Six really good reasons to Foster
Looking for a way to help a dog in need? Do you love dogs, but aren’t quite ready for the lifelong commitment of ownership? Becoming a foster might be the perfect answer for you.
What exactly does fostering mean? It means bringing a homeless dog into your home, caring for them, providing them with affection and socialization, until a permanent family comes along who will love them forever.
The benefits of fostering are numerous, and not only a wonderful thing for the dog and rescue, but can be beneficial to the one doing the fostering in so many ways!
1. Fostering saves lives:
Valley of the Sun Dog Rescue relies solely on foster homes to determine how many dogs we can pull from county shelters, who may be long term residents and/or at risk of euthanasia due to overcrowding. Fosters are crucial to our rescues ability to help expectant female dogs, by affording them a quiet and comfortable atmosphere to deliver puppies and care for them in those first weeks of crucial development.
2. You have a hand in helping make the dog more “adoptable”:
Often times, certain dogs may not “show” well due to excess energy, or jockeying for attention or not wanting attention at all. While fostering a dog, you are able to provide exercise and stimulation, which in turn creates a calmer dog at adoption events which in many cases may be closer to what their behavior will look like in a home environment. In addition you can work with the dog on leash training, house training, or other basic command training, potential adopters will find that attractive when looking for the perfect dog for their family.
3. You have the opportunity to change a dog’s future:
Valley of the Sun Dog Rescue often looks to fosters for those dogs who may have endured a difficult past such as abuse, cruelty, neglect, under socialization, etc. As a foster you have the chance and opportunity to gain a dogs trust, show them human touch and love perhaps for the first time, provide an environment for them to feel safe, and watch them transform before your eyes.
4. Fostering can be great for your family:
If you have existing pets, introducing a dog can be a great experience for them as an additional companion, additional socialization, and an additional playmate! Children can benefit from fostering as a way to introduce responsibility, selflessness, a way to educate about animals, and is also a great way to “test” the idea of a permanent dog into the home in the future.
5. You become part of a wonderful “community”:
Fellow fosters from VOTSDR will help guide you through the experience, we are available to help, and we have an on-line forum where fosters can share ideas, and ask questions. You may even make some friends along the way! There is nothing quite like sharing experiences with those who do the same, and being part of a community of people who have like passions.
6. You will make someone’s family complete:
When the day comes, that your foster finds that perfect home, the rewarding feeling you will experience is something very special. You will feel a sense of pride, in knowing what you helped that dog accomplish in his time with you. You will feel overjoyed, that he has found his forever family, and his happy ending that all homeless dogs so desire. And while certainly some goodbyes can be tough, knowing that a dog has found his happy ending, and that another precious life awaits to be afforded your gifts, is as good of a feeling as there is!
So, change a life, save a life, and become a foster today!
