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The Foster Experience

Annie was abandoned behind an apartment building, left tied to gas piping with a rope. When I first spotted her, she looked like a little red fox, wildly barking at all of the disruptive urban bustle surrounding her. She was brave and pitiful at the same time. As I approached her she calmed and then licked my hand when I hesitantly held it out to her as if to say “I’ve been waiting for you.” Annie jumped into my car, sat still and upright in the passenger seat looking forward, never once looking back.

Annie gave birth to ten puppies two days later in my basement, surrounded by an audience of my own dogs and cats who sat quietly watching her. I fostered Annie and the pups until they were old enough to be adopted. When it came time for Annie to be adopted, I was filled with conflicting emotions. Hope for her, yet sadness at letting her go. My sadness quickly diminished as I heard the first few glowing reports from Annie’s new family. She was soon attending their daughter’s pajama parties, 4H club, baseball games and all of the stimulating activities a dog could want.

It occurred to me that without living in my home for the weeks that she did, it is likely that Annie would not have ended up with the wonderful family that adopted her. She came to me starving, understandably fearful, and a bit distant. In my home she received love and an assurance of safety that she had probably never experienced before the day we met. Annie’s short time with me and my dogs helped her bond easily with her new family.

Jake came into my life after Annie. He was a fearful German Shepard who had been given up by his family and was scheduled to be euthanized. Jake bonded with me instantly, sensing, as dogs so accurately do, that I was going to help him.

Something happens to dogs as they spend time homeless or in a shelter. It’s not just elevated stress levels from the uncertainty of their environment and the chaos of other pets surrounding them with similar anxiety. Their sad abandonment has an affect on their souls that is evident in their eyes, some filled with lonely acceptance, some with panic. This lack of belonging can lead to feelings of desperation and anxiety and it can prohibit many of them from bonding with a prospective adoptive family and portraying their true loving nature.

As pack animals, dogs need to belong. Not belong “to” but belong “with,” having a role within a family. After a long time without a permanent role, they can forget how to accept and act within one. The stability and love found in a foster home transforms many of them from wild, difficult-to-adopt pets that lack socialization and go through a revolving door of homes into the loving, well-adjusted pets who make an easy transition into their new homes. As a foster parent, not only can you provide them with a protective environment, but you can help to heal their hearts and to increase their chances of a permanent place within a family.

Statistics prove that a dog or cat’s chances of finding a permanent home increase by first being placed into a foster home. It helps calm them and in some cases heal them if they have a sickness or injury, and also helps prospective adoptive families get an accurate read on the true personality and nature of the fostered dog or cat.

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