is fostering for you?
Are you qualified? You pass the first criteria just by virtue of the fact that you care enough to be reading this.Some popular reasons people claim for not fostering:
- But I have kids - Great! More love for the love starved dear.
- I'm afraid I'd fall in love with them and keep them - and that's a valid reason to let them die?!?
- I have other pets - Fabulous, they can tell the new fuzzy how wonderful you are.
- I have a small yard - And I'll bet you also have 2 feet, 30 minutes and a leash. Don't have a leash? I'll give you one!
- I don't have enough time - these dogs are being killed when they run out of time, so don't tell me who doesn't have enough time!!!
I have personal communications with the caring folks that do rescue throughout Southern California and they are desperately seeking more foster homes so that they can save more lives.
If you are at all interested in fostering, please contact me and I'll put you in touch with that organization.
Open note about my own personal experience with fostering:
Yes - fostering is definitely difficult because, if an animal is in my home, it is loved as my own. And my own are very well loved. It was a natural and necessary progression for me. I had been doing a newsletter called Kim's Fuzzies, where I showcase adoptable dogs throughout Southern California, for several years. The main drawback I've seen from the various rescue agencies to saving more dogs is that there are never enough people willing to give fostering a try. As I would put pleas in my newsletter for more people to open their homes, I realized that it was sort of hypocritical to ask for people to foster when I wasn't doing it myself.I realized that my main reason for not fostering was that I was afraid I'd fall in love with them. I decided that the worst thing that would happen with my first foster was that I'd end up adopting him/her myself and never do it again. I have fostered 9 dogs so far. I have fallen madly and passionately in love with all of them. I have considered keeping each one and have been highly picky about the applications that have come in. The families I have chosen have each come down to the comment from me to myself "If I can't approve this family then I might as well concede that no family will be good enough". I have cried for several days after each has moved out. However, that couple of days of pain is fully worth the fun I have having them in my home and the fabulously selfish and proud feeling I get knowing that their lives are better (or that they have lives at all) because I did this. I am lucky enough to get updates from their new families and the dogs are doing amazingly!
My first foster was an emaciated (needed to gain 40 lbs) and terrified lab/greyhound mix who I named Spirit. He was a huge challenge and I learned so much about animal behavior. Including the fact that my own golden, who I thought was the most submissive dog on the planet, was in fact very picky about who she liked. I got 5 stitches in my hand breaking up a fight between them. However with 3 months of work and lots of love, I got Spirit to a point where he was adopted to a lovely family that I clicked with right away.
With Spirit, I loved him so much I actually considered finding my Borrego a home where she could be an only dog so that I could keep Spirit. I clicked out of that pretty quickly but I really really loved Spirit and would definitely have kept him if Borrego had liked him as much. He now has a doggie brother that absolutely dotes on him and a mom that was an animal psychology major in college and works from home.His family recently sent me an adorable picture of him laying on his back with the hugest grin on his face on his daddy's lap by their pool. That was so totally different than the scared dog I pulled from the back of the kennel who the shelter workers said was not adoptable and would probably be euthanized.My second foster was an adorable little 3 month old shiba inu shepherd mix named Hope who the rescue agency wanted to pull for heart surgery. I hadn't planned on fostering but that particular week my friend Brenda, who runs San Diego Rottie Rescue, had roped me into agreeing to foster three rottie pups who all happily got adopted before they reached my home. Since my other rescue contact knew that i had already agreed to foster these three even though I had told her I was taking a break from fostering,
she hit me up with the sad story that Hope wouldn't get her heart surgery if I didn't agree to foster her. Of course I agreed to foster. I knew that I had good experience for a medical foster. My lab died of brain cancer 3 years ago after a year of intensive seizures. My golden had both hips replaced at 11 months old (she's 2.5 now). I figured that, since I'm not really a little dog person, I wouldn't bond too closely with Hope so I'd get a month of puppy lovin' and move on. What I didn't count on was that my Borrego absolutely fell in love with her. They played and cuddled and spent every second together. When she was adopted out, my house felt so lonely and Borrego didn't eat for 3 days.
I took a month off of fostering then to regroup. When I hooked up with Underdog Rescue and offered to foster, I asked for a healthy puppy that would adopt out really quickly, letting them know that my last two fosters were pretty difficult and I needed to try not to bond with this next one too. After looking at the pictures of the puppies they needed fosters for, I immediately loved Hava's sweet face. I figured that she would absolutely go quickly. Theoretically she was being treated for a mild intestinal infection but would be ready to adopt within the week. Her sister had already been adopted out. The rest is the history. She actually had parvo and I learned a ton about the virus and bonded completely to her. I guess God had a bigger plan for my fostering.What I tell myself to make it easier is that I can't be so conceited to believe that I am the best possible mommy for every dog that comes along. That there are people at least as loving and spoiling as I am who deserve some of the love that I get to experience with these babies. I tell myself that, if I don't adopt the foster out, then I won't be able to foster again and some really deserving puppy might have to die in a shelter because of my selfishness. I hope that by the time I weaken, I can afford a bigger home with a bigger yard and then I can adopt one of them and still have room to foster one.
I guess the reason I'm rambling on is to say that, if you love animals, you might want to consider fostering at some point as a way to get your fix in little temporary shots. Fostering isn't just dogs and cats. Spirit's mom does wildlife rescue and specializes in hummingbirds. I'm considering adding a finch cage to my back yard in the next 6 months that I can't foster and then maybe I'll foster finches. You can foster snakes or whatever else your heart desires and know that it's only temporary. We've had a history of adding a new pet to our household about every 2-3 years. Fostering may help me keep our home from becoming a zoo with permanent additions.
-- Kim