Supplies and considerations for short-term puppy fostering?

Question

My husband and I are discussing volunteering to foster puppies with a local rescue. The normal time frame for fostering is a couple of days up to a couple of weeks. The rescue groups supply veterinary care and the foster families provide food, water, love and shelter.

If you have fostered before, what should we consider? Is it extremely hard to give the puppies back when they are ready for their forever homes? Do we need to purchase more crates for them, since our dog still uses his, or other items? Or anything else about the experience you'd care to share? Thanks!

Answer 1

I have done alot of fostering. If you need crates, the rescue people should be able to supply those. Good for you! Yes, sometimes it is hard to give them up. Look at it this way, you are making room for more foster puppies when you find them homes. If you keep everyone, you won't be able to help as much. I have ended up keeping some of my foster dogs tho. Not puppies because they are easier to find homes for, I usually kept ones no one else would want.

Answer 2

My husband and I have been fostering puppies for a local rescue recently so I have a few things to keep in mind....

*One puppy isn't so bad, but cleaning up after 3-5 is a never ending job.  Our trash usage went from 1 bag a week to 3 for the weeks that we had puppies.

*You WILL loose sleep!  They will wake you up with whining when they are hungry or lonely.  They will play with each other at night so you will hear yelping or barking.

*If you do foster, do what you can to not end up with just one puppy overnight.  Try to get them to their new homes on the same day, otherwise you will loose sleep because this one puppy will be VERY lonely.

*The puppies will make a mess.  They will mess in the floor and having multiples will almost guarantee that they will end up with it on them.  They will stink at times and you will probably end up giving your share of "first baths"

We didn't have a hard time giving them up, I think it was because we were so exhausted with having 2 dogs of our own and then 3-5 puppies.  The new homes had been screened by us and the rescue, so we were confident that they were going to great homes.

You will need more crates.  The system that we used (was suggested by the rescue we work with) was to put up an exercise pen (either the metal or plastic ones) in the kitchen and have the crate open inside, so they had a comfy place to sleep.  Our main issue was that the Xpen took up our entire kitchen, so we were constantly getting attacked by puppies when trying to cook and you were always looking out for a mess so you didn't step in.  Multiple puppies make a lot more waste, so you will be cleaning up after them alot.  Having a floor that is easily cleaned is essential!!!

Make sure you have extra food dishes!  We didn't think about this until we came home with 4 puppies.  Thank goodness they were giving them away as a promotion at one of the stores we went to that evening when running errands.

It is a very rewarding experience.  Being that you are even considering this, I am assuming that you are an animal/dog lover.  If you are like me you want to save them all.  This is a way to make a difference with out ending up with 100 dogs of your own.  

Our first foster was a male beagle who had apparenly never lived inside.  We got to deal with him trying to mark everything in our home and he successfully marked our cat (it is funny...now).  He found a new home quickly and having the opportunity to make the call to let them know that they had been approved to adopt him was great.  They were SO excited!

The best feeling is knowing that you have just made a little kid's day.  One of the puppies I was fostering went to a family who had recently lost the family dog to cancer.  The little boy was 6 and didn't know he was getting a new puppy.  They came to my house to pick it up and they were playing with it, the mom pulled me aside and explained that he didn't know so I got to tell him that he was taking home a new puppy.  I cried when he hugged me and said "thank you for taking care of these puppies so they can have good homes!"  I hope he understood what I meant when I told him "thank you for adopting a puppy, you saved her life!"  

Fostering is a lot of work, but the end result is very rewarding!!!

Answer 3

You would mainly have to not get attatched, which is easier said than done. Also keep in mind how many pups you are going to foster at a time. You will need extra crates. Crate training them is a good thing to do. You will need bowls, plastic bags (for p**p), collars, leases/harnesses. Keep in mind these babies arent the cleanest and you may have "accidents" around the house. Just get more info. Its a very time consuming but very rewarding thing to do.

Good luck!