Have you ever thought about fostering a pet in need?

Since rejoining the Glanbrook team, my own personal idea of it has been awakened. Dr. Heather works with a few rescues which allows the rest of the team to help get these guys on their way to a loving home. This is my experience of what it is like to foster.

My first foster was a lovely adult dog who was rescued from a high kill shelter in the US and brought to Canada. The first time I actually saw him was when he was brought in for his initial exam to the clinic. Like MOST of the rescue dogs that have such a long journey, he was terrified. This is a very important thing to know when considering opening your home to a rescue.

So, I asked myself some questions:

1. How do I think I can help this guy?
2. Can I afford to give him the help he needs?
3. Do I have time and patience to allow him to work though ALL the issues he is carrying?
4. I have other animals at home. Is this going to help or hinder his recovery? (Yes, rescue has a recovery process)
5. Am I going to be strong enough to let him go one day, to a forever home?

There are many other questions that you may want to ask yourself but these are a good start. After deciding yes to some, and maybe to others I decided being a temporary foster would be best, not only for me, but for the success of any rescue that would be under my care.

I had my first rescue for 1.5 weeks. During that time we slowly connected. My only goal was to make this guy feel safe. I wanted him to start trusting that not all people are bad. I set him up in his crate and even covered it up with a light sheet so he wasn't being overstimulated with everything else going on in my home. He felt safe in there. He ate, drank and slept in there. He came out willingly to use the washroom and went back in quietly for 3 days in a row. I didn't force him or ask him to do anything but always spoke quietly to him and offered my hand to sniff as I'd walk by his crate. After that 3 day mark I started noticing small changes.

I started to spend more time with him interacting outside. He had quite the goofy fun side just waiting to come out! Eventually he showed me that in fact yes, he does know how to be a real dog. He loved playing chase outside, fetch and sleeping as close as possible to me on the couch while watching tv. My heart melted every time he opened just a little bit more. These are just some of the examples I can give demonstrating how a little bit of time and consideration are required.

Then, it came time to "let him go". I like to call it, "move him forward in life". I thought I could do this! It went like so. The rescue I was temporarily fostering for contacted me to let me know they had found a suitable long term foster. They put me in contact with them. We chatted and set a pick up time, and went over any information I could share with them to help them adapt. I didn't want to let him go! To be completely honest, as soon as the new fosters pulled into my driveway I was a blubbering, crying mess. Good news! I wasn't the only one! To my surprise, they started crying too!!! In my opinion he hit the jackpot! There couldn't have been a better couple for him. My only hope was that they would completely fail at fostering and adopt him!! They did!

I am fortunate enough to still get updates from them, and I help them answer any questions they have. I'm grateful for this. They shared almost a similar experience with me when they told me the news of them adopting him. They had taken him to an adopt event held by the rescue to help all their rescues get exposure and adopted. It was then, they realized after 2 months that he could be gone one day. Just like me, they couldn't bare it and sent their adoption request in that day. Since then I have even been able to dog sit for them whenever they were away. This is a story with a very happy ending. But, fostering is an emotional rollercoaster. It is unexplainable. To fully understand you would need to do it. All I want to do is be a small step in helping those that can not help themselves on their way to a better life, even if it is not meant to be with me.

Since then I have fostered a few more dogs for the same rescue always on a temporary basis just so they would have a soft place to land. I am unable to do a long term foster as I do have other pets at home who seem to get a bit upset at every "new guy" that comes into my home.

My advice? If you can foster, please do! So many rescues don't have a facility to house the rescues at all and solely depend on fosters…..hopefully like you!