If you love dogs, I have a question(s)

[Anonymous]

I'm not currently fostering because we have an older dog who kind of likes his quiet, single-dude life (although he was exceptional with our former foster). We also have a small kid and one on the way and just can't take on another life form right now.

When we fostered we saw that dogs straight out of the nasty high-kill shelters they were coming from needed a lot of TLC: they're malnourished and need to get used to a healthy diet, often need deworming, and may need to be spayed or neutered so will require some recovery time. All of this is so totally manageable and we were happy to do it to get the dog in tip-top shape to be ready for a forever family. But knowing that, we're waiting until our household is less in flux, both for our sakes and so a nervous dog has more stability and support from us as they find their confidence.

If you're in a good place in your life to foster, DO it. It's easily one of the most fulfilling and gratifying experiences our family has had. We're looking forward to doing it again.

In the meantime, you can volunteer at rescues and adoption events. Even when I wasn't fostering I would go to the weekend adoptions and handle dogs (fun to show them off for a few hours, or take them on a power hour date). Also did home visits for potential adopters. There are a zillion ways to help. Thank you for considering fostering!