Dog fostering?

[Heaveniswaiting]

We’re just at the thinking about it stage, I’d welcome any experiences or advice.
There’s so many rescue centres wanting foster families.

We did it for a while for a rescue centre called Many Tears in Wales. It was extremely rewarding and we had some lovely dogs stay with us. We had one lovely girl that stayed with us for about 3 months and we were considering keeping and at the last minute she had an application - it was a truly wonderful Home though.

The negatives that we found were - our daughter got quite attached to the longer stayer and she really cried when she went off to her new home.

We had an incident of kennel cough and our dog even though vaccinated contracted it too and it wasn't nice.

We had one pup that only stayed two weeks but he didn't have a solid poo the whole time and the carpets took a hammering from untoilet trained puppy pooing everywhere 🙄

We had one nasty one - she was fine in the kennels, shared happily with lots of other dogs but as soon as she was in our house she guarded everything and went for our dog any time she walked past. She guarded the toys, the water bowl, the beds, the stairs, the people. I was worried about my daughter getting caught up in a fight so had to return her. Nobody could help have her as she was temperamental and most fosterers had other dogs. I therefore had to drive her back over to the centre in Wales, nearly 4 hours each way.

But it was a wonderfully rewarding experience 👍

We've been fostering for a few months. We decided to do it because we love dogs and finally bought our own house but also didn't want to be tied down to having a dog all the time. So, fostering allows us to take on dogs when we have the time to do so, but also means that we can go on holiday without faff/be away with work/decide that we want a few weeks of lie ins etc.

We don't have another dog so we don't have any of the issues vila outlines above but if you do then you need to be aware of them.

We've had dogs for varying lengths of time from 24 hours to 5 weeks, and yes the longer they're with you, the harder it is to let them go, but it's so rewarding to see them blossom with you and to know that they're going to a properly vetted forever home. It's also lovely to get to know a variety of dogs (I am now a huge staff lover, having never known one before) and to deal with their individual quirks and personalities.

I'd definitely recommend it to anyone but make sure you work with a good rescue which gives you decent information on the dog and their processes. This will make all the difference.

Hello, I have been fostering puppies for Many Tears for over 4 years now. I have fostered about 200 puppies during that time. I foster puppies because I have 3 children so I just prefer to foster puppies but when my girls get a bit older (into their teens) I will foster older dogs also. Puppies do get adopted rather quickly so the longest I have ever had a pup was probably 2 weeks. My girls are so used to it now that although they love the puppies they do not become attached. My pups have not had their second set of jabs so cannot go for walkies so I have a large supply of newspaper and they toilet in my kitchen on the newspaper and I clean and bleach it immediately. The puppies cannot go anywhere else in my house because they are not toilet trained. I have only had a small number that developed kennel cough but it didn't transfer to my resident dogs - they have probably become immune over the past few years?! I absolutely love fostering, I love experiencing the different characters of the different breeds/crossbreeds of puppies and I do love knowing that I am doing something 'good'. I also love the fact that my daughters are growing up with animals. Any questions please ask away, xxx

I foster for EGLR - normally under 1's as I have cats and a DS. It can be really hard work (pups who have just gone had me up twice a night as they were so young), but it is really rewarding when you see them go home.
You do have to be flexible - two of our fosters so far have only settled at night in our bed, and be prepared for a lot of clearing up!
I can stairgate my dining room off so the fosters can be confined to there and have their crate in there without being detached from the family which is brill as they have direct access to the garden and I can work next to them. I have hard floors which make life a lot easier!
EGLR support me a lot as a fosterer - all food, bedding, puppy pads, leads, coats etc are all supplied, and I can always ring for advice.
The fosterers are part of our family while they are here, but it can be a tie (even in addition to our own dogs) as they may have separation anxiety etc
But I really enjoy it, and they are flexible about when we can and can't have dogs due to work and life.