A Guide to Fostering a Puppy
Barbara Shannon has fostered dogs for rescue groups for many years and loves every one of them. Her favourites? The rough-and-tumble dogs.
If you are a new foster parent, you should know that although it may be difficult, it is a rewarding experience.
Shelters Foster Puppies
Shelters can benefit from volunteers who foster dogs in their homes until adoption. Many rescue groups don’t have the space to house their dogs. Others may not have enough space to accommodate all the animals they need. Fostering dogs can help them adjust to living in a home or remove them from the stress of sharing a home with other animals.
Bawol states that the shelter can be stressful and loud. “We also have dogs that come and go all the time, which can open up the doors to diseases. Puppies — just like babies — are more vulnerable to picking up those.
Bawol states that shelter fosters puppies and kittens because of the importance of socialization. The shelter received puppies taken from home as part of a cruelty investigation. She says that the four-month-old dogs had been neglected and displayed aggressive behaviour, but they could turn their lives around when placed in a safe environment.
She says, “It’s times such as these that you really see how fostering works — you can take a timid pet and place them in a home environment and they can thrive in a matter weeks.”
What to Expect as a Foster Puppy Parents?
It is important to understand basic health conditions and how to care for a puppy if you are going to foster one. You will need to schedule more time for your dog’s play, feeding, and walking than you would for your dog.
It can be difficult to care for puppies, especially ones from difficult backgrounds. Shannon is now retired, so she can spend most of her day at home with the dogs she fosters. She recently fostered a mother-dog who brought two weeks-old puppies to her home.
She says that the puppies were healthy, and she was able to help mom for the first few weeks. Her house was puppy-proofed once the puppies became more independent.
She says that puppies will chew on everything. “So it is important to provide a safe environment.”
The puppies spent seven weeks at her home before returning to the shelter. Families adopted them in a matter of hours, thanks to social media.
Bawol states that it is not easy to adopt puppies, particularly small-breed ones, instantly.
Fostering: The Cost
Many shelters offer some support to foster families. Shelters will often pay for vet care. Others shelters offer more. Bawol & Shannon work at the Erie shelter, which provides food, leashes, toys, and bedding.
As a puppy foster parent, you should expect the following:
- Lots of laundries: Shannon suggests that you plan to change and wash your bedding at least once per day if you have a mom who has puppies.
- It takes a lot of work and time: Even healthy puppies require much attention and time. Bawol states that sometimes a litter may have one or more puppies who need special care like bottle feeding. This can make caring for them more difficult.
- Provide safe spaces. As your puppies grow older and become more independent, it’s important to keep them inside for safety reasons while you’re away or engaged in household activities. You could designate this space as a “puppy room”, with a baby gate or large dog playpen.
Requirements to Fostering
Although each shelter or rescue organization may have different procedures for approving foster families, all require a basic background check and paperwork. Others may require more.