Things you may not know about fostering a dog

Today I will be explaining what fostering a dog is. I will also let you know things you may or may not know about fostering a dog.

Fostering a dog is when you take care of a dog for some time while they are waiting for their forever home. Fostering a dog is an enormous responsibility. When fostering a dog, they will need a safe, clean, and caring environment. Foster animals require this type of environment so they can heal, start fresh and rest. 

To start fostering dogs, you can contact your local animal shelter and see if they have a foster dog program. Each rescue is different, so some rescues may not let people foster dogs out of their facility. While some rescues are foster dog based, which means they don't have a physical shelter facility and all their dogs live in a foster home. 

In 2012 my family started fostering dogs, and we discovered how fulfilling it could be. We have fostered over 16 foster dogs over the years. My favorite thing about fostering dogs is their reaction when they find out they are getting a forever home. Most people wonder if it is sad or hard to watch foster dogs leave the house, and yes, sometimes it is. However, you get the most rewarding feeling when you see how happy that dog is in their new home. Then, when they get adopted, you have room in your home to help another one. 

When you foster a dog, you impact the dog's life in many ways. You help your foster dog see things they have never seen before. Some dogs have never walked upstairs and may have never been in a house. There are many things for your foster dog to get used to, but you can help them while they are waiting for their forever home. Fostering dogs is hard work, but It is fun to do. You make the dog feel like they belong, get them ready to go to a new home & teach them new things.

Foster dogs are scared and confused for the first few days. After that, they will need plenty of time to settle in. In the first two weeks or longer, they should be on a leash inside your house. To make sure they don't get into something they are not supposed to or to help prevent things like if you have another dog, it could avoid any issues between them.

It's impossible to predict how long a dog will be in your home. For example, we have fostered dogs in the past, and it took only a few weeks for them. Then some dogs take a while to get adopted. We had one foster dog for almost a year.

One of the main misconceptions about fostering dogs is that you cant adopt your foster dog. It's simply not true. I found my dog through foster dogs, and there are many #fosterfails in the dog community. So yes, you can adopt your foster dog if you want to adopt the dog and foster it to test out how they act around other animals, etc. Then you must make sure you let the rescue know upfront that you are interested in adopting; however, you want to see how they would fit in your home first. 

I hope this helped you understand why fostering dogs is important and let you know more information about fostering dogs.