He was the first foster that I have had to give up (only my second foster, I adopted the first one). I had only had him for a month but I am a mess! I handed him over to his forever family on Saturday. I know he will be looked after and they were carefully screened and, and, and....
When he came to me he was so scared and sad, it broke my heart. And then as he settled in he let his personality shine through. He was the perfect dog, wonderful manners, no trouble at all. He had bad separation anxiety so I took him with me wherever I went, when I could. By the time he was leaving me he was a different dog. He didn't know how to play wen he got here and my puppy showed him so that by the time he was leaving they were playing together really well.
He had obviously been mistreated at some point in the past because, to begin with, he would flinch if you went near him. He was Ok once he knew he could trust us but still wary of others.
I feel like I let him down. Like I was no different than all the other people in his life before me that treated him badly, and in the end I walked away from him as well. I would have kept him except the town bylaw where I live specifies no more than three dogs and I already have three of my own.
My husband thinks I was mad to think I could foster in the first place, not because I couldn't look after them but because I would have a hard time letting them go. I want to keep doing it because I believe it is such an important thing to do and I know that because he now has a permanent home it makes room for another dog to be saved. I KNOW all this! But I am still sobbing my little socks off.
Does it get better? People that have fostered for a while, how do you cope with this?
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The doghouse
Gave up my foster dog, I'm so sad :(
8 replies
TheseGoToEleven · 25/06/2012 15:47
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