What's fostering like?

trio

Hiya,

It was recently suggested to us that we start fostering dogs. We have one, given to us by a rescue, and the rescue have asked us if we'd consider fostering as we have a good set-up here, garden & time wise.

But, what's it really like?

Is it stressful introducing a strange (and possibly distressed) dog into your setup?
Do you let them sleep in the same room from the word go, or is seperate rooms best?
Is seperate feedings best?

I really don't want to stress out my existing dog, and more importantly I don't want to stress US out - it's meant to be a lovely experience!

But the rescue is making out like it's a walk in the park - but I think it can't possibly go that smoothly. I'm a worrier, granted - but are there any typical fostering pitfalls I have to be aware of?

EGAR

There are no blanket answers to your questions, OP, as most of is would depend on your own dog and the foster dog. Temperament, age, training etc.

Make sure the rescues provides a foster contract, so that the do's and don'ts are clearly defined, such as costs (vet, food etc). Each rescue handles it different.

Also, is the dog they want to place with you properly assessed or is it a dog straight from the pound for example (I would advise against that)?

Fostering is meant to be a good experience for the fosterer and the dog, so take your time and ask lots of question, any rescue worth their salt will only be to happy to answer them.

Good luck!

Tranceypoo

I will give you my experience as a failed fosterer (ie, we ended up keeping the foster dog:o )

We got her from a rescue, she had originally been an abandonment case and then brought into kennels, she was in kennels for a few months and really stressed and anxious. We already have one dog (also a rescue) who has been with us about 4.5 years. So, we took her in and what I did was to fit her in with our routine from the start, as I wasn't working I already had a routine with resident dog of walking and feeding, I just fitted her in with that, the two dogs got on straight away, resident dog is very easy going and (ex) foster dog is very friendly and eager to please. I did crate her at nighttime for the first few weeks (and also if there was no humans in the house, just the dogs), she had a dodgy tummy for a while, lots of pooping and farting but after a few weeks everything settled, she pretty much fitted in with us, resident dog and our routine straight away, we were very lucky in that respect. We have had her over 9 months now and can't imagine being without her, that's the problem you see, with fosters, you have to part with them eventually, I would struggle with that and that's prob why we ended up keeping her! She is currently conked out on the sofa with the other dog

The thing is, as EGAR said, there are no strict rules, every dog is different just as every family and home is different and you have to allow for 'teething problems' to a certain extent, but if they are a good rescue they will know all this and will take the dog back straight away if there are any problems with your resident dog being stresed out, I would recommend it I think it's a great thing to do, I'm currently working on husband for us to take a foster as number 3, the deal being we definitely won't keep another one!!

Inexile

I have just reached my 25th foster a landmark moment for my gang and me.

I really enjoy fostering. I love the excitement of getting a new dog every couple of weeks, the satisfaction when they go off into new homes and the joy when you get some feedback and photos of them in their new homes.

Is it a walk in the park. No. I find the first few days the hardest. I tend to keep my foster crated a good bit for the first two days until I know that they and my other dogs are going to get along. Usually I have dogs post spay so the crate rest is good for them. The night times can be hard - some dogs dont settle immediately and I usually end up sleeping on the sofa for the first night or bringing them down to the bed room.

But some dogs just walk in like they have lived here all their lives. I would suggest trying it out and seeing what you think. We find that when our foster leaves our house feels empty even with our own 3 dogs to keep us company.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Sigma Force

If you want to give it a go have yourself set up first, make sure you have spare crates/spare dog run in the garden etc. Then perhaps start of easier with a puppy as time goes on then perhaps foster an older puppy and then perhaps an elderly dog and then try an adult dog you'll gain more confidence as time goes on.
Although there are so many adult dogs looking for foster places and I can understand where you might be encouraged to foster one if you feel you need to gain experience first than the suggestion above might work for you.

Ensure the rescue is supportive though and if you can cover the costs eg food etc that's great but if not they should be able to provide the food etc. or if they cover the vet care maybe you can cover the food.

Perhaps try short term fostering first where maybe a rescue needs someone to take on a dog for a couple of days and see how you go.

Some people find it easier than others, it can be emotional more than anything because you eventually have to part with them but it can be so worth it in the long term.

TooManyDogs

My house is normally the maternity ward or psych ward (though not psych ward since my daughter came along).
Out of 30 or more dogs through the house I've only had 1 failed foster and really that was hubby's fault, he fell in love!

I really enjoy the challange of the aggressive and the pleasure of watching puppies getting born and growing. It is a committment though, puppies need to be fed 3 times a day minimum and clearing up after a litter of 7 or 8 is no small job. So weekends away involve roping in someone as mad about dogs as you. You have a responsibility to socialise pups properly so although I have a puppy run with insulated heated bedroom area and run I bring them into the house for a number of hours every day so they can hear kids playing, washing machine, tv, see visitors and the other dogs. It's vital they experience this to be ready to leave their mother and not be hugely freaked out in a new house.

My poor husband used to come home from work to be told "Dont look at or talk to that dog, she bites", he never used to know who he'd come home to It does mean that having visitors to the house can sometimes be a bit hairy depending on the problems the dog has. If you have visitors who aren't comfortable with dogs then telling them to 'just ignore her' while a GSD barking like a lunatic at them can make you unpopular. I tried to discourage visitors who would set my current foster dog backwards by being a jack-in-a-box or jittery. When the dog is further down the road and comfortable then bring in different people.

My crates are my best friends. There's nothing like getting back from work/shops/night out to find your kitchen in bits, it shreds your good will and patience very quickly so foster dogs get crated when I'm not there until I trust them not to eat the house. Having said that I've still lost a back door, kitchen door, plants from my garden...... so you can't be too precious about your belongings or your house/garden, you'll just be pulling your hair out.

By way of expenses - the rescue pay for all food, medication, vet fees and gave me 2 crates. Things like ruined back doors are my own expense. Once I broke my arm and had a 4 day stay in hospital so the rescue took the mammy dog and pups and they went onto another fosterer so I know they have my back no matter.

It's wrenching saying goodbye to most of the foster dogs but knowing they're getting a forever home partly due to your rehabilitation work or were born in a safe place and socialised correctly to give them a good start in their life is HUGE. I cry, some fosters I think about all the time. Hubby brought me to Sweden to see one of my foster dogs as an anniversary pressie a couple of years ago and it made my year to see him but still I miss him and it's been 3 years. The mistake I made with my first litter was to carefully choose names for them, it meant I got too attached and it hurt to let them go. Now I pick silly or descriptive names for them and somehow it's a little easier. Some dogs though you'd put a stamp on their ass and stuff them in the post box to get rid of them

Overall I love to foster

Inexile

TooManyDogs wrote: »

Some dogs though you'd put a stamp on their ass and stuff them in the post box to get rid of them

Overall I love to foster

he he he

OP - make sure you get a crate. As others have said they are vital! I usually get bitches and I love the older ones - they are more settled and less bouncy then pups. However, I got a pup recently and seriously considered keeping him - thank god a lovely lady from Dingle swipped him away from me.

For your first time you should discuss with the rescue what you will need, get your guarantees that if it doesnt work they will take the dog back fast and also try and set a time limit.

Sometimes I take on 2 fosters but its only for a short time - up to two weeks - anything beyond that gets a bit stressful for me. So I have made it clear that I will take one foster at a time and 2 must not be the norm for me.

think about it and try it out - at least once.

trio

Thanks all for the responses - it was really helpful.

Crates are the way forward, eh? I'm not that familiar with one as our lad came to us a bit older and fairly settled.

It's good to know how much they help though - I'd definately ensure the rescue gave us one.

They have suggested that we start out with only two or three-weekers at the start. I'm also going to ask for small to medium sized dogs as we don't have an enormous house and our own one is very small.

But I do love the idea of it. It won't be until the spring cos of family committments so it's a bit premature to be asking - but I'm really looking forward to it now.

piperh

Most of the responses have been positive and while i'm sure thats normally the case i'd suggest you be very sure of the rescues role and what information they share with you about the dog. It should be as much as they know. My own experience a couple of months ago wasn't a good one.

We took in a little staffie boy with bad skin problems as we were happy to help and not at all phased by the state of him, Nor phased when he wrecked my car on the way home tearing chunks out of the leather or literally ripping the seatbelt out.

He loved me and dh however when my dogs entered the room it was all out war, he wasn't at all happy and even though we were there took a chunk before we could stop him. Again we thought ok it'd take time. Then the issue of teenagers reared its head, He ran the length of the kitchen to take a chunk out of my son and turned into a snarl machine everytime a teenage boy was near. Very difficult when i have 2 of them. Although they or the dogs were never left unsupervised.

I called the rescue for advice and was told " oh i'm not surprised he doesn't like teenage boys he was taken off teenage k******S who used to beat him while trying to train him to fight" :mad::mad: Poor boy it wasn't his fault but the rescue knew i had 2 teenage boys and 2 dogs so our home wasn't the ideal foster home for him. We kept him for a few more days but he was obviously unhappy and not settling down so we called again and they agreed to take him back. I called the rescue a few days later to see how he was and was told he'd been put to sleep as he didn't have much chance of being rehomed and i was absolutly gutted because in an adult only home he might have been fine as he adored me and the other half.

pH

I did a few fosters out of Ashton pound for a charity that mainly funnels the dogs off to the UK, so they were short(ish) fosters - my experience wasn't totally positive so I just thought I'd share.

Firstly, to be clear it was on balance a positive one - there's a great feeling helping these abandoned/unwanted/mistreated dogs which is hard to beat - we almost fell in love with every one of them and kept them, but we resisted. We have two very placid neutered male spaniels - there were no real issues with the fostered dogs and mine.

Problems for me were as follows:

Kennel cough - every dog we got had kennel cough - mine hadn't been vaccinated as I had no intention of holidaying without them, we copped on too late and got ours vaccinated but they still caught it - our initial foster consisted of 3 dogs hacking day and night for a week. Even after that - all other dogs arriving from the pound had it.

The "pound condition" of a dog can be quite poor - they smell - be prepared to wash a new dog thoroughly - it might also be wise to treat for fleas/ticks as well.

One of my main bugbears was lateness - I literally spent hours waiting for people to arrive to collect or deliver dogs and at the charity's appointed vets - yes I know everyone is a volunteer and doing their best but nearly every time I drove somewhere to deliver/pick-up a dog the person I was meeting was at least an hour late.

As dogs were arriving straight from the pound they normally needed 2 visits for vaccinations to a vet (both involved a bit of a drive for me) - and every time I was made to wait over 45 minutes at the vet - despite having an "appointment".

Communication with the charity was also quite haphazard - decisions made late and sprung on me. The charity paid for the vet visits (but only to their appointed vet in Naas which wasn't hugely convenient for me) but no mention was made about paying for food/leads/collars etc - all dogs arrived to me with out a collar or a lead. I'm not moaning about the money tbh - I always knew I'd be donating time and money.

In the end we had a small family emergency in between fostering dogs, which meant we couldn't take then next one - and by the time it was sorted - we never got back into it.