It is getting more and more common for private individuals to buy imported dogs. One group of imported dogs is stray dogs from for example Spain, Greece and Romania that have been taken from the street and adopted by new owners.
We fully understand that people want to help dogs in distress. However, there are better ways of helping stray dogs than by moving them from one country to another.
Dogs that have led an unsheltered life in the street have been exposed to much greater risk of catching a contagious disease than dogs that have a home. They encounter many other dogs, they can mate several times, and they are constantly exposed to stinging insects and parasites that can spread diseases. Some of the diseases that stray dogs can carry may be latent during inspection and manifest themselves later due to the stress involved in transport and change of environment.
We advise you not to buy dogs of unknown origin, such as stray dogs. Instead, we recommend that you support local rescue efforts. For instance, you may want to support organisations that strive towards both better animal welfare and decreasing the number of stray dogs.
We fully understand that people want to help dogs in distress. However, there are better ways of helping stray dogs than by moving them from one country to another.
Stray dogs may spread diseases
Dogs that have led an unsheltered life in the street have been exposed to much greater risk of catching a contagious disease than dogs that have a home. They encounter many other dogs, they can mate several times, and they are constantly exposed to stinging insects and parasites that can spread diseases. Some of the diseases that stray dogs can carry may be latent during inspection and manifest themselves later due to the stress involved in transport and change of environment.
Support local organisations
We advise you not to buy dogs of unknown origin, such as stray dogs. Instead, we recommend that you support local rescue efforts. For instance, you may want to support organisations that strive towards both better animal welfare and decreasing the number of stray dogs.
We also ask you to remember that there are many dogs in Sweden that have been taken into custody and that need a good home. For more information, please contact an animal welfare organisation.
