Fostering Dogs In Rescue

My first foster dog was an absolute delight. She was a young Cocker Spaniel crossed with Jack Russell. Misty fitted in perfectly, despite the fact that she was a stray she had  impeccable manners and large soulful eyes that you could drown in. As long as she had someone to cuddle she was happy.

My naivety led me to ring the rescue and tell them I had a space for another one. I think dreams of rescuing dogs by the dozen, me waving goodbye and wiping a tear as they moved to forever homes , had seriously clouded my judgement.

The next day Uri arrived.

‘What an unusual name’ I said to the lady who had transported him to me. She explained that the kennels named the strays alphabetically, this week was ‘U’. Not much choice there then! Apparently his kennel mate was called Uriah.

Uri was a young Jack Russell, white with a big black spot right on top of his head. Every rib was clearly defined, not an ounce of flesh on his body.

‘This ones an escape artist’  the transporter told me ‘keep all your windows shut’. I looked at her in amazement, this little bag of bones couldn’t climb through a window. She went off laughing knowingly, another newbie foster mum out to change the World!

The first thing Uri did was jump straight on the cooker from a standing position, then proceed to walk along the work top sucking up crumbs like a hoover. (Luckily the cooker wasn’t being used at the time) .

Next he was outside trying (and nearly succeeding) to scale a six foot fence by running at it like a truck and then scrambling to the top.

I took a deep breath, fostering was not going to be all dewy eyes and waggy tails as I first thought. First I had to shut the windows, heighten the fences and seal off the kitchen and bathroom (he liked to jump in the bath, empty or full he wasn’t fussed!)

Then I could get on with the task of rehabilitating  Uri.

Do you think you could foster or adopt a rescue dog?

Have a look at the post below. It has loads of information which will be helpful. There is a list of questions to ask and what happens at a home check.

Rescue Dogs (Things To Know Before Adopting)