of the horrendous situation out there. We believe that by highlighting the plight of the strays out there, between us we can bring pressure to bear on respective governments and hopefully see an end to the cruelty and bloody slaughter.

In Romania, if a dog survives the brutality of the dog catchers, it is thrown into a shelter where it's home is usually a one metre square cage with either a pallet or concrete to lie on. They are never let out of these cages, they have no bedding, no free access to water and are fed every few days, if they are lucky. Some shelters put large groups of dogs together in concrete prisons and with limited access to food and water, many have died in fights trying to gain access to the very things they need to survive.

No dog should be treated like this

This poor dog has a very bad shoulder injury thanks to the sadistic dog catchers

GSD in a kill shelter with a huge tumour. She will not get any vet treatment in here!

What have I done to deserve this?

In October 2012,we were alerted to the plight of this boy who we called Chenko. We agreed to help him and he arrived in the UK in November 2012 but spent many months in kennels overlooked, until coming to me to foster in the summer of 2013.

Chenko before we got him out of this hell hole

A small minority think we shouldn't help these dogs, all these dogs disagree and so do we. These are just a few of the lucky ones, hundreds of thousands are still being brutally slaughtered out there.

If you would like to make a donation to help the rescue, please click on the link below.