I thought this would be an interesting topic for all of us to ponder given the recent seizure of dogs from Brightstar's founder, Ruth Urban.
I have been working with rescue off and on for the past 8 years. The work is very emotional and I've had to learn to accept that I can't personally save every dog. I can no longer foster because it is too hard on my two seniors so I've had to find other ways to help. I also consider 2 dogs my personal limit in terms of being to provide quality care (food, supplements, exercise, attention). Making and keeping these sorts of limits is something that is really hard for most people in rescue. There is a tremendous amount of pressure to foster and every day is a crisis--there really are dogs (and cats) euthanized every day who could be saved if there were enough foster and adoptive homes for them...but we can't save them all.
One thing I have noticed is that people often start out in rescue as a foster parent and the number of dogs in their household quickly balloons. Because of the crisis mentaility/reality people who may start with one personal dog and one foster often adopt more dogs and then continue to foster so within a year I've seen people go from one personal dog to three or four personal dogs and several fosters. In about half of these cases where the number of animals balloons quickly the people get burnt out and leave rescue, often on very bad terms.
I wonder what other people feel is a healthy number of personal dogs to foster ratio? And how are you able to balance all of the issues involved in fostering and continuing to provide a good quality of life for your personal animals and for your fosters? Do any of you feel you have taken on too many dogs and, if so, do you have advice for ways that rescues might minimize the stress/pressure on fosters? Should there be limits on the number of fosters in a home at any given time? If so, what should those be?
I realize this topic itself could get very heated so please be respectful towards your fellow rescuers.
I have been working with rescue off and on for the past 8 years. The work is very emotional and I've had to learn to accept that I can't personally save every dog. I can no longer foster because it is too hard on my two seniors so I've had to find other ways to help. I also consider 2 dogs my personal limit in terms of being to provide quality care (food, supplements, exercise, attention). Making and keeping these sorts of limits is something that is really hard for most people in rescue. There is a tremendous amount of pressure to foster and every day is a crisis--there really are dogs (and cats) euthanized every day who could be saved if there were enough foster and adoptive homes for them...but we can't save them all.
One thing I have noticed is that people often start out in rescue as a foster parent and the number of dogs in their household quickly balloons. Because of the crisis mentaility/reality people who may start with one personal dog and one foster often adopt more dogs and then continue to foster so within a year I've seen people go from one personal dog to three or four personal dogs and several fosters. In about half of these cases where the number of animals balloons quickly the people get burnt out and leave rescue, often on very bad terms.
I wonder what other people feel is a healthy number of personal dogs to foster ratio? And how are you able to balance all of the issues involved in fostering and continuing to provide a good quality of life for your personal animals and for your fosters? Do any of you feel you have taken on too many dogs and, if so, do you have advice for ways that rescues might minimize the stress/pressure on fosters? Should there be limits on the number of fosters in a home at any given time? If so, what should those be?
I realize this topic itself could get very heated so please be respectful towards your fellow rescuers.