“Having been a Mayhew kennel volunteer for many years, I know that kennel life just doesn’t suit some of our dogs and often thought about fostering.
Unfortunately our own dog at the time (an ex-Mayhew German Shepherd) would put up with the cat sharing his home, but had a few objections to having to share his home with another rival for our affections (the cat had a few qualms too!), so we weren’t able to help for many years.
Sadly when both the cat and dog passed away within a year of each other, we didn’t feel ready to take on another permanent pet straightaway, but the house was far too quiet and we were missing our walking buddy. On one of my weekly volunteer shifts, I was introduced to Mini, a terrier/pom puppy who unfortunately due to medical issues was about to have a leg amputated! She wouldn’t be able to be re-homed for a while and could really do with a bit of home socialisation. That meeting led to a conversation with my partner and then with the Mayhew fostering co-ordinator and shortly afterwards our little tripawd arrived at our house! Mini was a little whirlwind, mini by name, but certainly not by nature and it was fun to have her with us for the 3 weeks before her adopters came to visit and off she went to her new life.
Within days of Mini’s departure, we had a call from the Mayhew to see if we would be willing to foster an 18 month old Belgian Malinois who was finding kennels just too much after a couple of months and really needed a change of scene so in walked Cupid. From the moment he climbed up onto our old dog sofa, we were smitten and 3 days later we became failed foster parents (I still maintain that the Mayhew sent him to us deliberately as they knew we wouldn’t be able to resist a shepherd!).
At this point, we thought that perhaps our fostering days would be over now we had a permanent addition to the family, however it turns out that Cooper (we couldn’t shout “Cupid” down the park!) is one of the most friendly and good-natured dogs we’ve ever had. We have since welcomed a 6 week old spaniel puppy (who stayed for a month) and then the lovely 6 month old bull breed Luna who was with us for 6 months recovering from knee fractures.
Foster dogs come in all shapes, sizes and with varying circumstances. You have to be prepared for the disruption that they may cause including toilet training and puppy-proofing, giving them time and patience to settle and getting to know your dog’s likes, dislikes and possibly fears depending on their backgrounds. Never under-estimate how attached you will become, we consider whether we can keep every single one of them and I shed a few tears each time I have to say good-bye. Why do we do it then? I’ve been lucky that all the adopters have been kind enough to send me photos and updates so I can see that they are doing well For every dog that successfully moves on, there will be another that comes into kennels that just needs a bit of extra TLC to help them on their way and that’s what fostering is about, you are making a difference to each dog that comes to stay. Now where did we put our spare dog bed…..!”
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