annlaura Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Anyone do this? What can you tell me about your experience? (If anyone recalls my post about a boxer, he was adopted by someone else the day I emailed about him.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyof4ks Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 We adopted a dog form a foster home, and basically she would keep 3-4 dogs at a time and people would come over and look at them to see if they were a good fit for their family. I obviously do not know the logistics of being a foster home for dogs, but it was clear the lady loved the dogs and loved talking to people who were looking to adopt dogs. I hope someone has more info for you on the other end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheTwinsMom1 Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 I have fostered in the past, we are taking a break right now. What are you wanting to know exactly. We only took one or two dogs at a time, and would work with them on training, overcoming abuse, learning to be a dog again and just being in a family environment. We tended to do long term fosters meaning they stayed six months or more. The rescue we worked with covered all vet bills, but we provided the food. We loved having fosters and were happy to see those dogs go from sad and depressed, to happy with joy again. All of our rescues except one were adopted. The one that was not, had severe problems including a bite history that was not told to us, so sadly, the rescue had to put her down as she was not safe. I recommend if you do this, make sure you know the dogs history. We preferred to only work with shy, scared dogs and only cocker spaniels, no big dogs. This was a better fit for our family. I refused any dog with any bite history as I have young children. I would work with resource guarding, but not serious aggression. I loved working with the dogs who would sit at the back door for weeks who then blossomed to running around and playing. We had a foster contract that I signed and had to agree to which outlined exactly what I would do, what I would pay for and what the rescue would pay for. Let me know if you have any further questions, I would be more than willing to answer any and all that you have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kewb Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 All I can tell you is 2 weeks after our foster dog got here that it was going to be over my dead body before someone adopted this dog from me. It seems I have attachment issues. You should def. only foster dogs that have no biting history and are of no concern to be around kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 We have done it in two different cities and will be doing it soon in this city. What do you want to know? We always ask for and only get non aggressive dogs. The ones we have had had been sweethearts- I specifically remember a black male cocker spaniel and a female Bassett hound. Anyway, since we get non aggressive, tiny to medium size dogs, we never have them very long. It just helps them get adopted to have a person talk about how he/she gets along with dogs, cats, and kids. We also make sure that the dog looks good and smell fine. It hasn't been hard on us at all nor on our own children. I think it really helped that we had our own dog and cat and therefore they still had them when the foster animal left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susie in SWVA Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 I have one daughter who is involved in an Australian Shepherd Rescue and she fosters and transports also. She is fostering two right now - both very different but sweet dogs. It is sometimes very heartbreaking, but she loves it. I also have another daughter who rescues and transports dogs and rescues Siamese cats. She doesn't foster because she and her husband run a very successful petsitting business in SC. (http://time2pawssc.vpweb.com/) Susie in SWVA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggie Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 All I can tell you is 2 weeks after our foster dog got here that it was going to be over my dead body before someone adopted this dog from me. It seems I have attachment issues. You should def. only foster dogs that have no biting history and are of no concern to be around kids. Foster failure! :) There is even jewelry for our type now! We've fostered for a couple of years. We currently have 3 young foster dogs, along with our 4 dogs. BUT...we have a lot of land, a huge fenced yard, a dog room, and several kennels. Here are a few thoughts: You can foster for a particular breed. Several breed-specific groups rescue from shelters then try to find fosters/adopters. You can also foster from a particular shelter. Often there is a rescue group for a shelter that tries to get out "code red" dogs. There is temp foster which could be 2-3 weeks while the dog is waiting on transport. Long-term fostering will include you assessing and training the dog. Background on many dogs is sometimes unavailable. Depending on the rescue group and the shelter workers, they may or may not know enough about the dog's temperament. We've taken in a few doozies. Some shelters will assess dogs and keep some for adoption. The others are seen by volunteers and networked for rescue. Most of the shelters I work with keep puppies and nice dogs for adoption, never let anyone but rescues take pitties, and leave the shy/sick ones for rescue. Some dogs will come to you very ill. We've had mange, HW+, URI's, and one who was just knocking on death's door. (We didn't want her to die alone in a shelter.) One dog we had, I'm sure had never lived with any people. Fosters are often responsible for getting the dog to the vet, though most rescues will cover the cost. You can, of course, request no sick dogs, but our shelters will euthanize dogs with URI's right away. :( Many foster dogs aren't house-trained and have horrible manners. Some have been tied outside with little interaction with people. Some have been hit. There may not be any way for the rescue groups or shelters to know all this. Foster parents are also responsible for getting the dogs to adoption events or being available to have potential fosters meet the dogs. This can be exhausting and frustrating, to say the least. It can also be quick, easy, and rewarding, but you have to be prepared for both. :) Fostering is now tax-deductible, FWIW. Any vet bills *you* cover, mileage, etc, is considered a donation. Most groups are very thankful for any vet bills you can cover. Honestly, with little children, I would be very hesitant about fostering. If you do decide to, I would contact a breed's rescue group and tell them you want a nice, sweet, well-mannered dog who has been in a foster home and has been assessed. This will open up another place in the other foster's home. But dogs like that are usually adopted pretty quickly. :) BTW, I hope this post doesn't sound negative. I went into fostering without knowing a thing about the process or the kind of dogs in shelters. The dogs we got from shelters have been nice and calm! That can't be said of our foster dogs, but we love them anyway! Let me know if you have any other questions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annlaura Posted March 7, 2012 Author Share Posted March 7, 2012 Thanks everyone! I have lots of questions, I guess, and I'm still coming up with more. Getting feedback from here is helpful so I can better formulate questions to ask of the rescue. I am curious about whether it is more common to have a dog for a week or several months. I worry about my boys feeling sad when the dogs leave, and whether they'd really understand. I was certainly going to consider smaller to medium dogs, but I am curious how you go about feeling comfortable bringing them into your home with children. We have a dog, and both boys are quite good with dogs in general. But they're still little boys, you know? I love dogs and could keep almost any dog, but I become particular when choosing a forever dog for my family. So I think I would be ok giving the dogs away ;) , and I feel like fostering would be a good thing to do. But I need to figure out if it would be ok for my family right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggie Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 I have one daughter who is involved in an Australian Shepherd Rescue and she fosters and transports also. She is fostering two right now - both very different but sweet dogs. It is sometimes very heartbreaking, but she loves it. I also have another daughter who rescues and transports dogs and rescues Siamese cats. She doesn't foster because she and her husband run a very successful petsitting business in SC. (http://time2pawssc.vpweb.com/) Susie in SWVA We have an aussie mix right now. One of the most challenging dogs I've ever met!:lol: But boy, is he smart! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paisley Hedgehog Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheTwinsMom1 Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 We sat the kids down and we talked up front that our foster dogs were only visiting our family because they needed extra love right now and that we were working on helping them find a loving family. The kids were sad when they left but were happy to see the new family happy to get their new family member. I had the hardest time letting them go. Actually, our first foster failed because we ended up adopting her. I realized I could not adopt them all but we could give them a soft place to land when they needed to heal, and help their journey to their forever family. We still keep up with the families of most of our placed fosters and are happy to see them happy. It's hard and you do get attached and sad to see them go, but in the end I know it's the best thing for them. It all balances out in the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggie Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Thanks everyone! I have lots of questions, I guess, and I'm still coming up with more. Getting feedback from here is helpful so I can better formulate questions to ask of the rescue. I am curious about whether it is more common to have a dog for a week or several months. I worry about my boys feeling sad when the dogs leave, and whether they'd really understand. I was certainly going to consider smaller to medium dogs, but I am curious how you go about feeling comfortable bringing them into your home with children. We have a dog, and both boys are quite good with dogs in general. But they're still little boys, you know? I love dogs and could keep almost any dog, but I become particular when choosing a forever dog for my family. So I think I would be ok giving the dogs away ;) , and I feel like fostering would be a good thing to do. But I need to figure out if it would be ok for my family right now. The goal of rescue groups is to get dogs adopted as quickly as possible. However, that doesn't always work. When people adopt dogs on how they *look* instead of their personalities, some dogs, especially black ones, don't get adopted quickly. Some rescue groups are great at getting dogs out of shelters, but not so good at getting dogs networked. Currently, one of our fosters is a darling little female. The rescuer told me, "She will be adopted so quickly!" Well, no, she's not being adopted quickly. No one knows. New England Lab Rescue (NELR) takes labs from all over the place and *seems* to get them adopted quickly. But this week they have a few that no one is stepping up to adopt. One of the groups I work with takes collies out of the local shelters and transports them to other areas. Fosters for this groups are short term. There's barely time to get attached to them! :lol: OMG, I have no idea about fostering dogs but when I saw this topic in the title list, I thought it said FARTING dogs!!! I was like, what on earth are they saying about farting dogs??!! :rofl::rofl: I could write a few lines about this! :lol::lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 :lol: OMG, I have no idea about fostering dogs but when I saw this topic in the title list, I thought it said FARTING dogs!!! I was like, what on earth are they saying about farting dogs??!! :rofl::rofl: I read it as "festering dogs". A friend did Greyhound rescue and the woman she dealt with was always pushing her to take more more more, and she finally quit. Get a feel if the rescue person (always women in my times) is nuts or not. There are those out there who love animals but really hate people. (I will note, I never fostered, but I transported rescued dogs to their foster families. The dogs were fine, for the most part. I got good at driving with a scared beagle on my lap. :)) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annlaura Posted March 8, 2012 Author Share Posted March 8, 2012 Thanks for all the great info! I have lots to consider. I think we will definitely do this, just not sure if we'll wait a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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