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Health & Fitness

Is Fostering A Dog Right For You?

Have you ever considered fostering a dog or want to learn more about it? Read on.

I have always been a dog lover, but it was only a few years ago that I got involved in dog rescue and learned about the world of fostering. Fostering is the backbone of rescue. We can only save as many dogs as we have foster families available to welcome them into their homes. Our foster families provide a safe, loving, temporary home for a rescued dog until a permanent adoptive home can be found. As the dogs begins to realize they are safe and loved, they begin to trust and open up, and we can get a better sense of their personality, level of socialization and understand the type of home and family that will best suit them.

Everyone benefits in the foster process. The foster family gets a rewarding experience and is able to see real, tangible results from the time and love they invest. The foster dog gets a break from a stressful life in a shelter or some other bad circumstance, and starts to learn how to be part of a family. The new adopters get a dog that’s better socialized and adapted to home life, and receives first-hand insight and guidance from the foster family who has lived with and often rehabilitated their dog. 

Before I wrote this article, I spoke with some of Mutts Matter’s veteran foster moms to understand how they got involved in fostering and what it meant to them. 

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Debbie G. started fostering when she left her fulltime job and moved to Virginia back in 2005. She wanted to spend more time volunteering, loved dogs, had the time and space, and decided to try it. She found it immediately rewarding and, after fostering countless dogs, she still fondly remembers her first foster pup, Rambo, and all the families she has met over the years.

Debbie discovered that through fostering she not only made a difference in the life of a dog, but was amazed to learn the difference she made in people’s lives. She recounts being contacted by a 76-year-old woman who had just lost her husband suddenly to a brain tumor, and couldn’t bear the thought of being alone for the holidays. At the time, Debbie’s rescue did not have the right pup fit for the woman, but the very next day, a dog came into the rescue that was a great fit. Debbie promptly picked him up and delivered him to the woman with a big red bow, and she was overjoyed. Debbie made a difference.

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Rebecca K. and her husband decided to try fostering when they were considering getting a dog of their own. They wanted to make sure they were ready for the long-term commitment, and felt fostering was a really good thing to do and would help them prepare for what having a dog would be like. Five years later, their home has been a safe haven to many dogs of all breeds, sizes, and conditions. Even though they have dogs of their own now, they believe fostering is still an important thing to do, and always want to have room to welcome a dog in need.

I asked Rebecca what draws her to fostering. “I love it,” she said. “It’s so gratifying to know you’ve made this big of a difference, to watch them evolve in front or your eyes.” Rebecca has taken on some of our more severe neglect cases and is currently fostering two of our puppy mill rescues, Sammy and Spirit. “They come in so dejected, terrified, and beaten up, both physically and emotionally, and they truly blossom with just some love and TLC.”

Debbie and Rebecca are two great examples of the amazing foster moms who work with Mutts Matter Rescue and are the very essence of what we do.

A special Thank You to all the wonderful foster families who do such great work.

If you think you could be a foster family and would like to learn more, go to http://www.muttsmatterrescue.com/foster_faq.html, or contact Suzanne at suzanne@muttsmatterrescue.com

The dogs featured in this article’s photos are all in need of foster homes.

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