I applied to foster animals...experiences?? (Good, bad, ugly and beautiful!)

[Cascadian]

Hi all! I'm so excited I grew up with animals - dogs, cats, birds, turtles..the odd chick DH did as well. We haven't had a pet in decades since we left home, got married, had kids.

Our kids are almost 5 and almost 7 and we just applied to foster animals with the local SPCA as a step towards knowing if we can commit to animals at this time. The animals don't sleep at the shelters but in homes overnight, and they're mostly dogs.

Any experience? Words of wisdom and advice? Stories? I have no idea what to expect!

[KayTeeJay]

Hi and welcome to the wonderful world of fostering! My husband and I have been fostering for about 6 years now and have helped over 100 dogs get to their forever homes. We stumbled on a fantastic group to work with, and have learned so much. We are a breed-specific rescue group (beagles), but I have lots of friends in the rescue community that foster for all-breed rescues as well. At some point you will think you must have been crazy for volunteering to do this, but it really does make such a difference.

Something that I think is very important is to make sure the group you are fostering with lines up with your beliefs and values, although if you are new to the fostering/rescue/adoption world you might not even know what those are yet. For me, this would include things like a thorough screening process (we do a phone interview, vet check and home visit), spay/neuter before adoption (even puppies), inside dogs only, microchipping, etc...

As for experiences....wow. Ours run the gamut from joyful to heartbreaking. We've done everything from whelping litters to hospice care, special needs, heartworm positive and various other medical issues. One of my most memorable is a little beagle girl who had blastomycosis (similar to histoplasmosis in people) whose owners moved and left her to die in a pen outside with no food or water. The inside of her mouth was caked with straw when she was found, because she had nothing else in her pen to try to eat. She was skin and bones, it was horrifying and so, so sad. She was at the U of I hospital for four days in the ICU and took about six months to fully rehab. Eventually she was adopted by a fantastic family and is living the good life now.

Of course, most are not that dramatic. Most of them have just been in need of a little love, TLC, and soap. Some I would even say I was....more than ready to have them move on to their forever homes. The thing about fostering is that not every dog is right for every family, and certainly every dog won't be right for *your* family, so your job is to figure out where he/she will fit best and help that dog find a permanent home. Obviously biting is non-negotiable since you have kids, but definitely expect things like potty-training issues and general bad manners like jumping or nipping. I really like the site ddfl.org for advice on things like that!

Okay, this turned into WAY longer of a post than I had intended, so sorry for that. Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions...sometimes this board makes me crazy so I don't hang out here much, just jumped on from the New Posts link.

[RiverSky]

I spent a couple of years fostering newborn orphaned kittens and just loved it. It's a lot of work to bottle-feed and potty them every two hours, then as they get older to keep their litter clean, clean the kittens (since they don't have a mother cat to do so) etc., but it's so rewarding and sweet. I think it was an amazing experience for our family and especially our children. Just amazing.

Your experiences will be different than mine, seeing as you are fostering dogs, and it doesn't sound like you will be taking care of bottlefed newborns, but I'm sure it will also be amazingly rewarding and a fantastic experience for your children.

Additionally, it will teach your children valuable lessons about how important it is that people volunteer to help society out. Yay!

[Oubliette8]

One thing I'd recommend is doing some reading on pet care. Ideas about training and feeding particularly have changed dramatically over the past decade or so. Positive training is now very common, and the quality of food fed is higher and there are now numerous options as to how you feed even. Food for foster dogs you might not have that much say over, but it will be good to know, particularly if any of them have issues. Training will be important to know. You should know what sort of training is supported by the organization you are with. If they concentrate on positive reinforcement, and you introduce a force-based method for instance, that might not go over so well. Many foster dogs do have some issues that require training. Generally nothing huge, but training makes them adoptable and easier to live with. I'd look look into different approaches for house training, and basic obedience, as well as common problem behaviors like jumping up.

[Cascadian]

Thank you thank you!

I'm fostering with the local SPCA, rather than a private organization. The way that I read it - I stand to be corrected - we're basically evening-homes for the animals, and return them during the day to be potentially fostered out. I'm not sure how much training, etc. will be involved, but I'm ignorant of that right now. Just before I left on vacation, I had a call to set up the home visit. I also have to take a seminar by the organization

Any ideas about the home visit, and what they're looking for? Thanks!

[Oubliette8]

I would assume there will be some everyday type training, for instance, if their leash manners are bad, you'll need to know how to work on that when you take them for walks, if they steal food or beg during meals, you'll need to address that, and if they jump up on your guests, you'll need to handle that. I would assume that they will address some of that during the seminar, but I'd do a little reading too. For instance, kneeing a dog in the chest when he jumps is not considered ok by people who use positive reinforcement, but used to be a very common suggestion. If you're lucky, they'll have an on staff trainer who will direct you on each individual dogs issues, but it would be good to have some knowledge base because sometimes these issues don't come up until they are in your home, and some of them are just very common management type stuff.

For the home visit, I imagine they'll be looking for signs your home is safe for pets. Is your house clean? Do you have a fenced yard? If not, how do you plan to deal with exercise/potty breaks? Do you have breakables or potential hazards where an animal could get them? Do you have a crate or area where the animal could be confined? Do you live in an apartment/need landlords permission? Is your house more suited to a certain type of pet (ie small dogs, caged pets etc) Are there toys all over? How will the animal be supervised around the kids? Do you have realistic expectations etc. I would assume some things might be red flags, like, if you say you plan to use a rolled up newspaper, and you'll just let the dog lose in the neighborhood unsupervised to do his business- yes, people say these things. Other things they would probably offer suggestions- like, I see you keep the laundry in a pile in the hallway, some dogs are prone to chewing and eating laundry, it might be better if you do XYZ. I would try to have your home animal proofed for the type of pets you want to foster before the home visit, and then they can help you think through whatever sorts of things you might have missed.

[Cascadian]

Thank you Oubliette8 - that helps! I called, and my appointment at my house is on Monday...eek... What room do animals usually sleep in, in their crates, anyway?