Choosing a Foster (and pack dynamics)

[Fodder]

I've got a few questions now that I'm exploring the idea of opening up my home to fostering...

First, How do you choose a dog to foster w/o interrupting the pack dynamics that are already in place at your house?

Two, Are there certain dogs (your personal dogs) that don't do well with having strange dogs coming in and out so often? Whether it be getting attached and having their "buddies" taken away, or being/feeling challenged by newcomers on such a regular basis...

and Last, Do those of you that foster give the foster dogs the same rights & privileges as your personal dogs (ie, letting them upstairs, sleep on the other dogs beds, eat together, etc)

I just don't want my dogs to feel intruded on... but at the same time - I want the foster to feel as welcome and comfortable as possible to help them blossom into great adoptable dogs.

Oh, one more, How do you deal with the issue of kennel cough (etc) and protecting the health of your own dogs? When I brought Tilden home he had a pretty severe case and I treated him (and Gia as a precaution) with a homeopathic method, but it'd be pretty expensive to give all the time to 3 dogs...

[mychance]

As with just about everything in rescue (probably with "dogs" in general for that matter), it depends . . . I'm not sure if you are considering fostering for a rescue group or a local shelter, but I am with a GSD group so I can only speak from that perspective.

1. I do a lot of our evaluations so I have my own dogs personalities and preferences in the back of my mind whenever I go out to look at a dog. I think about Roxy's advancing age, smaller size, and dominant nature. I know that Ward will enjoy a more playful and active dog, but can also be nurturing with a more fragile one.

With rare exceptions for emergencies, I have to avoid fostering puppies because our life isn't right for that. I also know that I need to think about our work schedules if it seems to be a highly active dog (i.e. winter and summer are less hectic for me so I can have more time with a dog). So far we've had almost 100% success, but I also know that SASRA will work with me if I read things wrong and it isn't a good fit.

2. Roxy is the less welcoming of our two, but she seems to have figured out that the fosters aren't staying and tolerates their visit. Ward loves having a new friend. While he was alive, Chance was my fostering superstar and adapted to everything, but I also noticed him missing his "buddies" more than the other two. It's harder on everyone when it's been a long foster period (I've had the 7-8 month gigs), but they seem to adjust.

3. The fosters are not invited onto our bed - our dogs are - but they have the same privileges otherwise. The NILIF house rules also apply to the fosters from their arrival. I also have gotten the crate out for fosters even if they seem to okay loose in the house. It just makes comings & going more manageable and if Ward and the foster have buddied-up they can be like a wrecking crew. Our dogs aren't allowed on the furniture, but they were when I was single. However, I still didn't let the fosters up because that might be something an adopter wouldn't want.

4. Our dogs get the bordatella vac, but there are so many strains of KC that it can still be a bit of the roll of the dice. I just try to keep them in overall good health, be extra observant for the first week or so and wash my hands well, wash all the bowls well, etc.

It isn't always fun, it isn't easy; I love fostering. Yes, you are doing a great thing for a dog that needs you, but the payback to yourself is amazing.

[ellen366]

i've been involved in rescue for about 30 yrs now, so i'm going to share my thoughts

1st, i don't think it's possible to bring a dog into a pack w/o some kind of disruption in the pack structure; i think how much disruption is related to how you are viewed in terms of whether or not you're the alpha (by your personal dogs as well as the foster); i am, so generally, i don't have too many problems BUT i do have issues at times that need to be worked through...ie a very dominant dog who wants to be top dog; i'm kinda lucky b/c my alpha dog respects me and he's a very "powerful" dog so there's not a lot of trouble now; it's almost like the other dogs just follow his behavior

2nd yes, dogs do have personalities and i've had dogs that have truly disliked one another, for whatever reason(s); they'll either avoid one another or fight; it takes some time to work this out but it can be done; yes i do think that they "mourn" the loss of their buddies whether b/c of death or being adopted out; but, dogs are resilient and this is part of life; they move on and make new friends

3rd, fosters are treated the same as my pets; same rules, same expectations, same privileges, same obedience, same food, same excercise etc

4th i try to quarantine a dog just out of a shelter, but it usually doesn't work, lol; i keep mine utd on vaccinations and if i know i'm getting one who's got KC, then i give bordatella to all of mine; i've had kennel cough affect all of my dogs and it's no fun

also, you can pick the more docile and submissive dogs to rescue if you wish; just eval them and you'll get an idea what they're like and will decrease your risk of major problems

dogs are pack animals and they will usually work out most of their issues on their own; i would caution you however to be cautious during feeding times; most of my rescues have been food aggressive b/c they were starved...this can lead to some nasty fights; at this point everyone is fed in crates and then they stay there for a couple of hours to restrict activity

rescue is worth every heartbreaking minute; the rewards are incredible; but, there are tears...it's inevitable; i just try to take it a day at a time and just go w/the flow

i hope this helps

[BowWowMeow]

i used to foster a lot. Basu loved it and was a wonderful foster brother and he himself grew from the experience. Chama, however, hated it. She is an insecure alpha dog (not at all a true alpha) and she found it very stressful every time a new dog entered our pack (even though I am a very strong leader).

When I was doing it a lot I was living with a partner and that helped a lot because it was possible to give her extra attention. She would actually become depressed every time a new foster came in. One compromise I made for her was not to take back to back fosters but to wait a couple of months between dogs. Finally I stopped fostering because it was too stressful for her.

i have fostered once since I stopped and she didn't like it even though she was the only dog at the time. So I've quit completely now out of respect for her and her health.

I did integrate fosters fully into my life. They took all of the same walks, slept in the bedroom (usually crated unless they were really good and then on the dog bed), etc. I also did daily, integrated training as I do with my dogs. They were expected to do everything my dogs did.

[pupresq]

What dog I chose to foster depends on a lot of different factors - how many other dogs I've got at the time, their compatibilities etc. And also just what dogs cross my path and pull at my heart. I have a pretty good sense at this point what general personalities mesh with my pups but there are always suprises, so it's always good to have a back up plan to separate dogs if necessary. But, in general, I can assume that Grace will tolerate most dogs as long as they aren't attacking her, and that Leo will enjoy the company of young dogs more than males his own age and size.

All of my dogs have definitely become MUCH more tolerant of strange dogs coming in and out as a result of fostering, so it has been very good for them in that sense. Their anxiety about new dogs has gone way down, not up, so I don't think the constant newcomers have been bad for them. You end up with certain dogs making friends and getting to be play buddies but when the foster dog is placed, I haven't ever seen any sign of depression or being sad that their buddy is gone. I think it would be different if I only had one personal dog and they went from having a friend to being alone though.

Our foster rights and privileges vary with the foster dog and what else we've got doing on. In general, our foster dogs sleep in crates downstairs while our personal dogs sleep in our bedroom upstairs. But that's not to say we don't have a foster dog who actually sleeps IN the bed at the moment and another that is currently sleeping loose downstairs. Some of the upstairs/downstairs thing these days has to do with our 17 year old cat, who mainly hangs out upstairs and wanting to make sure that any dogs up there are going to be safe with her.

Dogs that are housebroken are allowed more privileges than dogs that are not. Foster dogs often get walked more and have more outings than resident dogs, so they're on the winning end there. Things like furniture privileges are consistent by size - in our house, dogs under 30lbs are allowed on the furniture, dogs that are over that are not.

We try to quarantine all incoming dogs although with a large and active adult, that's not always possible for the full 14 days, so we do what others have mentioned - vaccinate everyone for KC and keep and eye on things. Knock on wood, but to date the worst thing my personal dogs have ever contracted from fosters were whip worms, and that is pretty easily treated. Puppies are a different story - I'm much more militant about quarantining puppies and would not feel comfortable bringing in new puppies if I had a resident puppy (personal or foster) already in the house.

Fostering is a lot of work and placing the dogs is usually both heartbreaking and incredibly wonderful. I've learned an enormous amount about dogs, just seeing all their myriad of personalities and watching them interact and the pictures you get back from your adopters showing your former fosters enjoying their wonderful new life are absolutely priceless.

Thank you for considering this! For most rescues, the number of animals they can save is directly related to the number of foster homes they have available. It's more important than money or pretty much any other single factor in their ability to save lives.

[BowWowMeow]

Sorry--I had to stop in the middle of my response.

I did want to say that the rescue I worked with was very good about allowing foster homes to stipulate the type of dogs they could foster and switching dogs around when there was a problem. They were also respectful when I said I couldn't take a dog. I think it's very important to have that kind of relationship with the rescue group because it's such an emotional business and it's very hard to say no when pressured.

Also, I discovered that puppies were easiest in my pack. Even though Chama didn't like them I didn't have to worry about them challenging her, it was easy to teach them not to chase Cleo and Basu was fantastic with puppies. So I ended up fostering more puppies and less adults for that reason.

Finally, I wanted to say that I loved fostering and will definitely do it again in the future.

[Fodder]

hi

i'd like to thank the four of you for taking the time and leaving me with so much information. even tho you guys dont run things exactly the same, its made it alot clearer to me how and if i can make this work. the only question i have in my mind now is which of my personal dogs to give preference to when trying to match a foster. i feel like tilden is at an impressional age - but i assume by gia "keeping everyone in line" it would also prevent another dog from trying to dominate tilden. the puppy route seems to be pretty safe, or males in between gia and tilden in age.

i forgot to mention as well that i did used to foster... but at the time i was much less knowledgeable about dogs minds work, gia was alot younger, and i'd just had her. it was a pretty freely run household (at one time having 2 gsd rescues and 2 lhasa rescues + gia, 2 cats and 2 birds) and i just think back now to how many angels were watching over my house because because things could have turned out very ugly but never did. i was 19 and i think the rescues took advantage of that... but my goal now is to establish much better relationships and boundaries and start over with a new rescue organization that i trust.

at the very least, since i live a mile from one of the larger shelters - i can offer my help in evaluating, temporary housing and transport for the dogs that come out of there...

thanks again for your help!!!

[Timber1]

So many good questions, and so much helpful feedback. I foster dogs but do not have the experience of most that replied. I do have a jealous male, and a seven year old female rescue I adopted.

My only thought, and someone might have answerwed is give the new dog a few weeks to adjust. I have pictures of my male, and the rescue, both with hair up and growling. A few weeks later they played great together.

If you decide to foster, you will learn so much about how the dogs are so different, and frankly how much they appreciate yiur help.

[Fodder]

hey guys... i just applied to foster this beautiful boy!!!
if they need me i wouldnt start until the 29th due to being out of town next week, but wish me luck!!!!!!

he's been at the shelter for at least 6 months. while in boarding he was attacked by another gsd which resulted in his nose and neck being ripped apart. his before photos were drop dead gorgeous, his after pictures heartbreaking - and this is him now... in recovery!

[moei]

w00t! w00t! w00t!

He is drop dead gorgeous!! a foster failure?