Why Do We Foster Animals?

Last night I was looking through the photos on my laptop and through all the years, two subjects shouted out to me — my travels and my foster babies! I love to travel and learn new destinations and cultures. But at home? Fur babies are my constant heart.

I went to bed and dreamt of holding puppies and readying them for the performance of their lives. In my sleep, they were going on stage. I know this was speaking to the real-life preparation we do as animal fosters to ready our temporary pups for life in a home, as a pet, as a family member.

We began fostering in March 2016 and had at least 20 pups go through our home until we put an end to our foster service in November. That’s when I brought home a foster I could not get over.

Our foster ordination at the time would bring dogs from multiple kill shelters and put out Facebook posts about who was coming in and lined up fosters to meet them at a local parking lot to take them home. I agreed to take what I thought was a tiny puppy. He was mostly black with a white lambda emblazoned on his chest and a few white spots on his feet. His ears and tail were white and crusty. (I found out later that this was from malnutrition.) He was found in a dumpster and had gone without food for an extended period of time. His body parts were starting to die.

When I got to the pick up point, he was in a small kennel next to two tiny, fluffy little brown pups. Our chosen foster was not so tiny. He was more like 20 pounds than the five or ten-pounder we expected. I’m not proud to say that I thought, “Why can’t I have the tiny ones?”

Then, all it took was a look from our chosen one —- The whites of his eyes looking up at me created a complete change of heart. I didn’t know it at the time, but this was the beginning of me falling in love with a desperate boy.

Tucker (as we eventually named him after a brief run as Bodie) clung to me when I picked him up. I had to put him back in his kennel in my front seat because this boy needed a bath and had a bad case of worms.

Once I got him home and bathed he clung to me more. I’m talking about both paws around my neck and head to chest. Complete trust and affection and probably a whole lot of gratitude.

We could not let him go. I knew for certain that he was our forever foster. We were not looking for another pup. But Tucker was looking for us.

Tucker is a lab/dane mix, we believe. (One day we will do the DNA.) He is now about 75 to 80 pounds and one big, goofy, neurotic, lovey boy. We wouldn’t trade him for anything. Once our Gracie (seven-year-old golden/huskey mix) accepted him (for goodness sake she let him in her bed — no one is ever allowed in there) he was definitely ours forever.

We had to train Tucker before fostering again so we helped a new rescue by transporting pups to and from spay/neuter appointments and helping with administration. That rescue ultimately closed and all their pups went to 4Paws Animal Rescue at http://www.4pawz.org

What a wonderful group of people! More like family than your typical nonprofit. They provide everything and do almost all of the transportation. They even came to our home to see if we should be approved as a foster. I really appreciated that touch.

We completely renovated our kitchen/sitting room and are finishing up the attached laundry room — all with foster pups in mind. We began fostering again a few months ago and have had two sibling pups and a ten-month-old blonde Shepherd mix, Belle, that stole our hearts. We had to send her on to a forever family that is absolutely perfect and in love with her.

Almost every time I tell someone we rescue dogs I get the same question — “I could never do that.”  I had the same doubt when we started in 2016, but I felt responsible to try. We have always adopted rescues and our Tiffany, Clio, Grace, June, Cici and a long-term foster, Tabitha, have all been the most wonderful companions and family members.

The first two times I handed a pup to its new forever home, I cried along with the new parents. It was, admittedly, partly because I would miss them, but the overwhelming emotion was devastating joy. It felt so good to see the love, the tears and the joy of the adopting family. Our hearts were joined for that moment of transfer and there are few things in my life that have felt so good, so pure and so right.

So why do we foster? It’s to give back to the world of rescue that has enriched our lives with so much joy, devotion, affection, comedic doggie times and companionship. What comes around goes around — and in this case, giving back is almost as much of a joy as we received in the taking.