"I want to foster a dog over the holidays!" I texted my boyfriend days before the Christmas break. While I waited for him to reply with a "Lol we don't have time to foster a dog," text I began doing some reading on animal foster programs and what they entail. Apparently, anyone can foster a dog.
*Bing* A text from my boyfriend just came through and he said " Alright! Let's do it!" So, major love to him for going along with my spur-of-the-moment decisions.
Back to my research, anyone can foster a dog. Well, I'm anyone so I guess I fit the criteria, right? After going through this process, I do believe anyone CAN foster a pup but you have to be prepared to have your patience, attentiveness and open-mindedness skills put through the wringer, as well as go through an inevitable major heartbreak.
I would not have taken on this foster program had it not been for the fact I get the week off at work for Christmas and the New Year. I didn't really see a point in fostering if I was not going to be around to engage with the dog. I had plenty of time during this break to give our pup a home away from home for the holidays. Plus, Rob and I have been discussing the idea of getting a doggo, so we knew this would be a really good test for us!
The Animal Foundation we went through only allows you to adopt medium and large-sized dogs. This is only because all of the small dogs are usually adopted within 24 hours of being admitted. I'm not a fan of pups bigger than me so I started my search into medium dogs. I inquired some information about a few with the foster team there and had our eyes set on a Pitbull mix that sounded like she would be a good fit (physically and conceptually). Her name was Precious.
We waited until the end of the day on the Sunday before Christmas, just in case there were last-minute puppy adopters for the holidays. We went to go pick up Precious, but when we got there we were told she was showing signs of kennel cough (ugh!). This is okay if we weren't planning around being other dogs, but we were. Now we had to go "shop around" for lack of a better term.
We needed a dog that could (at minimum) handle being around other dogs, wasn't sick and wasn't territorial. Anything else we figured we could handle, but our main concern was how our foster dog would interact with other dogs.
We went through each of the kennels, went back to the foster desk, asked all the right questions on every dog we thought could be a match for us. We walked two pit bull mixes. Kirby and Primrose. Kirby was a huge ball of energy and a real hunk in the dog world. Primrose was a playful pup whose curiosity got the best of her. She was the one!
The Animal Foundation provides you with food for the week, a leash, and some "Adopt Me" swag. For that week, you are that pup's ambassador. Even though she's with us, she is still up for adoption all of the time. I really enjoyed that part. We weren't able to adopt her out ourselves, but I can imagine there would be an awful amount of satisfaction coming from that.
Getting to know Prim (we nicknamed her) was so delightful. She came home and immediately wanted to play. The first two days we had a few accidents (2 pees on the carpets and 2 poops on the carpets) but once she figured out the backyard is the spot to do her business in she was very good about going downstairs and waiting by the door.
Because of those accidents and a few other random outbursts, we did have to keep an eye on her. I would even bring her into the bathroom with me while I showered because ten minutes alone could mean a mess of situation when I got out. She was happy with any chew toy we gave her though she just liked to destroy those. We weren't allowed to give her any baths since she recently had some surgery, but of course, we looked away for one second and she jumped into my parent's pool. However, when we dried her off she was very good and seemed to like the Monat pet cleansing spray!
I say that because they just don't know any better. A lot of these dogs the foundation intakes are strays from who knows what kind of family. There were random things that would bother Prim. A car alarm, not a problem, but someone coming down the stairs ( deeper bass sounds) would put her into a barking whirlwind. She was okay when we left her alone some of the time, but the other time she chewed down our bathroom blinds!
Earlier I mentioned that a foster dog will test your patience. When you only have a week with a pup, you have to pick your battles. What can you really enforce in a week that they'll fully understand? I read somewhere that it takes 1-3 months for a dog to adapt to new surroundings. I pretty much kept my reprimands to going potty inside and if she destroyed household materials (only happened once!, R.I.P. our bathroom blinds).
However, through all of these little life lessons, I learned how to be more open-minded to opportunities. I know, that's a really corny thing to say, but it's amazing how much I let the little things she did in the beginning go. Before I was set on not having a big dog and now I am open to all sizes. I don't care as much about things because things can be fixed or replaced, but as long as all of my loved ones are safe, it is a happy home. Most importantly, I am now open to opportunities that could end up being hard, but overall better for the greater good.
I've never had my heart broken before but, despite how beautiful the staff was during this process, it was totally heart wrenching to drop Primrose off and say our final goodbyes. We grew to embrace and love her curious behavior, wearing ourselves out playing just to snuggle on the couch and the snores that echoed throughout the bedroom. Post-foster depression hit me hard. Especially when we deep cleaned the house and there were no Prim scents left behind.
However, I waited to post this until I heard word that she was officially adopted! The report card the foundation has us fill out said nothing but great things and I hope she went to a family with a bunch of kiddos to run her rampant and keep her curiosity at an all-time high!
Thanks, fur the memories, Primmy!
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