I think I want to foster a dog?!?!?

[maggs30]

What do I need to do and what do I need to have as far as references. I want to foster for a couple of months at first and see how it goes with three dogs, three cats, and two kids. Oh My I must be crazy. I am looking to get a puppy Dogue De Bordeaux in Feb 2009. So I want it kind of short term till Feb, and then I will see if I want to continue when my dear Ruby goes to the Bridge. She is not in the best of health now and that is another concern with fostering.
Help me out with some advice on what costs I would have, and what would be required of me. I really want to help at least 2 find homes between now and Feb with out any going to bad homes for Christmas gifts. *rolls eyes*.

Any help is appreciated. I know I have a GSD Rescue in my area.

[onyx'girl]

First start volunteering at your shelter(spca) or with a rescue. Usually when you foster, it is sponsored by the above, and the vetting is paid for thru them. Any monetary help would be appreciated, so if you can afford to support a foster, it would benefit the shelter, rescue. You may have to commit to doing the weekend adopt-a-thons to get your foster more notice. We are lucky in my town to have a local place(closed down restaurant)that lets the SPCA keep crates and all fosters can go there on Saturdays. Also shops support rescue every weekend. I know of a couple who have 5 of their own small and large breeds and foster another 7 or 8. They take in the ones who never get noticed. A tri-pod is being loved by them right now! Good luck and thanks for doing what you can for the ones who can't do for themselves

[maggs30]

Thanks for the information. I am close to the GSD Rescue of North Texas. They have been around for a while and I think they have their hands full at the moment with needing more foster homes.

http://www.ntxgsdrescue.org/ is their site. They have 14 GSD's right now and even a puppy. I still have to get my husband to agree to this! LOL! I work from home though so maybe he will let me.

[Emoore]

Hi, I'm a foster for Austin GSD rescue. All I did was fill out an application and submit to a home visit and interview and then started fostering!

Good luck. The best advice I can give you is to treat all your fosters like baby puppies-- crated when they can't be supervised and taken out frequently. I can't stress this enough. If I could be reimbursed for everything that fosters have destroyed because I left them out of their crates unsupervised "for just a few minutes. . ." I'd be a lot richer right now.

Absolutely don't be afraid to let the rescue know what kinds of dogs you are and aren't willing to take, especially with your Ruby being in poor health. It may be that they could let you foster a middle-aged or older dog. You wouldn't want to bring in a rambuncious 9-month old that would make her latter days uncomfortable.