Hopefully some simple tips, hints, and a good boost to your ego will make you want to try out fostering.
First, the lowdown of the bad parts (cause if you keep reading after the bad parts, you’re at least committed to get through them)
First and foremost, the first 2-4 days of having a new foster in your home will sometimes be the worst 2-4 days you can imagine. Getting into a routine (whether you have other dogs or not) is difficult. It’s kind of like jetlag. Some people are not effected one bit –like my foster May the Chihuahua, who within 10 minutes had made herself quite at home. Or, you have your shy dog that takes awhile to warm up, or a dog you have to spend an hour with outside trying to grab a leash. You might have a stress case that whines for the first day non-stop. This and everything in between. Just know, this does end. It really does.
Plus, even the housetrained guys usually have an accident or two. But really, that’s the worst part of fostering. After the first week, you will hardly remember those really horrible first few days. They get into your routine, and they suddenly become a piece of your family. Some of them might chew, some might have the most horrible leash manners you think you’ve ever seen, and some of them might drive you just a little bit nutty, but as long as you’re willing to work with patience, and calm energy, you’ll be able to turn that behaviour around one step at a time –and when they go on to their forever home with all the good things you’ve shown and taught them under your belt, you feel like quite the proud paw-rent indeed.
The best part of fostering for TG (for me anyway) has been that they match you based on your household. Cats, kids, other dogs, size, age, energy level. Chances are, we have a foster that will fit you. And, as the foster, you have the first option to adopt your foster if you find you just can’t let them go. Even the best foster mums have fallen for their TG foster dogs, so don’t feel like a failure if instead of becoming a foster family, you end up keeping someone!
Some misconceptions of fostering:
1) I need a big yard/house to foster a dog.
NOPE!!!!! Lisa B, the main foster for TG lives in a one bedroom apartment. I myself rent a small two bedroom basement suite (I do however have a nice yard). We have no 1,000s of feet of floor space, no hoards of money, just time, patience, boundaries and a want to make dogs ready for adoption. Dogs are happy if they’re with you and they’re well exercised. They don’t care how much you make. They care about their connection to you. So apartments and townhouse foster homes are just as welcome as somebody living on an acreage (we’ll take you too of course!)
2) I need to have a lot of dog experience
Of course experience helps, but TG has dogs that will fit in with people who have never owned a dog in their life. We also have dogs that need more experienced homes, but if you’re committed to an hour or so of exercise a day, not leaving your foster for more than 3-4 hours at a time, and not phased by the occasional accident or shredded newspaper, you’re more than welcome to foster for us. Have questions while you’re fostering? Yvette, and other foster paw-rents are ready to help in anyway that we can. Also: experience is picked up along the way. We’ll start you off easy, get you just a little addicted, and soon you might just be helping some very shy dogs to become the best that they can be.
3) I have other dog(s), there’s no room!
As my good friend and foster mum Sarah says: “After three, what’s another one?” All joking aside, TG strives to make great matches for both adoptions and foster homes. Have an elderly dog that can’t handle a teenager or a puppy –that’s okay, there are many senior dogs that would love to hang out on a pillow for most of the day. Have a grumpy male dog who doesn’t really like other males –we have females that your male might just feel sexy about. TG takes into account that every home has specific criteria for who can come and who just isn’t the right match. We will not place a dog with you just to get a dog out of home base. We do what’s best for the dogs –and the people that help them.
4) I don’t have time
Time requirements for dogs is dependent on age, breed and energy level. From couch potato with occasional pee breaks, right up to marathon runner, we can find a match that fits your lifestyle. As long as your foster dog won’t be left unattended for more than 3-4 hours daily, you do, in fact, have time.
5) I don’t have money
Neither do I! My bank account is dangerously close to making me cry, however, all foster food is paid for (donated), leash and collar is provided, and if your foster dog gets adopted far away from you for some mysterious reason, we have the means of getting them without robbing your bank account (although if you’d like us to rob it, we will). You don’t need any money to foster for TG –these dogs just want some of your time. Stay at home mum –that’s okay. Bankrupt student living in a dingy apartment –you too can foster.
6) I could never give my foster dog up!
You say this until you realize your foster dog is going to LOVE their new home. I’ve had fosters with applications to live on their own private islands! Fosters that now live blocks from beaches, live in big, fancy houses, and are pampered like royalty. If anything, you might just want to be adopted. But, if you just can’t part ways, you’re more than welcome to adopt your foster dog too. From experience though, seeing them leave to their new happy homes is so rewarding that you want to do it again (even with those annoying first couple of days).
So yes, you too can foster. If you are interested in fostering for TG, and we’ve won you over, please contact Lisa B, foster coordinator @takeelashot@hotmail.com with a few simple details.
• Whether you have current cats/kids/dogs
• Your experience with dogs and what you ARE and AREN’T willing to deal with
• Any preferences as to sex, size, breed, temperament and energy level
• A quick breakdown of the day-to-day activities the foster would be involved with, IE: how much exercise can you give, and how long will they be left alone, etc.
With this information we can find suitable candidates to foster with you. You are welcome to ask about certain dogs, however, we will not place a foster in a home that we feel isn’t a good match. (I go by the motto that: “The one who knows best is the one that lives with them.” You are welcome to decide not to foster any of the dogs we suggest though.) It is totally up to you whether you want to foster any individual dog.
That’s it for now! And hopefully we’ve won a few of you over so that we can take a load of Yvette’s busy days, and help give dogs lifeskills, cushy pillows, and a peak into what their forever home is going to be like. What do you say -want to try fostering?
Just some of the faces that would love a foster home to call their own:
Teenager Coradan is an active 30-35 pound beagle mix who looks like a miniature lab. He likes to follow his people around and play with the other dogs.
Toosha George -a big german sheppard male.
Scotty was brought in for 'nervous nipping'. He's a softie who needs a gentle, but firm handler. (he is part husky after all!)
Poor overweight senior Isabelle needs a good pillow and a diet. She'd fit in most anywhere and would be very grateful to anyone willing to foster an older girl.
Becky is a 60 pound lab mix, and is a real sweetheart. Good with cats, kids and all other dogs. A real catch for any foster home or adoptive home.
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