Taking the plunge into fostering!

I had heard from a fellow dog park member that our local humane society is desparate for foster homes so I decided to take the plunge and fill out and turn in an application today to foster a small/medium sized dog. Within the hour they called me and had a few different choices for me in the small dog category.
I ended up picking a small terrier like mutt 7mo. (at least this is how they describe him) who needs to have his final rounds of shots before he is eligible for adoption. I am picking him up tomorrow and will have him for just shy of 3 weeks--can't believe it's happening so fast. Here's to hoping he's not a brat LOL!

Ooooh! Good luck!! I would love to foster, I'm jealous. =3

I hope it all goes well, what a brilliant thing to do. I think fostering is such a rewarding job!

Good for you!!!!

Awesome! Good for you! I love fostering, although it is tough giving the dogs up.

Thats just great! You will no doubt bond and vise versa..but when you see how the pup clicks with the forever person...your sadness will go away. You'll be smiling and know that thanks to you this adoption is a success! Then you will be ready for your next foster.

That's GREAT!

That's really pretty exciting, we'll be waiting for photos.

Woohoo congrats to you I wanna see lots of pics once you get you lucky little man home. I too can only imagine how hard it is to give them up at the end. Im thinking of fostering in the upcoming months perhaps but Im still unsure of how hard it will be to let go at the end.

I will keep you all posted! I pick him up tonight after work. I think Honey will have so much fun playing with another boy! It's kindof exciting not even knowing his name (if he has one) or what he looks like! I'll be sure to take some pics this weekend!

That's wonderful! Good luck!!

First, to the OP - have fun and good for you!

As a previous foster, I can say that giving the dogs up was not all that hard for me. Sure, it was bitter-sweet, as you'll really grow to like some of the dogs. But I can't say that it was a rational fear - I was also nervous before fostering about getting too attached... but in the end, each foster I took home, I took with the intention of getting them adopted. As such, I let each dog go with no problem. Not trying to sound heartless, as I really did love some of my fosters, but after meeting most of their adopters and knowing that they'd be happy, it wasn't that bad. I cried about a few, but it wasn't because I was upset at having let them go home. It was just a reaction to the 'bitter sweet' part of things. My longest foster was only 3 weeks... on average, I only had my fosters for about a week, so although you could say I didn't have too much time to get attached, I still had to give them up.

In all honesty - if your only concern about fostering is 'getting too attached', I'd say you should still go for it. If at all possible, start with an easy to adopt dog, so you dont have as long to get attached. And just remember to go into it with the mindset that you are merely petsitting for their future owners.

-GoingNowhere