Why you should foster,
and the benefits for fosters!
Did you know that fosters are one of the most crucial and important members of a rescue organization?
Here’s why!
Fosters allow a rescue organization to accept a dog into the organization that the rescue couldn’t have saved otherwise. Many factors contribute to rescues’ abilities to accept dogs, including city and county limits on dog numbers (which is often 4, even for a fully registered non-profit), and time available to properly work with and love on dogs in the rescue’s care.
Fosters help dogs get adopted quicker! Fosters can provide the rescue with TONS of adorable, wonderful, happy pictures of their foster dog in a variety of settings, to make potential adopters fall in love! This includes showing the dog lounging around home, playing in the yard, or going out in public with the foster (not all required - every bit helps!) Fosters also help speed up adoption rates by being able to relay to the rescue (who relays to interested adopters) on how a dog does in an ACTUAL home setting, rather than a rescue, where love and time may be spread out amongst multiple dogs, dogs may be under a much more structured and supervised routine than in a real home, and some dogs may even experience stress or stress-related behaviors in a multi-dog rescue setting. Finally, fosters are often able to provide more training and home-expectation guidance than rescues, who are often busy and running place to place with meet and greets, adoptions, fundraisers, networking, and more.
Fosters help expand a rescue’s reach! By interacting with family, friends, and people in public, and spreading the word about how wonderful their foster dog is, and what a huge positive change they get to make in this dog’s life, fosters often encourage others to try fostering as well, and introduce new people to the rescue that they probably wouldn’t have been able to get to know on their own - which increases not only foster opportunities, but adoptions and possibilities for donor support! Rescues often have an established donor base which is generally quite small, and is often made of people who are already heavily involved in animal welfare and supporting other rescue efforts.
So now that you know how valuable fosters are… what’s in it for the foster?
All foster dog expenses are covered by the rescue! This is a great opportunity for people who would love to have the companionship of a dog, but have refrained from getting their own dog due to financial considerations. The rescue supplies all the dog’s food, supplies toys for the foster dog, and of course, covers veterinary expenses! Fosters are always welcome to additionally spoil their foster - and anything they choose to spend on their foster dog can often be used as a charitable contribution (aka tax write-off).
A relatively commitment-free to test drive what kind of dog works in their household, and help matching their home and energy/personality needs with the perfect dog, with help from dog behavior professionals! For families who are considering permanently adding a family member in the future, fostering is a WONDERFUL option. A family may love the way a Husky looks, and choose to get to know what Husky ownership is like firsthand, only to realize they may not have the time or stamina to keep up with the general breed - at which point, they can coordinate returning the dog to the rescue where they’re still loved and safe, instead of feeling terrible about returning them to a high-kill shelter, bad situation, or being stuck with a dog who they just don’t match with and now have to spend their own time finding a home for (which can take a while sometimes!). Plus, rescues often know dog breeds quite well, plus the individual personalities of different dogs in their care, so they can advise fosters, and even recommend special dogs - like a Husky who is an exceptionally low-energy, low-maintenance dog, instead of a robust athletic and/or wiley brainiac! Rescues also often can board their dogs in foster care while fosters go on family vacations or deal with an unexpected life crisis, since we all know things happen! Or, rescues can often cover brief boarding costs if they’re unable to personally board their rescue dog.
Since foster dogs often come from high-kill crowded shelters or other bad situations, or would be competing for attention with other dogs at the rescue, and generally the ultimate goal is for the dog to find their forever home as soon as possible, it’s okay if your job has you away from home for some time. So often, pet owners relinquish dogs or non-owners refrain from owning a dog, because they are away from home for some hours during the day working. While each dog appreciates as much time as a person can give, foster dogs often receive more love and attention even in a working foster home than they would in one of their previous situations. Many of these dogs are not super pampered pooches who are used to their own 24/7 personal attendance team, so they are incredibly thankful for the time and love that they get! Plus, since fosters are a stepping stone on the way to permanent homes, fosters don’t carry the guilt or stress that a dog is experiencing an entire life of spending some time alone - they know that they will lovingly help guide their foster dog into a home that can give their foster all the attention that they feel they deserve, and more!
Rescues often offer free training or advice for fosters and resident dogs. You’re not in this alone! Fosters receive points and tips from professionals who’ve dealt with everything from little things to the worst of the worst.
Fostering can count towards community service or letters of recognition for work! Fostering is a big and important community service, assisting a public charity in a variety of ways! From high school student to military member in need of a letter of recognition/public service: loving, training, socializing, and whatever else you do with your foster dog COUNTS!
Fostering can give insight into running a dog rescue! We often hear many people saying, “I’ve always wanted to open my own dog rescue!” - and sometimes they do! Rescuing dogs is hard and expensive work though, and teamwork is a crucial component of a successful rescue. Fostering different types of dogs, with different personalities, backgrounds, and needs, can give you a realistic look at some of the aspects of what goes into running a dog rescue - and help you either have the confidence to move forward, or to realize that full commitment may not be something you want to do (it takes a lot of time and money, and sometimes there can be sad aspects too!) Because fosters have a say in the type of dogs they bring home - you can choose an easy dog, or you can choose some of the more challenging dogs! It’s all in your hands!
now that you’re ready to foster, check out:
How to Become a Foster!
Tips for Fosters!
All content originally created by Wolf Creek Dog Rescue - April 2024.
We love sharing! Please feel free to link to or share our foster advocacy pages as much as you’d like - we hope they help other rescues and causes! If quoting content rather than linking, please give credit and a link back! Thank you, and rescue on!