Fostering a rescue dog: a practical guide

Fostering means taking a dog into your home until they're adopted. The dog belongs to the rescue, the rescue pays for their care, and you provide the home, the walks and the company. It's temporary, but it isn't casual. A dog's recovery and their chances of being adopted depend on the placement going well. If you're reading a guide before you apply, that's a very good sign.

Where foster dogs come from

Most of ours come from Southern California shelters, where a dog with a medical issue or a long stay is at serious risk of being euthanized for space. Others come off the street or out of hoarding situations. A rescue like ours pulls the dog, gets them vetted, and places them in a foster home to decompress and show who they are. Shelters are loud and frightening places, and a dog who seems shut down in a kennel is often a completely different animal after a week on someone's couch.

Deciding what you can take

Think honestly about your day-to-day life before you start looking at photos. Someone in a studio apartment who works away from home most of the day shouldn't take on a ten-month-old, sixty-pound husky who needs hours of exercise and plenty to think about. That same person would be a wonderful match for a seven-year-old, fifteen-pound chihuahua mix who mostly wants a warm spot on the couch. The husky belongs with an active household that hikes on weekends and has someone home most of the day.

Think about:

• How many hours the dog would be alone, and whether you can come home midday early on.
• Your own animals, and how they have reacted to visiting dogs.
• Stairs, fence height, whether you rent and what your lease says.
• Your experience with big, strong or fearful dogs.
• Trips already on the calendar.

Share that picture with the rescue and let them find the right match. A good foster coordinator would much rather place an easier dog with you first than lose you after a difficult one.

What a reputable rescue provides

The dog legally belongs to the rescue, and the rescue is responsible for veterinary care, food, supplies and everything else the dog needs. Confirm this in writing before you take a dog from any organization. Let's Rescue Dogs provides a crate, a bed, food, flea and tick prevention, medication and every vet visit, along with treats and toys. If a rescue expects you to pay for the dog's care, that's a warning sign.

The first days

Expect the dog to be overwhelmed at first. Keep the first few days quiet, with no visitors, no dog park and no big introductions. Set up the crate somewhere calm and let the dog choose to use it. Feed on a schedule. Keep the dog on a leash at all times, even in a fenced yard at first, because a scared dog can clear a fence you'd swear was too high. Expect a few accidents and a lot of sleeping. By the second or third week most dogs have settled into a routine and their personality starts to show. By the third month they usually act like they've always lived there, and that's often when they get adopted.

Your part in the adoption

The rescue handles the applications and screening. Your part is taking photos of the dog being themselves and writing a few plain sentences about what they're like to live with. Adopters trust a foster's account far more than any listing. Meet-and-greets usually happen near your home, at a park, with you there to answer questions. Then the dog goes home with their new family for a trial week, and a few days later you get a text with a photo of them on a different couch.

How fostering works with us, and the application.