Foster dog roundup!

Who all are you fostering right now? Age/breed or guesses? How long have they been with you? What does your ideal adopter sound like? How likely are you to fail with this one? Who was your last foster and what happened to them?

Ulysses is probably a heeler/aussie mix, the shelter vet guessed he was five years old, but my vet thinks it's more like 8. I've had him off an on since May, and continuously since July.


I would love to see him go to someone who has some kind of training experience and maybe an interest in sports, but doesn't want a high-drive dog that needs a ton of exercise. I think he would have a lot of fun with obedience, particularly heelwork, since his favoritest thing ever is staring rapturously at people's faces. Honestly, he would probably do fine in any dog-savvy kidless/petless home, his needs are pretty easy to meet and he loves non-tiny people. I love him to pieces, but Brisbane can't stand him and I really don't need two seniors.

Previous foster was Josie, a 14 year old GSD whose previous owner worked long hours and couldn't keep her crated all day anymore when she lost bowel control.

Josie was very spoiled for the three months we had her, went to work with me and was exempt from pretty much every 'employee dog' rule. She loved playing with other dogs, or just sitting in the middle of everything and basking in the chaos. She arrived dragging her back feet, and when she started dragging the front ones and stopped playing with her friends, we knew it was time to let her go.

My current foster is Diego through English Springer Rescue America.

He is nothing like what I was expecting.

Now I genuinely like him. He won't be an easy dog to place. With time, he has really turned into a good dog. He had a huge weekend and did SO well with it. He is having his carpus arthrodesed on November 19th and then he'll be in a bandage for 12 weeks before he's ready for a home.

His ideal family is adults who are home often.

Currently I'm not fostering anyone, although I just received my foster application from the cattle dog rescue in charge of placing the dogs confiscated in Picayune. Need to discuss that with DH, then we may be fostering.

I suppose our last "foster" was Histamine. She was supposed to have been adopted out when she was no longer Terrified Aggressive Feral Kitten.

20140627_113939 by blackrose13459, on Flickr

HA. My husband now has a cat.

20140816_223131 by blackrose13459, on Flickr

My last notable dog fosters were Levi, Kiba, and Seabee. Levi went to a Basset rescue after we couldn't make Dad change his mind about letting us keep him (and was promptly adopted by the people who helped transport him to his foster home).

Kiba was adopted by a lovely couple where he is now fat and spoiled and has kids to play with after I came to terms with the fact that I was in no position to keep him. I LOVED that dog, and I am so glad he is in a home where he is 110% adored, or I would have been heartbroken.

Seabee was placed with a recently divorced man who needed something to come home to. I had considered keeping her, because at the time I was on my own in an apartment and dogless, but she screamed when she was crated when I was gone and I was getting noise complaints, and if I left her loose she'd poop in the house. :/ He dotes on her as well, and she is SO happy.

No current fosters as I don't have any time, but I've had two in the past.

Lucy is a BC/ACD. She was with us for approx. 6 months and was fostered through One Heeler At A Time. I loved her enough to keep her, but wanted a confident dog to do sports with and she just didn't have that. She now lives with a very active and awesome couple in the UP.

Lucy13 by sinnerinspurs, on Flickr

Seal was a foster pulled from a rural shelter in NC on her euth date. Pretty sure she was some sort of Feist mix. She was shared on stardog's page and a few people graciously agreed to help pull her and leg her up here. She was adopted quickly to a local man and is now a well loved bro/shop dog.

DSC_0498 by sinnerinspurs, on Flickr

I liked Seal a lot. Ryan liked Seal A LOT.

I wish we could have taken her home.

Aww! I would have loved to see her go to a Chazzer. She was a great puppy.

I've yet to foster, but plan to in the future! Both cats and dogs! Though probably only one of one or the other at one time. Ideally I'd like to pull from kill shelters the animals who may have found their way on death row. Always enjoy seeing those who have fostered and currently ares stories!

I haven't had a foster in 8 years. But...

Little beagle on the left about 10 years ago:

We rescued her from a hunting kennel that was run by a former friend's father. I was told she had 1 day before she was killed due to her "off" markings and lack of hunting drive. She found a home 2 days after coming to live with us. Poor little dog, she was very nice, but had no idea how to live in a house.

Foster 2:

Boomer, formerly named "Demon"
5 month old Bullmastiff/Boxer mix (allegedly). Advertised as "free to a good home" because the family took in littermates and decided it was too much work. I figured with the name and looks that he could end up in the wrong hands.
He was with me for nearly a month before he was adopted out through our rescue.

Oooh, I can't wait to participate in this one when I get home.

I liked Seal a lot too and wonder what if sometimes . But I appreciated the opportunity with Fiona to show and meet people in my breed too..it was a tough decision.

Sasha was my only long-term foster dog. I had her for a few weeks, and was really, really close to keeping her. She was unbelievably naughty (well, it seemed so at the time; the scale has been re-adjusted since Gusto came along), but sweet and adorable. My friend, for whom I was fostering her, told me that of course I could keep her, but that she really, really felt that a beagle/whippet was not going to turn out to be what I wanted in a dog. I remember bringing her to meet a couple who was interested in her, and sitting in the office crying because I knew they were going to take her. It worked out well, and I saw pictures of her later, fat as a pig but happy.

And of course, the next foster dog wound up being Meg, so things worked out the way they were supposed to.

I've had one foster, Bloo, and we see how that ended up. She was available for a year, nobody wanted her, lol.

I would like to foster again sometime soon, but we'll see how it plays out.

Well, with any luck....this guy will be my foster starting on Tuesday.



He's at a kill shelter that offers no public adoptions. Did a lot of networking and finally found two rescues willing to pull him. First choice is willing to take him on in their program and provide vet care, etc. Second choice will just pull him, then he becomes 100% mine. Second choice has already submitted their pull application, still waiting on confirmation from the lab rescue as I'd like to go through them if at all possible.

I should be picking him up and getting him vetted Tuesday. Crossing my fingers he's dog/cat safe and isn't contagious.

His name at the shelter is "Cliff", but that will have to change when he comes home.

I have a question for those who foster, and especially through the pounds / kill shelters, who you might not get much - if any, information / vet care done on the dogs beforehand, how do you go about keeping them when you have other dogs / animals? Do you keep them in a separate room until they're confirmed healthy, but what if it is something that can be passed on even with doing that? Then how do you go about introducing them?

This might be a big one...lol!

My first foster was a Rottweiler mix pup, but I don't have pics of her.

This is Dodge, I found him when I was out riding my horse, he was emaciated and running around a bad neighborhood. Went to a friend and he was stolen after a few years .


These two pups my friend found running on her road. She put them in a dog box in a truck in the sun in the middle of Florida's summer and called me. They got adopted to nice people.



These two pups were next, out of a bad situation, covered in fleas.


The day before I was leaving to move to Texas, I found this girl (Callista) running down the street. I managed to catch her and I was freaking out and didn't want to bring her to Animal Control. A very nice rescue ended up taking on her on, I was able to drop her off at their vet that night. Before and after .



This Dobe was tied out on a prong collar and the owners didn't like him. I fostered him, wanted to keep him, but it just wasn't going to work with a multi-dog family. He ended up going through Doberman rescue.


More....

These two girls, Maggie and Lady.. I was working with the rescue that took Callista in. They received a notice from a rescue that was shutting down in a rural area and all the dogs would be PTS. Went out there, it was a hoarder situation, took these two girls back. The woman ended up going crazy on us and blasting us for only taking two adoptable ones. ??? All the rest of the dogs were PTS. They were adopted.



When we moved to MA..took in this little guy because he was chasing cars. He lasted about 3 days before a family friend adopted him.


Mom took him from a guy that was going to drown the litter. ??? She was working in the police department.


The last one I fostered was Honey the Pug, someone called my store and wanted to put her to sleep because of the demodex and she couldn't afford the treatments anymore. We met in a parking lot, she was driving a Mercedes and all the kids decked out in designer clothes...meh.
First night


Couple of months later... she went to Pug Rescue shortly after this, was adopted to a woman who worked for a veterinary dermatologist.


That's all! I think lol..

Lies! If there was not a Harlow...

I'm going to play it by ear. If Lab Pup is contagious, he'll have to stay in the garage and go outside separately. If not and the only thing I'm worried about is intestinal parasites and potential kennel cough, I'm going to preemptively treat everyone, make sure everybody is on flea/heartworm prevention, and trust my dogs' immune systems and vaccinations will keep them healthy.

If it is something highly contagious...do what you feel comfortable with. What this guy is likely to have is an intestinal parasite load, demodex (or potentially sarcoptes, which is contagious, but transfer rate is low), potential heartworms, and likely fleas. Other potentials would be kennel cough, canine influenza, or parvo. I can deal with the first two and trust my dogs vaccines/immunity. Parvo will be much harder to deal with, but I can if I need to. Again, I trust my dogs vacvines and I know how to maintain cleanliness.

If I had an immune-supressed dog...I likely wouldn't feel comfortable doing it. But I don't, so its a moot point.

These guys are all my fosters over the past 2 years:

-CJ was my very first foster. He was a 7 week old min pin/chihuahua. He was a sweet little puppy and got adopted by a nice family.

IMG_1885 by fablethecattledog, on Flickr

-Kellog was next. He was the most well-behaved 7-week old lab/BC mixed. Super sweet boy got adopted by another nice family.

IMG_1340 by fablethecattledog, on Flickr

-After Kellog came Jethro. He was another lab/BC mix, but the only similarity between him and Kellog was looks. Jethro was a little spitfire, but he did eventually get adopted by an active couple.

IMG_1443 by fablethecattledog, on Flickr

-Next came Blake. He was a cocker spaniel/pug. He came into the shelter as an owner release. He was really scared in the shelter environment, so I took him into foster and he was adopted after a week.

IMG_1291 by fablethecattledog, on Flickr

-After Blake was Spanky. This guy was the funniest little poodle. He had so much character and got adopted by a nice lady who needed a loving companion.

IMG_1886 by fablethecattledog, on Flickr

-Big-Head Fred the pit bull/basset/terrier was next. This guy was one of my favorite fosters. I took him in after seeing him get passed up time and time again at the shelter. After about a month, a nice couple adopted him. They send us updates and he is happy as can be.

IMG_1366 by fablethecattledog, on Flickr

-Next was Kaya the Spaz. This girl was a crazy whippet/ACD mix. She is a wonderful dog, but not many people could take her reactivity on top of her high energy. After 6 months, my neighbor finally caved in and adopted her. Fable and I see her often, which makes all three of us quite happy.

IMG_1495 by fablethecattledog, on Flickr

-My next foster was Annabelle. Her name is now Fable.

-After I adopted Fable, my first couple puppies were Fiona and Flannery. These 2 are hands down my favorite puppies I have ever had. They were the funniest looking westie mixes, so they took a little while to get adopted, but they each found their forever homes.

IMG_3490 by fablethecattledog, on Flickr

-Next was Indy the BC/GSD mix. This guy was the worst puppy I have ever fostered (and that's really saying something). I only had him for a week, but he barked all night every night and was about to drive me and my neighbors insane. In the end, his cute looks got him adopted, and his family loves him.

IMG_4826 by fablethecattledog, on Flickr

-My most recent foster was Keta the BC mix. This girl was a really neat puppy. She was super smart and biddable, and she loved everyone. She eventually got adopted by an active lady that had had BC's before.

IMG_5610 by fablethecattledog, on Flickr

I don't currently have any fosters, and will probably wait until summer to take on another one.

Right now I have Lexi, a 2y/o (age mostly known) Pit x Sighthound (guess) mix. She has been with me for less than 24 hrs - I took her from an instructor of a seminar I was at over the weekend to place privately. She was a SD prospect wash out, from a shelter in Yonkers, NY.

Let's not talk about failing, ok? I have a pretty good track record, so far.

Untitled by DJetzel, on Flickr

Ideal adopter is going to be someone active and dog savvy, preferably someone with interest in trick training, because she has a ton of drive and is super eager to do stuff.

I think she is my 19th foster (from rescue situation, not puppies from breeders that I've raised, or board and trains, etc.) over the course of the four years I've been fostering. Most of my fosters are through a rescue, I've just had a couple (including the one I have now) that are private placements. Only failure was a 3 day old kitten that I bottle raised, who was with me for 2 years before going with my ex in a split.

The most recent was Rue, a ~4 y/o female pittie who had been sitting at the pound for 30 days before I pulled her through a rescue. She was with me a little over a month before getting adopted into a home with a year old black lab to have a friend. I did the home visits and placement and it was a great fit.

DSC_1000 by DJetzel, on Flickr

A few other recents I've really liked and could have kept...

Trooper -

DSC_1720 by DJetzel, on Flickr

Dexter -

Dexter by DJetzel, on Flickr

Tug -

DSC_2001 by DJetzel, on Flickr

Bogey -

DSC_1561 by DJetzel, on Flickr