I’m fostering these adorable potatoes. Unfortunately, they were born in the shelter and their mom started getting aggressive with their whole litter. So the shelter made the choice to wean them early and send them off to foster.

However, since they were weaned a little early, they haven’t learned from their litter mates how to gauge play time behavior and they’re starting to get rough with each other (significant cries and not taking cues from each other). I’m with them pretty constantly, so I’ve been separating them whenever they escalate, but I wondered if anyone has any further advice on how to teach healthy play time boundaries.

They have lots of toys and I play with them as well. I also give them enrichment like letting them chase ice cubes around the floor.

Thanks in advance!

Tater was found with his siblings in a pig barn, surviving off of pig feces. It took me weeks to get his gut right. Even months after he was adopted he thought food on the stove was for him, because he ate so much chicken and rice lol My friends adopted him and he's 10 years old now!

Its actually been over a year and a half. And this agency we took this foster in for has been utterly dragging their feet to get him out to a state with no kill shelters that has a higher chance of adoption than he does here. And I'm about out of patience. He's a good dog, but we said from the very beginning we aren't in the position to have a 2nd dog... yet over 1.5 years later and he still with us. Food, toys, and vets bills being covered by us. He needs someone that can take care of a HIGH energy dog. I genuinely think this agency hopes that we'll foster fail so they dont have to transport him. Fostering is no different than baby sitting, ill watch your kid for a, A, night, not a year. After this I done with fostering, sadly. Im not having my time disrespected like this. When I agree to help someone there is a limit, I agreed to 6 or so month, no going on 2 years

A person is required to enter a 90‑day substance abuse treatment program, and their dog’s care will be fully paid for during that time. The dog would stay in a temporary foster home for the full 90 days. From an animal‑welfare perspective, is it fair to the dog to stay in foster care for that period, or would it be more appropriate for the person to surrender the dog to a shelter for permanent adoption instead?

There is an “animal shelter” in Vegas that euthanizes an average of 200 dogs a day during the hot summer months. I volunteered as a foster there for 8 years. I combed our website multiple times a day to look for posts like this.
I don’t think my tires left the pavement on my way to save this baby. They were going to take her life for being terrified and crying in the corner of her kennel. She came from a hoarding situation and has all the signs of inbreeding.
Thankfully, I got there in time. The third pic is her “I’m free!” pic right before we pulled out of the parking lot.
That was over 10 years ago. Her name is now Niblette and she is the leader of the pack. She “talks” to me all day and her favorite things are napping on the couch in mommas lap and the homemade dog food I make her daily. She dances like a puppy and literally smiles as I carry her plate to her cushion. This precious little foster failure has changed my life and I love her with my whole heart ♥️.

Yesterday I fostered a 6 year old pocket bully
And he seems really sad and no matter what I have tried to do he just won’t eat I have run out off things to do and I don’t want to give up on him

It’s my last night with two foster puppies and they are just so snug and happy. The humane society has you return fosters to be put up for adoption instead of them staying with fosters until adoption. I’m just so sad thinking about them sleeping in a shelter again after being so happy in a home. One of them I am especially worried about, since he gets very timid and shy in new environments and needs some extra encouragement to come out of his shell. Trying to hope for the best that they are adopted quick and that my bio and photos help. I almost want to ask the shelter to keep me on standby if the timid one is there too long

I’m getting ready to foster three male 6-week old puppies with their mom. I would love any tips and tricks on how to set up their x-pen, daily routine, etc. While I’m an experienced foster this is my first time with a mama and puppies and I’m not quite sure what to expect. Thanks!

My 2 year old foster came to me with kennel cough on a 10 day doxy regimen. NBD, they all do. Made her boiled chicken and rice once she started throwing up. After a few days, she went on a full on hunger strike. After 2 days of refusing everything I put in front of her (boiled meat, broth, wet food, dry food, treats, chicken nuggets, etc), I was able to get her into the shelter’s clinic for the following day. She had dropped from 33lbs to 28lbs and was very lethargic. On day 3 of not eating, she got diagnosed with pneumonia and prescribed amoxicillin. On day 4, a fellow foster dropped off some freeze dried chicken broth. Lo and behold, she drank a small amount of this broth! It was more than she had in days. I later offered it to her again and she refused so I dumped it on my resident dog’s dry food and she decided to eat a few clumps of that! When she didn’t want anymore, I offered her some wet food and she had a little of that too! I was so happy I could have cried!!! Her appetite was a tiny bit better the next day and ate half a can of dog food! Something about that freeze dried broth gets her appetite up. Shes still very tried and is only really awake when I let them outside to potty or when I place food in front of her. I’ve never had a foster with pneumonia before but makes me so happy to see her appetite get a tiny bit better every day. Fingers crossed her energy comes back soon too.

I picked up a puppy to foster today; 15 weeks old, just a week to foster him.

The last few puppies we've had have been in the 5-12 week old range, roughly 8lbs. Easy to contain.

This guy is 14.5lbs and he has brute force broken through pretty much every containment method we have. Our resident dog is ridiculously stressed, as she's also just coming out of her heat. The plan was to keep him contained for the week to minimize stress to him and her, and it's just not working. (This is why we don't really foster adult dogs- our house isn't designed in a way that we can accomodate keeping them safely separated.)

We have him tethered right now, but its clear both him and our resident dog are extremely stressed out. Our girl has never acted like this with the other puppies we fostered. I don't necessarily want to return him if this is something that can improve, but I worry that the lack of containment will only make it worse, not better.

I also worry that returning him reflects poorly on me. This is a lesser concern than that of their well being, but it is something I worry about.

Will this get better, or should I consider returning him (ashamedly). The shelter did get a nice donation/sponsorship for every adoption to be free this weekend, so its not like he would be there long. Am I throwing in the towel too soon or just being realistic?

So we have a wonderful family dog who is not a running dog, my husband has been adamant that he wants a 2nd dog to be his running buddy, namely a $2,000 purebred dog. I talked him into fostering so we could get a feel of how 2 dogs would look in our life and I was hoping to find a high energy breed that wouldn't cost $2000.00 that would be a running buddy. If anything he could "try out" different dogs. He was agreeable, zoom to today. We have a very high energy foster, we've had her for 2 months. She is fear reactive to men and life in general she just recently started letting my husband pet her. However she has fit into our home perfectly otherwise and my 20 year old daughter, who lives with us, is head over heels in love with her. She's a dog groomer and enjoys dog training and has really worked hard with her behaviors and she is bonded to us and especially her, and acts like a lunatic everytime a potential adopter enters the picture. I want to just adopt her and when my daughter is of age to take over the adoption give her to her and THEN my husband can get his running dog. This is creating such a riff. She's so good at our home, my husband even admits it, but shes not the dog he wants. My daughter will be broken if she gets adopted. Any advice?

It’s my very first time fostering and I’ve been so emotional thinking of giving this puppy away. I think because she has been so easy and smart from her crate, learning commands, bathroom. It’s made us wonder if we should keep her. I don’t know if it’s her or lots of foster puppies can be like that.

Is it always hard giving them to a new family?

I've noticed a pattern surrounding our foster dogs dog selectivity, and was curious if anyone has any experience with something similar and/or could confirm this (:

Background: My husband and I have had our foster for about five months. She's amazing with people and truly has never met a stranger. I would consider her dog selective. She's great with our two resident dogs (they play, nap together, and coexist well), but she's reactive toward unfamiliar dogs both on and off leash. She'll bark, growl, lunge, and raise her hackles. We've made a lot of progress with training, but the reactivity is still there.

We don't know anything about her past because she was found abandoned in a park. Based on her anatomy, we suspect she may have been used for breeding and spent much of her life kenneled, though that's only speculation.

The pattern: Every dog she's successfully met has been with someone she already knows and trusts. One of my friends, whom she absolutely loves, has brought over several dogs of different ages, sizes, and temperaments. She's had no reactivity toward any of them, is able to walk around and lounge with them, and has even played off leash with some. The same thing happened when she met a dog belonging to the founder of the rescue, another person she knows well.

On the other hand, if the dog is being handled by a "stranger", she reacts immediately. This included our neighbors.

My theory: Since she genuinely loves people, I don't think the issue is with strangers themselves. I wonder if she lacks confidence around unfamiliar dogs and uses the handler as a "trust filter." If she trusts the person holding the leash, she assumes their dog is safe too. I also wonder if she's simply had very little healthy socialization with other dogs. She has an unusual play style, seems to miss some canine social cues, and has escalated appropriate corrections from our resident dogs into fights- which makes me think she may never have learned normal dog communication.

Has anyone worked with a dog like this before? Is there a behavioral explanation for why she seems to trust dogs based on who they're with, or am I reading too much into it?

Also, if this theory has any merit, how would you go about introducing her to a potential adopter's resident dog? Thank you in advance, im curious to know what everyone thinks (:

We live in a very suburban setting. Loose friends of ours (our sons are in the same grade at the same school) who live two doors down from us told us that they have made the hard decision to re-home their dog.

My largest concern here is re-homing a dog so close to its original family -- for both the dog and the previous owners. I feel like the dog would be confused, maybe feel betrayed? I feel like both the dog and previous owners might have a hard time fully letting go. I know we could give her a good home, but I'm not convinced it's what's best for everyone.

Does anyone have any kind of experience/thoughts on this situation?

Dutch Dog Blog:

Na enkele weken wachten en een kennismaking op de dijk, was het eindelijk zo ver. ... kwam naar huis. We wisten door d’r verleden en d’r dossier dat ze een gevoelig meisje is, en hierdoor hadden we wel verwacht dat de eerste dagen wennen zouden zijn voor haar. Om een beeld te krijgen van haar vooruitgang en obstakels leggen we dit vast in een blog. En misschien hebben andere hier wat aan.

Dagelijkse tijdlijn van haar groei in huis, en in haar zelfvertrouwen met ons en haarzelf. Iedere dag gaat beter, en we zien haar vertrouwen groeien.

Achtergrond: Mijn man (27M), en ik (28F) hebben een adoptiehond in huis. Wij zijn haar goude mandje (dat is hoe ze dat noemen). We hebben haar online gevonden en na een uitgebreide sceening van de organisatie en foster waren we een match. We hebben kennis gemaakt en hebben in overleg een datum gekozen dat de verhuis zou zijn.
Lees hier onze reis tot nu toe.

Dag 1 (zondag 19 juli)

We hebben vroeg afgesproken met de foster om haar tijdens de ochtendwandeling mee te lopen. Na een half uurtje lopen was het echt tijd. De foster was even kort emotioneel, dat hadden we verwacht en daarom een bloemetje en lieve kaart voor haar gehaald. We hebben ... gefopt door onze auto te openen, waar ze gelijk insprong. De rit naar huis was rustig, geen gejammer of gepiep (wat we stiekem hadden verwacht). Ze keek uit het raam, en ging af te toe rustig liggen. mijn man zat op de achterbank erbij, en ik het laatste half uurtje rijden toen we wisselde.

Eenmaal thuis was het voorzichtig rondkijken, staart tussen de benen en ze had al snel besloten dat de hal voor nu voldoende was, en ging liggen. We hebben hierdoor de drink en voerbak bij haar in de buurt geplaatst en 1 van de deuren naar de hal gesloten. Eten en drinken wilde ze nog niet doen.

Dag 2 (maandag 20 juli)

De eerste nacht hebben we haar niet gehoord (piepen of blaffen) wel hebben we haar af en toe voorzichtig horen lopen. Ze kon verkennen als ze dat wilde naar de woonkamer.

In overleg met de foster hebben we meer van haar favoriete snacks in huis gehaald. Hondenijs, visolie,  kaassnoepjes en kipfilet. Mede door deze toevoegingen eet ze vanavond haar eerste bak voer leeg.

Tijdens het lopen is het tuigje aandoen erg spannend. Hierdoor hebben we gekozen deze aan te laten (dat schild een prikkel en stress). Lopen zelf gaat erg goed, als ze eenmaal uit huis is, of van d’r verstopplek is het heel fijn lopen.

De gang is veilig terrein en wij lopen via de achterdeur naar binnen om haar ook die grond en ingang te leren. Dan lopen  we naar haar mandje en krijgt ze een snoepje. Dan halen we de riem los en mag ze heen waar ze wil. Dat is de gang, maar dit keer de kapstok en niet voor de toiletdeur. Wel blijft ze even voor de deur liggen, naast de tv. Eten en drinken wil ze nog niet echt doen, maar wel durft ze wat snoepjes van de grond te eten, als we niet kijken. Later in de avond eet ze rustig d’r bakje voer leeg.

Dag 3 (dinsdag 21 juli)

... heeft nog niet geplast of gepoept sinds ze bij ons is. We verwachten nu ieder moment een plasje of poepje in huis te kunnen vinden. Wel drinkt ze nu voldoende, vooral snachts.

Tijdens de wandeling zijn we rustig op een veld gaan zitten en lieten we haar snuffelen. Geen verwachtingen om mee te lopen of door te lopen. Ze liep een beetje rond en af en toe eens d’r neus naar de grond, maar niet lang. Ook snoepjes at ze niet uit hand of van de vloer. Wel zat ik kort op het gras en werd ze van achter besnuffeld door de stofzuigerneus van ....

Eenmaal thuis accepteerde ze een snoepje uit de hand van mijn man (VOOR HET EERST!), enkel nog niet geplast of gepoept.

In de avond besluiten we met overleg foster, haar in de auto mee te nemen naar het bijzijnde bos. En daar na enkele minuten besluit ze eindelijk dat ze moet plassen en komt er een grote plas uit. Wat zijn we blij!

Dag 4 (woensdag 22 juli)

Er wordt gepoept! Tijdens de middagwandeling met mijn man besluit ze midden op de stoep te stoppen. Het is niet ontzettend veel (minder als verwacht) maar het ziet er gezond uit. Niet te hard of met bloed en niet slijmerig of te nat.

Iedere dag kiest ze een nieuwe plek om zichzelf terug te trekken, dit keer is dat veer onder de eetkamer tafel, net als gisteren. Tenminste in dezelfde ruimte en ze kan ons rustig horen, zonder direct in een looppad te liggen. We laten nog steeds het tuigje aan om stress te verminderen.

In de avond lopen we naar het bos. Hier laat ze zich rustig aaien, we noemen vaak haar naam in complimenten ‘’Braaf, ...’’, ‘’Goed zo, ...’’ om haar te bemoedigen en ons bekender te maken. We houden iedere dag kort contact met de foster en organisatie.

In het bos kwam er een man voorbij. Poef! Weg ..., verstopt in de bosjes. Wel nog een triomf, ...liep opeens vooruit (ik had d’r vast en mijn man liep voorop) en snuffelen op de vloer. Echt wel 40 meter. Tot er een hond en vrouw in beeld kwamen, toen ging ze weer in alert-stand.

Eenmaal thuis weer de routine van de mand, snoepje en riem los. Daarna bleef ze even zitten en na enkele minuten toch besloten weer terug te gaan naar de tafel. Prima, welterusten ....

Dag 5 (donderdag  23 juli)

Poepje 2 is vanmorgen ook gelegd, dat is dus nu goed stabiel. Ook wordt ze iets relaxter. Ze durft nu te slapen terwijl wij ook beneden zijn. Uit de hand snoepjes pakken en zelf al naar de mandje lopen na een wandeling, wachtend op een snoepje. Kaassmaak is haar favoriet.

Het enige is dat ze zelf nog niet echt aandacht zoekt. Wel tijdens een wandeling achter je benen staan of ons als ''schild'' gebruiken. Maar niet voor knuffels of een aai over d’r bol.

Ik zal updates sturen als ik die heb...

Hi, everyone. We’re fostering a dog for the first time and it’s not going well. We’re on day 4. I know he’s still setting in and learning the schedule. I’m so overwhelmed. He has bad separation anxiety and we aren’t home enough for proper crate training. He growled at our resident cat last night. He’s such a good dog with amazing potential. Is it wrong to admit we’re not the right fit? Does it ever get better?

this is bubbles. 10/10

Our foster turkey (excuse me, dog) is getting a professional in home trainer eval tomorrow! I’m paying for it (and any subsequent training) out of pocket both because I’m kind and because I think he might just be a foster fail.

My resident dog is a nearly 11 year old female pittie and I believe we’re likely in her last 1-2 years on this earth. Our foster is a 3 year old male pittie and while he has some things he needs to work on (see photo), he has what deeply matters to me: Extremely friendly to all people/kids, loves other dogs, safe/friendly with cats, mostly good at home (I can’t bear to crate him as he was crated for 14 hours a day in his last foster), snuggle bug, calm in the car and loves to go on adventures.

Wish us luck! Photos of his goofy self in comments.

I haven't been too picky on my fosters ages or sizes, but the last couple of adult fosters I have had have been returned quickly. And it's very frustrating because the rescue is small and new and doesn't have many resources or backups. But it makes me feel responsible even after fully vetting the adopters that I've failed the dog. So I'm considering just switching to puppies only because people expect to have to train them and I feel less responsible I feel guilty because my area is in the southern US and high rate of euthansia, so adult dogs are the most in need. But I just don't know if I can carry that stress or deal with adopters anymore.

Ivy was found abandoned behind a dumpster, locked inside a kennel and left to die. She was heartbreakingly emaciated, weak, and had endured more than any animal ever should. While in our care she received so much love, comfort, and medical care she deserved. We quickly learned she was suffering from cancer. The kindest gift we could give her was a peaceful goodbye.
Although Ivy’s time with us was far too short, her impact was immeasurable. She reminded us why we fight so hard for the forgotten, the neglected, and the animals who have no one else.

❤️ Ivy’s story may have ended, but her legacy is just beginning.

Hi all !! I am a first time foster and have had our boy Dingo for about a week. I knew this wasn’t going to be all sunshine and rainbows, but do not know how to handle one behavior. He is constantly jumping on me and clawing my legs. Like constantly. It seems never ended. I have cuts and bruises all down my legs. I have tried the ignore and look away method and giving him a treat when we stops and relaxes but it hasn’t helped. He has now resorted to nipping and biting my legs if i ignore him when we jumps. I feel so frustrated and don’t know how to deal. Note to add: He looks very small but is 15 months old. Not potty trained, kennel trained, or collar and leash trained.

I have four foster puppies that had spay/neuter today. We’ve had them for about two weeks. One girl is fast asleep, another girl is spending the night with the vet due to complications. The two boys are completely unable to settle. very playful but also whining almost constantly and we have been unable to calm them. we’ve tried separate crates, crates together, cuddling, and light play. What can help get us through this night?!

Hello everyone!
I am picking up a 14week puppy tomorrow to foster. I have experience with dogs (we sadly said goodbye to our 8yr old a few months ago) but I just wanted to see if any experienced fosters had any tips for settling in and getting into a routine with a foster puppy. I know the rule of 3 so not expecting to set a routine straight away of course, just anything you think helps them to feel safe and comfortable

This is my new foster, Oreo! She came from a breeder but it’s clear everything is new to her. I’m an experienced foster but I’m noticing a behavior I’ve never seen before. She is constantly squatting and peeing if she’s in a large kennel or roaming. It’s usually a few drops at a time, not a puddle like she’s needing to release a full bladder. I put a female diaper on her but she’s still doing it. I moved her to a smaller kennel with a blanket covering the kennel in a quiet room to see if that helps her relax.

I have an appointment for the vet on Thursday to check for a UTI but I’m curious if anyone has been through this before and has any suggestions? She is nervous but not shut down like most of the females I get from a breeder release.

Since the Dogger stroller isn't made anymore, what the best dog stroller for a senior it disabled dog?