1 Dog At A Time Rescue UK a Registered Charity dedicated to rescuing Romanian Street Dogs.


For those of you who don’t know us, or who have not adopted or fostered for us so far, we are a team of volunteers who have seen the atrocities that face the street and stray dogs population in Romania.

Dogs in Romania have a hard and terrifying existence. They are frequently abandoned in remote places and left to starve to death. It’s not uncommon for a mum and her babies to be dumped in the forest where they all starve or die of untreated illnesses. People have been known to abandon their pet dogs just as they would abandon rubbish.

The dogs that are abandoned on the streets if not maimed or killed on the roads are prime target for the dog catchers who hunt them down and capture them in brutal ways, often injuring them in the process. The dogs are then thrown into the Public shelter where they are left without any care or medical attention in squalid conditions and with little or no food.

Few dogs will survive to adulthood.

Many of the stray dogs are not neutered and so it’s a constant round of young bitches in season and then giving birth to puppies, which in turn go on to have more pups.

Until a proper neutering campaign is put into place by the Romanian government this dire situation for the poor dogs of Romania will continue.

We at 1 dog at a time rescue cannot stand by and do nothing, we have pledged to help where we can.

We will never post any bad images on our web site or our Facebook page (although there are plenty that we have seen, and photographed), but those images will never appear here as we know those images upset some people and can be frightening for children to see.

What happens to a dog when it’s in the Public shelter?

Life in the PS is hard, temperatures vary greatly, from deep snow in winter to a searing, hot 40 degrees in the summer. In the winter there is no heating and dogs die from the cold, often frozen to the ground they laid on for the night. There is no air in the summer, and dogs die from heatstroke and dehydration. Puppies, elderly dogs and sick dogs fare the worst in these conditions.
The only human company the dogs get is once a week on a Sunday when our Romanian volunteers go in to give them some relief, to clean out the cages , to feed them and to spend a little precious time with each of them.

We have our own half way house hotel called happy Tails where our dogs can acclimatise to life and our volunteers can help them adjust and prepare them for their journey to their new homes. They can recover from the stress of living on the streets or being in the public shelter and spend some much needed time in a safe environment getting regular meals and warmth and that special thing called TLC which is provided by our caring volunteers until the dogs are ready to travel to their new homes in the UK.

How can I help?

We are always looking for like minded people who can spare us some time to help in any way you are able to.
We urgently need foster homes in the UK to help the dogs in their transition from the life in the public shelters or on the streets, to a normal life in a home. Foster homes are needed preferably in Oxfordshire, or surrounding counties in the UK. If you feel you could offer to foster one of our dogs then please do get in touch.

We need people to help spread the word and above all we need loving secure forever homes for these dogs that have suffered so much. Homes where they can have a chance of a normal life and some well deserved TLC that they have lacked so far in their lives.

If you are able to help fund raise for us then please let us know.

How do I adopt or foster?

If you are interested in helping us by adopting or fostering for us the process is very simple

Go to our web site www.1dogatatimerescue.org and complete the online registration form or you can send us your email address as a private message stating if you wish to adopt or foster (or both!) and we will send you one of our registration forms.

Complete the form and return it by email to adoptions@1dogatatimerescue.org or send it via a private message to our facebook page.

We will then contact you to have a chat and to arrange a homecheck


Once you have had a homecheck and we have identified and agreed on your particular 1 dog we will make all the necessary travel arrangements to bring your dog to you.

What do I have to pay to adopt?

We pay all the pet passport and any foster fees. All vaccinations, microchipping and neutering will be done and paid for by us, all you pay is the transport costs for your dog from Romania to the UK. This transport cost will be ploughed back into our rescue account and will be used to fund the cost of transport for the next dog to travel from Romania to the UK.

What happens next?

All you need to do is to come and collect your dog when it arrives in the UK from one of the locations we will have agreed with you. Some of our representatives will be there on the day and you can meet us and chat to us at the same time as you collect your dog.

Helping 1 dog wont change the world but it will mean the world to that 1 dog