{first foster pup}

I share a lot of dog rescue statuses on Facebook, and I often find myself annoyed by other people who do it too. Ooh the irony.

I’d like to think the difference now, is that we’ve done something to help the rescue effort. Someone fostered our dog before we adopted her dog from Halfway There Rescue, and enjoyed working with them so much that now we’ve fostered with them.

Our Ground Rules:

 We must both agree. No pressure. 

Short term commitment.

Our dog is ALWAYS our priority. This put us in a few tough situations, but we stuck to it.

No expectations, we cannot compare our foster to other dogs, or have expectation of what he will/won't need or how he will/won't act. 

Meet the mystery dog mentioned in a previous post: Rock. We liked to call him Rock-man, Rock-head, Rockefeller, Rocky, and sweet boy.

He was marked to be euthanized July 31^st, at 8am at a shelter. I saw the facebook post, and asked my sweetheart if we could foster, and he decided that this was the one to foster. The description on Facebook said that he was under a year but didn't know much else.

He spent the night with the vet, and got a clean bill of health. Hooray!!

We knew our sweet Coco-bear was a real handful. She had TOO much energy as a puppy, and would often not sleep because she had so much energy after a day of playing. We were told he “wide-open,” but we still had an open mind.

So, here’s what we learned with our first foster:

• Sweet Rock-head is finishing getting his last molars I think and likes to chew. Of course, we’ve got that covered. Either that, or pittie teeth are totally different from lab teeth. yep, I had no clue.
• He wasn’t learning too quickly when it came to potty training. This was frustrating, but we bought more carpet cleaner. At the end, he had been accident free for ten days. Hooray!
• He definitely pooped in my husband's new car, on our one hour journey back home. I always thought this was funny, but he only sometimes thinks is is slightly comical. HA.
• He can now sit on command, but needs to learn to not jump. The method that was working was just turning away from him and saying “No” and only petting when he sits. Do what I ask = get what you want.
• Crate training isn’t fun, but he finally walked in on his own  “kennel” after 3 1/2 weeks!! But no messes in the crate, which is glorious compared to Coco who had some digestive issues. We kept him in a kennel to protect our biggest investment-our home. This also limited any frustration we may have felt if there was any damage or messes. 
• I think one of his favorite things must be sleep, because he didn’t like to wake up in the morning. He was so precious, he just sneezed his head off.
• Learning other things like “back-up” and “lay down” are not working. Oh well.
• He’s not crazy about being left in our fenced in backyard with Coco, but he followed her lead on play time, and when it’s time to come inside (aka, bark at me).
• Watching him learn how to go up stairs was HILARIOUS. Bless his heart, he looked like he couldn’t control his legs! I wish I'd gotten a video!
• Our first walk on the leash was interesting, he clearly didn’t know what was going on. He was a little confused, but continued to follow Coco’s lead and didn't get overwhelmed.
• He was food aggressive, and we didn't work on this with him. My dog is MY priority, I chose not to put her in that situation. We fed him in his kennel, also to help with kennel familiarity.

In the end, we realized that he is really too sweet for what he had been through, which I won't share. He only wanted to be loved and be good.

Every foster dog is different. We are glad we were able to do this, and I’m glad we were able to keep an open mind. We did get frustrated, but we made a commitment and we stuck to it. There were times where I thought I would have to call the rescue and say that we couldn't do it anymore, I can admit it. 

But to know that in a month or so, he will be a well-trained dog that will make someone’s heart burst with joy...it was worth it. My heart bursts with joy when I see my sweet Coco-puff, Coco-nut, Coco-bear…and I just know one day he’ll know the same love. We gave him foster love, but he deserved more. 

kissed by a pit & I liked it!

Even if this is the only time we are able to foster, because fostering is hard, I am so grateful it was this sweet boy! He is onto the next leg of his journey, but he has a special place in our hearts. & I'm onto finding another way to contribute to the continuous, often thankless efforts of animal rescue.