Does anyone foster dogs?

Question

I am thinking of fostering dogs from a local shelter and would like to know the pros and cons of your experiences. Do these shelters pay for vet bills? How long do you usually have the dog. What happens if no one adopts the dog?

Answer 1

It depends on the shelter. Some pay all necessary vet bills. Some also provide a certain amount for food and grooming, if needed. Ask the shelter before you commit to anything. Usually if it is a local non kill shelter, they may use one specific vet for their foster family to take it. Local shelters have very limited funding and probably will not take care of food or other things. There are also many "national shelters" that foster all over the country. You can chose a shelter based on the type of dog you want to foster. They usually pay all vet bills and some grooming and or food expenses.
It is basically up to the foster family to house, socialize and house train the dog. Depending on the dogs background, this can be an easy task, or it can be difficult with a dog with a shady background (puppy mill/abused home etc).
Once again it depends on the shelter how long you will foster the dog. Local shelters have limited foster families and you could have the dog for a long time until it is adopted. Larger non kill shelters that have more means, can and do move the dogs around if the first foster family can not care for the dog any longer. They usually have more families to foster their dogs.
Although all non kill shelters will welcome volunteers to foster their dogs, some are better than others in the care and placement of the dogs. Check any shelter out thoroughly before you commit to volunteer.
It is and can be a wonderful experience to watch a stray or abused dog blossom into a well behaved secure dog. And there should be more people like you in this world that are willing to volunteer to help these poor dogs out. All shelters need volunteers no matter how small or how big they are.

Answer 2

You need to find those answers from the shelter because it varies. I fostered in the past and the no-kill (true) humane society had a veterinarian on staff, provided food, and neutered them prior to adoption (if possible) but if there was too much of a backlog, they gave a certificate for a free one (actually, it was already paid for in the fee). Bear in mind that this was Texas and a statewide warrent will be issued to anyone adopting an animal from a shelter that doesn't have it neutered within one month.

Pros: it's a great feeling and you are doing something positive rather then rant.

Cons: it's a lot of work preparing a dog for adoption,

you might be in conflict with local laws - especially the common practice of redefining plain English within a law under "definitions",

unless you are very disciplined and lucky, the number of dogs you have tend to keep increasing (health and temperament problems that make adoption chances low are not always noticable at first -ex: hip displasia, fear, etc),

some neighbors can be a pain (one foster home received several complaints from the same neighbor about a barking dog - after a police investigation, it turned out there was a barking dog (owned by the complainer),

and what to do you do with them if you have a sudden life change (no-kill shelters can only shelter what they have room for plus foster homes).

Answer 3

I foster with a local shelter but can only do one dog at a time . they pay all vet bills and food . I have had this pup since he was 8 weeks . He is now 5 mos old and he is going to his new home next week they finally cleared his forever home . I never thought I would keep him for 5 mos and I know I cant get attached but it happens so be carefull . get all the rules of the shelter in writing though cause sometimes they can be a bit of an a-- doing this . also they will get grouchy if you try to adopt the dog . I wanted to adopt a toy and they told me if I did this I could no longer foster for them . So know all the ins and outs of fostering b4 u do it . good luck .

Answer 4

I foster for my local SPCA because we have no shelter. We have to board our dogs with the dogcatcher. So the puppies and the dogs needing medical attention come to me, because everyone else is at work during the day. There are only 7 SPCA members in total here. Dogs who are not doing well at the kennels may come to me too.

I have 3 Great Danes of my own (one is a rescue we adopted), and also do Dane rescue, so I have a foster Dane right now too. We are out in the country and we have a 50ft by 80 ft. fenced run for them directly behind the house.

SPCA pays for the food and medical bills. Since, by necessity, I've learned how to cope with various medical problems that don't need a vet, that helps out on expenses.

Fortunately, my Danes are really good with other dogs, and they love little ones. The place can be hectic at times, with a varied assortment of dogs, of all ages and varieties. I have a number of crates for crate training, or the little dears would be tearing around all night long!

It's an all day shuffle, of who is out and who is in. The doors get worn off the hinges. Feeding time is like a zoo! I try to free feed if possible. It limits going anywhere, because the dogs can't be left for too long. There is a constant cleaning of various dubious substances on the floor. And dog hair!!!!!!!!!

But dogs who have been fostered (and most of ours are strays, who have never been taught a thing) and learned house manners are much more likely to be adopted. And visitors who meet the dog in a home, rather than jumping all over them at a shelter, are far more likely to adopt when they can see the dog in a home environment. It also has the advantage that I know each dog's temperament, and can say whether they would be good with children, cats etc.

They all get adopted eventually, though it may be a while in some cases. I had one huge boy for an entire winter, until a lady fell in love with him who needed a big dog for protection, while her husband was away

But the best part of all, is to see a dog's eyes light up when he knows he is going to his forever home! And that's my payment.

Answer 5

My son fostered a dog over christmas, it was very old, and this gave the shelter time for it to look for a permenant home. The dog had a lovely time, and the shelter paid all food, vets etc. The time he had the dog was up to him, as he and his wife both work, they wont have a dog full time at the moment.Most good shelters never put a healthy dog down. Sometimes you look after the dog while an old person is in hospital, it is very rewarding. Go for it.

Answer 6

Those are questions you should ask the shelter.
I can only go by the shelter I am involved with and the answers are, for puppies:
Shelter covers all vet bills and provide all the food that is needed.
The pups are brought back to the shelter at the desired weight/age.
The pups are kept until there are adopted, unless there is a health or temperament issue.
The same goes for adult dogs that are fostered out for one reason or another in regard to food and vet bills.
They remain the property of the shelter, until they are adopted.

Answer 7

Firstly i have got all my dogs from wither the dogstrust or the RSPCA and they cant charge for vet bills as they are a charity but you can take out pet insurence. The pros are that you are giveing the dog a new home, but the cons are that the dog has had a hard life and you dont know what could be wrong with it like it has a fear of humans. these are overcome by time as the dog will lean to trust you. if no one adobts a dog it is normaly transported to anthour shelter. but in america they dont care and put all healthy dogs down if not rehomed in 30 days.

Answer 8

I have a neighbors who fosters and trains dogs for handicap children and adults. The place where they get the dog pays for all the vet bills and they get rembursed for the food toys etc they buy. Being a foster animal parent is great for the poor animal. But the con is not getting to attached to the animal.

Answer 9

These are questions to ask your shelter before offering to foster. Most likely you will pay bills, though they sometimes help out with medicines and puppy milk. Its rewarding if you are dealing with sane shelter people! We had ours fussing at us that people don't return the puppies (we weaned them) yet everytime I tried to take them in, they wouldn't accept them!
Ask for rules up front. Most of all, remember why you're doing it...to dish out love to an animal that needs it, and to provide it with a chance at a happy life.
Congratulations.
Cheers

Answer 10

undesirable concept. You sound such as you haven't any longer have been given any journey with canines like this. and that i'm telling you, it is not correct in the experience that your canines on the lead or no longer. a minimum of a sort of alternative canines will respond to his aggressive nature and there'll be a combat. extraordinarily because's an enclosed area the place there could desire to abruptly be any variety of alternative canines coming in! how will you give up that precisely? while a combat breaks out in a contained area the place there are different canines, the %. mentality regularly takes over after which you have an entire brawl on your hands. are you able to deal with that? might you be waiting to interrupt up a combat with various canines? No. And what approximately the different canines proprietors? Do they know approximately this?