Fostering Saves Lives
Fostering
Before I fostered my first dog, I told myself I would never do it because I would get too attached and end up keeping the dog, or I would be heartbroken when I had to let the dog go. While my reservations were justified in some ways, after fostering over 25 dogs, and keeping 5 of them, I’ll have to say that fostering is one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. Inarguably, fostering gave me my greatest treasures, Komu, Fozzie, Sky, Viktor, and Valentino. The dogs that went on to other homes, I certainly miss them, but mostly I’m happy that they have great lives and I was able to help them at a critical time in their lives.
I first learned of Komu when he was chained to a tree as a six-month-old puppy. His neck had scars because his collar was too tight. He couldn’t lift his head because his chain was wrapped around the base of a shrub. I bought him for $100 just to get him out of that horrible situation. Once you rescue a dog, then what? A foster home is a vital step on a dog’s path to a better life. Although I obviously fell in love with Komu at first sight, I didn’t want to take him home because I already had three dogs at the time. He went to a foster home where he was loved. After two months, Komu’s foster said he was becoming difficult to manage because of her schedule and because he was becoming increasingly athletic, able to jump up on counters and jump through windows. I took Komu in as a last resort, because I didn’t know anyone else who would. He was not a convenient puppy. He was cute and funny and happy, but also incredibly destructive. I had to keep him on a leash in the house to keep him from destroying things or hurting himself.
When Komu reached one year of age, I started training him to find lost cats. He really enjoyed the work, and he was good at it right away. Once he had a fulfilling job, most of his behavioral problems disappeared, almost overnight. In the past nine years, Komu and I have found at least 300 cats together, making families whole again, or at least, in some cases, providing closure to families who otherwise would have had to always wonder what happened to their lost cat. Komu, or Mu, as I usually call him, is a great working partner, but he is also my best friend. He is beautiful and funny, and really one of the best things in my life. He plays with Sky and Tino and Fozzie all day long, and he sleeps curled up right next to me every night. I have thousands of pictures of him. He is sleeping near me as I write this. If I had not fostered a dog when it was inconvenient, I would have missed out on something truly wonderful. If I had not taken Mu when no one else would, hundreds of cats might never have been found.
Not all foster dogs are challenging. Many of the dogs I’ve fostered were easier and better behaved than my own dogs. I remember Sidney, a beautiful yellow lab-golden retriever mix, who was so sweet and easy that I whispered to her that I was going to get rid of all my dogs and keep her. She ended up going to a great home, of course. Two of the dogs I kept, Sky and Viktor, are basically unadoptable because of the hard conditions they endured while they were wandering lost in cemeteries and alleys and ravines. They are great dogs, and I love them as much as the easy dogs, but they will always have challenges and need extra work. Fozzie, who I found in 2012 when he was running down the freeway, has always been pretty easy. Although I went to great lengths to try to reunite him with his family, I was happy when we couldn’t find them after two months of trying, and Fozzie officially became part of our pack.
Valentino. I hardly know what to say about Tino. He is a magnificent dog, and I just can’t imagine my life without him. He is almost always glued to me, and he is a great search dog. He has found dozens of lost dogs. If I had stuck with my original determination to not foster lost dogs, I never would have had the chance to have Tino in my life. Most likely he would have gone to a great home, but he would have missed out on all of our great adventures together. How different my life would have been. Everything that I think is wonderful about my life stems from my reluctant decision to go ahead and foster a dog when I really didn’t think it was right for me.
But the thing is, none of that matters. Whether my foster dogs that I kept ended up becoming my greatest treasures is irrelevant. What matters most is that dozens of dogs I fostered had a chance at a great life. There are millions of dogs that need homes, and the shelters can’t be the answer for all of them. Fostering saves lives. A foster home can give a dog a chance to relax, to know what it’s like to be loved again, or perhaps to be loved for the first time. When I first met Rufus, he was a terrified little creature. He hadn’t been groomed in a long time and you couldn’t see his face. During his time with us, we got him groomed and he learned to like playing around with our pack, especially Fozzie. He was so cute and friendly that people were competing to adopt him. I actually wish we would have kept him, and Fozzie also wishes we would have kept his little buddy, but Rufus went to a great home. If Rufus just went to a shelter and stayed there, perhaps he could have gone to a great home, but perhaps he would have been uneasy at the shelter, as dogs frequently are, and his great personality might not have shone. Fostering saves lives. It gives dogs a place where they can learn to be loved, where they can get ready to live their best lives. Fostering stray dogs has been rewarding for me in so many ways. Even if I had not been blessed with five great dogs because of fostering, five wonderful dogs that are the center of my existence, even if I had let all of them go to new homes, I would still say fostering was one of the best choices of my life.
Useless Bay Sanctuary has had many great fosters over the years. We are always looking for new fosters because, like me, many of our foster families end up adopting the dogs they fostered, and so that’s one less space available for the next dog in need. If you are approved to foster a dog, in most situations you would be approved to adopt the dog, if the owners aren’t found, although that’s not guaranteed. If the dog stays in the home where he was fostered, then that’s one less dramatic change in his life. Other than spaces being filled when fosters adopt, people’s situations change, and they may not be able to foster again even if they’ve done a great job in the past. UBS is different than most nonprofit rescues in that it’s hard for us to anticipate when we will need a foster home, or for how long. Most rescues, as far as I understand it, have a fairly predictable flow of dogs being pulled from overcrowded shelters and then being adopted fairly quickly. UBS dogs tend to need fosters for longer periods, sometimes because of medical needs, or because we may still be looking for an owner, or a dog who was a stray may have issues that require him to be matched with a particular type of adopter, able to address special needs. The way we usually find fosters is that someone sees a found dog on our facebook page, and they fall in love with the picture or the story, (as has happened to me many times) and they speak up that they would like to foster that dog. It would be helpful if we could establish a pool of potential fosters for just in case we rescue a dog and need a home quickly. Some fosters are short term, and some are longer. Even if you can’t keep a dog for a month or two or three, short term fosters are very valuable.
Fostering stray dogs is not for everyone, and if you have reservations, I certainly understand. If you do decide to give it a try, UBS will work with you at every step and make sure the dog is a good match for your situation. We have extensive information about fostering on our web page, and we are here to answer your questions the best we can. Our foster agreement spells out the responsibilities of the foster and of UBS, to make sure all parties have a clear understanding, and we can avoid any misunderstandings or unpleasant surprises. If you have fostered before and are available again, we definitely would like to hear from you. Fostering a UBS dog may be the best thing you ever did. I actually miss fostering. I’ve set a hard limit for myself, and I just can’t have any more dogs in the house. Still, I often wish we had kept that little dog, Rufus, the small white poodle, as a little buddy for Fozzie. He was no trouble at all, and we could have said we had 5.1 dogs, right? No, even though I would love to, I just can’t foster for the foreseeable future. So, I’m hoping you will be able to help us out, help a dog in need, and maybe find a wonderful companion and partner. Please email UselessBaySanctuary@gmail.com or call or text 206-552-0304, or go to our web page to learn more.
http://www.uselessbaysanctuary.org/