Please hold my hand - fostering dogs

[momnipotent]

In about 2 hours I am leaving to pick up our foster dog! I'm so anxious I feel sick. I applied to be a foster family for a rescue that specializes in large breeds - we already have two large dogs (lab/husky/chow cross and a bouvier/collie cross). I also have 4 children.

I truly believe in the value of rescue dogs, and in fact our bouvier x was a rescue so that's not the problem. I don't even really know what the problem is tbh. We are getting a 4 month old Newfoundland cross puppy, I don't know how long she will be with us. I know part of it is that I didn't expect to get a puppy first off! Our other dogs are 9 and 10, it's been many years since we had a puppy. During the day when the kids are at school, I work from home with the dogs at my feet and it is all so peaceful. I take the dogs to the dog park, but I don't have to worry about having them on a lead to go to the car or anything because I know they won't run off.

I'm worried that my whole way of life has just changed. Which it will do! But not necessarily for a long time, or even in a bad way. Stupid thing is, if I saw this dog lost and running along the side of the road, I'd pick her up and bring her home without a second thought. I've had two weeks to work myself up about it and now I feel stressed.

I'm sure it will be fine once I see her and get her home (3 hour drive there and back - source of more stress).

You know that feeling when you're bringing a second or third baby home, that it is a much-wanted addition but you're worried about the changes to the status quo and the effect on the people already in the home? That's exactly how I feel.

Please hold my hand.

hand holder here :)

our first foster dog left yesterday and we're feeling a bit lost today! she'd been with us for nearly four months, so we'd really got used to having her here. We've got four children too, two cats but no dogs of our own.

Having a foster dog was a little odd at first. Dogs that aren't yours are different to walk at first. They don't know you, you don't know them, neither of us exactly knew what the other expected! it soon sorted itself out :)

I tried to keep to a fairly strict routine at first. Walks fitted around school runs at the same time and in the same place. I think it helped her feel a bit more secure as she knew more or less what was going on.

Having said that though, mine was a much older dog and we didn't have another dog in the house. Hopefully your puppy will settle a bit faster and learn from your older dogs :)

You know we'll need pictures later right?! good luck :)

I will post pictures later for sure!

How did the big handover go yesterday? I know that once I get her home, that will be my next big worry! Ugh, far too emotional for my own good. I know when she goes she'll be going somewhere that really wants her and have been screened really well so is a good fit for her. And I know she isn't ours from the start so that helps too.

Yes, that's exactly how I was thinking of it too - that we're strangers and she doesn't know what's expected and I don't know what to expect. My other two know that if we go to the dog park and I tell them it's time to go home, they will walk with me to the car. I bet she won't! I don't even know if she's house-trained, a chewer, crate-trained, etc. I don't even know if she knows her own name! She was rescued from a high kill shelter in North Carolina, I don't know how long she'd been there, how she was treated before she got there.... I need to stop thinking about it!

There's a long backstory on here somewhere that I won't bore you with, but the foster started under slightly unusual circumstances and the rescue were a fair distance from home. They'd had a couple of families interested but as they couldn't meet the dog, nothing had got sorted out. In the end it seemed best for us to take her to the rescue so that they could get the final rehoming bit sorted. So she went there yesterday and will be meeting her new potential family (and their dogs) today :)

We knew from the beginning that she wasn't ours to keep (although I know the rescue thought we'd change our minds!). I wasn't upset yesterday, but our youngest is only and he cried buckets after we dropped her off :( he's ok today, but does keep asking when we'll get our next dog (which isn't happening as situation has changed here and it's just not possible right now). His sisters were bit sad, but more accepting of the situation. We've had lots of chats about how she's getting a new family who can spend more time with her and how she;ll be getting lots of new doggy friends to play with :)

All that worry for nothing, of course. She was fabulous in the car, curled up between my two boys and slept the 3 hours plus home. Loves our other two dogs - it isn't totally mutual, I don't think the other two understand what's happening and they are being very needy affection-wise, that's fine. She's a chewer so we have to watch her. She didn't have a name so we've called her Leia. There should be a photo available if I've done it right! Very difficult to get a good picture since she's mostly black. :)

awww she looks like a big furry bundle of fun! :) hope your first night goes well and that your boys get the hang of having a new dog soon