Street dog adoptions happen every day across the world. People find stray dogs in their neighborhood, they adopt street dogs from their local rescues, they fall in love with pups on holiday, or they adore them via the internet.

And while bringing a street dog into your home is usually an amazing experience, it’s not without its challenges. So what are the main difficulties in adopting a street dog?

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Making sure you’re adopting the right street dog for your life

For many people adopting a street dog, they won’t meet them before they come to live with them. While most adoption agencies will be truthful about the dog’s temperament and character, it’s important to ask questions to make sure they’re definitely the right dog for you.

For example:

• How do they get on with other dogs in their current environment?
• Do they have any issues with particular dog breeds?
• Is there anything they’re really scared of?
• How do they cope with situations that may happen around your neighborhood? (For example; fire engines, busy streets, other dogs etc.)
• How much exercise do they need per day?
• Do they have a tendency to chew, bark, or whine?
• Are they generally a more dominant or submissive dog?

The adoption agency might not know the answers to all of these, but it’s important to find out as much as you can.

If you’ve met the dog on holiday or they’re local to you, try to spend some time with them and test out different situations before you make the decision to take them home. How do they get on in your house? Do they hate cats and you have four? Are they likely to scavenge?

All of these are important questions that might affect your decision.

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Arranging travel for your adoptive street dog

Dog travel isn’t always easy. Particularly overseas. Sure, it’ll be worth it when you have your new furry friend in your home, but you also need to put the dog’s welfare first.

At Happy Doggo, we arrange all travel for the dogs in our care, making sure they have safe, chaperoned flights to their new country and onwards travel to their home. We also don’t allow dogs to travel to countries with long quarantines as this can be bad for the dogs’ health. However, that’s not the case if you meet a dog on the street.

In general, dogs travelling from Thailand to another country need to have various tests before they're allowed to fly. There are also considerations like crate training the dog and preparing them for a long journey.

Some things you might want to look into if you’re arranging travel through an adoption agency:

• What is included in their fees? (Eg: do they include flights, testing, crates etc.)
• Where do the dogs live if they have a quarantine in their origin country?
• Does the dog need to be in quarantine in your country? And if so, how long for?
• Who travels with the dog?
• Do they take them to you or do you need to pick them up?

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Settling your adopted dog into your home

Imagine living on the streets all your life then suddenly having a human hanging over you, doors and gates closed, and food on tap? While it might sound amazing, it can be super overwhelming for a stray dog, at least in the beginning.

Street dogs have spent their whole lives gearing up for survival and often have a “fight or flight” mentality. That might mean your dog will try and run away for the first few days, they might snap or bark at you, or they might hide from loud noises or other pets in the home.

The best thing to do is take it slow. Experts estimate it takes around 3 days for a dog to decompress from the changes in its environment, 3 weeks to begin to feel settled, and 3 months to believe this could be their forever home. And those are just estimates – it could take much longer (or shorter, depending on the dog).

You need to be patient and give the dog space to unwind at their own pace.

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Checking for illnesses

One of the biggest challenges when adopting a street dog is their health. No matter how many checks and tests you do on these dogs, they can have many months or years behind them that you know nothing about. While agencies like ours have to follow medical procedures laid out by the country the dog is travelling to, they're not required to test for everything and for many, the cost to do testing above what is mandatory can be prohibitive.

Some common issues that street dogs suffer from are:

• Kidney issues from parasites (tick fever)
• Bad teeth
• Previously broken and unset bones
• Heartworm
• Arthritis or bone issues from past injuries or poor nourishment

These problems could be immediately apparent when your dog arrives or they could come out in a few months or years. The best thing to do is immediately get your dog checked thoroughly by a vet and book in for regular check-ups, get your dog insured as soon as possible, and keep an eye out for illnesses that might arise.

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Are you interested in adopting a street dog? Check out our Adoptable Dogs.

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