after fostering

Well all the websites about fostering say you would keep the foster any where from a few days to a few months. I want to foster but am having a difficult time convincing my parents, they keep saying we'll adopt another dog in a few years (my dog died a month ago) but they don't understand I don't want to adopt one I want to foster them. I'm going to college so I don't want to adopt a dog, which i will take complete care of and then leave in four years, where it would get no more training plus I don't want my parent to have to care for the dog because by that time they will just want to retire and move down the cape. That is why i want to foster. After asking my dad he brought up the point that I will cry every time that the dog has to be given back, but I said even if i do I know he is going to a good forever home. Then my dad said what if they did not find the dog a home, and I really don't know what happens to the fosters once they have been with the foster family for a few months and still have no permanent home. So what does happen? does the shelter keep them there for a few weeks to display at the facility or do they get put down? If they get PTS then my dad is right I would have trouble with that and we would end up with a lot of dogs. So does anyone know what happens to them?

As a foster you have to be willing to keep a dog years until it finds a home.

My last foster was with me for 4 months and he actually was with me for a shorter amount of time that I had though (I had planned on 6 months).

You would probably foster for a rescue group, which is different then a shelter. Rescue groups save dogs from shelters then find them homes. Rescue groups never euthanize dogs unless they are aggressive or sick.

Once a dog is with a rescue it rarely ever (except in certain crazy circumstances) goes back to the shelter.

But if you want to be a foster you have to be prepared to keep the dog until it finds a home weither that be 2 days, 2 months or 2 years.

Generally it doesnt take that long to find a dog a home.

The foster I mentioned above that I had for 4 months was a pit bull, and they are by far the hardest to place. Once you have been fostering for a while you can sort of figure out how long it will take you to place a dog. Sometimes it takes longer than you think and sometimes shorter than you think but you HAVE to be prepared to keep the dog no matter how long it takes.

You can't just say "I have had this dog for 2 weeks and I am tired of it, so you have to find somewhere else for him/her to go" because foster homes are rare and hard to come by. Rescues rarely have a foster home that isnt "full".

Smaller dogs tend to get adopted quicker but of course because of that reason, big dogs are the ones most in need. Dogs get adopted quicker as well if the rescues do adoption events at places like Pet Smart/Pet Co. You would want to talk to the rescue before you commit to fostering and make sure everyone in your family is okay with it.

Good luck

I don't think that foster dogs would be pts.....they usually are friendly and healthy and just need the right home . It's the seniors that are hard to place.

no, I would never get rid of the dog because I was tired of him. It's just all the sites say "you could foster any where from a few days to a few months" so I always wondered if they took the dog away or you kept him until he found a home, even if it took years. if we fostered we would foster large dogs (over 45 pounds) and not puppies most likely. if I were to foster i would foster for this place www.saveadog.org

You keep the dog until it finds a home even if it is years. (Which I dont think would ever happen).

Good luck and I hope you decide to foster, it is very rewarding.

What they mean by "you could foster any where from a few days to a few months" is that some dogs take a lot less time to adopt out. Puppies of course are very adoptable, and small breed dogs are as well. (or at least around here). But I see you are from MA and from what I have heard it takes people in MA a lot less time to find homes for their fosters. Here in the south, it is pretty bad..

Thanks, now I am 100% sure I want to I even had a dream about it last night I fostered a dog (who looked a lot like my past dog) named Cody. I wish my parents would allow me to foster, seriously they would have to do nothing except drive us to the vet visits and the meet and greets, which in one year I'll be able to do anyways. I am prepared to bathe, feed, train, walk, take to the bathroom, potty train if need be (though I'd prefer a housebroken dog since mt dad would in that case take the pup out when he comes home for his lunch break), play with, socialize and take every where, I'll bring him to meet and greets, I'll groom him and keep in contact with the rescue, I'll do everything that needs to be done. I sound angry, but it's more desperate, If we don't foster i will go 8-10 years without interacting with a dog over 20 pounds (I'm a big dog person, and the only dog in the family is my uncle's shih-tzu) and that is only because I will get my own at that point. to me living with out a dog has been unbearable, and fostering would bring back so much joy, I wish my parents felt the same way.