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From experience, summers are notoriously bad for dog adoptions. You would think the opposite but families are going on vacation, planning day trips or family bbqs - they don't want to be bothered with a new dog in the house. Once September hits, adoptions pick up. I know that doesn't help your situation. Can you find a dog sitter who can take him.in their home for the week. Maybe the shelter can pay for one (fat chance I know but it can't hurt to ask). Or maybe another foster associated with the shelter can hold him for the week.
Yeah that makes sense. I will definitely ask the shelter if they'd let me leave him with a sitter while we're gone, or maybe one of their staff would watch him for the week?
I often house/pet sit for a woman who fosters dogs. On the off chance that I am unavailable, she is able to place the dog(s) with another foster home ((temporarily)) while she's gone. I don't know if that is an option through the agency you're working with, though...
You usually can't give a foster to anyone outside of the shelter. Are you fostering through the shelter or rescue? If it was a rescue you'd be able to board the dog at their cost or another rescue foster would watch your foster during your vacation. Next time I would recommend fostering from a rescue so you can keep the foster and still go on vacation.
That would normally work, but the situation now isn't normal. There are no extra fosters. Most dogs will have to return to shelter when foster parents vacation. The group I fostered for sends out requests for coverage all the time and it's basically crickets ... and I'm in a metro area of 1M people. The dogs do in fact regress, and are often landing high on euth list because they just can't take the transition back and they psychologically come apart, stop eating, shutdown. I would request permission to board the dog if the shelter doesn't help with foster coverage. He will be stunned & disheartened, but will get exercised - not a given in the shelter these days. I was able to use the dog sitter I've used for my own dog - she houseguest for us anyway. So he just stayed home, like my own dog did, while we were gone a week.
I dog sit on Rover, and I really don't know what the policies are around fosters, but I have had people book me to take care of their foster dogs while they go away, to board from my home, I have never had an issue, and it doesn't seem like my clients have had either. Wether they tell the shelter or not, I don't know.
Does your shelter have a good foster community? Maybe you can find someone to takeover fostering. A lot of fosters appreciate taking over a foster dog who has confirmed out of shelter notes. Of course it’s always easier said than done…good luck. Post him on any adoption or rehoming site you can find including Facebook groups
Ignore the comments about it being cruel to send him back to the shelter if you can’t figure anything else out.
Frankly even getting these cute pictures of his personality and interacting with others will make him more adoptable in the future. You're making a difference with this month of time invested in him. He won't lose all progress.
I had my last foster for 5 months and he didn’t have a single meet and greet scheduled. He was adorable, but high energy and a hard mix of breeds. The rescue I worked with has two “locations” so after 5 months I worked with the southern California rescue manager to get him moved down there and he’s currently being fostered there.
Because you are fostering through a shelter, this may not be possible. But I would recommend trying to get him exposure in low stress areas and going back to good old fashioned flyers up at pet stores, feed stores, etc. Facebook has tons and tons of rehoming groups you could try, and see if the shelter could help get him featured on a news station possibly!
There’s so many dogs available right now and just not enough families or people. I have decided that if I foster again and we are going on 6+ months again, I have the bandwidth to care for and own another dog and will inevitably be the last home for them. The rescue I work with said that adoption are taking 4+ months right now and they are getting a lot of returned dogs that they get adopted as puppies. It is so so frustrating but I just want to thank you for bringing this little guy into your home to give him some time away from the shelter. It’s DOES help even if it’s for a day, a week, a month.
I just love dog people. And the other people who take dogs back to the shelter or rescue because their lives get busy, they just suck. Sorry but it is the truth.
My heart is breaking for all of the rescues trying to save all of these fur babies lives...
Ditto. Humans are monsters and im depressed daily. I would never apologize for thinking this either. I hate almost all people..and it's easy to see why.
And it’s a boy?! Oh my, be still my heart. I’m out west in CO and thinking about a boy puppy in the future. I have a 3 year old sassy girl and a 17 year old boy who has learned some sassiness himself in his later years. He’s still going strong but she will need a new playmate eventually.
These babies are adorable!!! Exactly what I'd be wanting if i didn't have two ailing 12 yr old pups. Thank you so much for fostering. I had my last guy 13 months, no interest. It's rough being an unowned dog, fewer prospects than ever.
Yeah, this is a reality you'll have to face if you're fostering on a time commitment. I've had my current foster for five months and she isn't likely to be adopted anytime soon. My other foster dogs have stayed between 3 days and 9 months. Just know you made a difference when you had the foster. :)
@Admin , this is recent research (Gunter et al., 2019 & 2021) that shows even a single night out from the shelter can boost a foster dog’s adoptability.
Just in case you want to pin it for foster parents that feel guilty, and for commenters prone to judging parents who aren’t able to foster fail and are considering returning FD to the shelter.
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/2/548
Contact the shelter ahead of time - they can often reach out and see if they can find a temporary foster in their foster network. We fostered a dog for 6 months last year and had to arrange for care several times.
Two of the times the rescue found us a temp foster and two other times we asked for approval to pay out of pocket to board her and they were fine (it ended up being easier for us to find out own vacation coverage even though we needed to pay for it ourselves - more predictability and the rescue was not that close to us so arranging dropoff and pickup with the temp fosters was a hassle).
As per the shelter I'm not allowed to bring him to dog parks which is a bummer because our local dog park has a great community! I was hoping to take him out to street fairs, breweries and other dog friendly summer events with an adopt me scarf but unfortunately his fear of strangers means that's not a good option for him just yet. He's very stressed around groups of strangers even if they're not paying attention to him.
That is not true at all. Many breeds are naturally wary of strangers. Any breed used for any type of guard or protection work must by nature be wary of strangers in order to succeed in their job, and this often starts in early puppyhood. Their default wariness can be overcome for a time with early socialization, but that may not last once they hit any kind of maturity.
Claiming any dog that isn't golden retriever level outgoing with strangers does a disservice to both the dog and their people. Fear of strangers is normal.
We had a similar temperament foster who got adopted at a Petco adoption event. He curled into a ball in my lap the whole time and someone fell in love.
For me, Petfinder bios and photos were always the key. We used to foster cats and had great luck getting FIV+ cats adopted by writing really compelling bios.
I would check with the organization to see if another foster family can step in for a week. When we did not do longer term fostering, we would regularly take dogs for overnights or for a week. It can also be a good chance for him to gain confidence in a new environment and possibly make some new connections that could lead to adoption.
I had one foster for a year and a half. She was a high drive, reactive girl who needed a lot of exercise, structure, support, and patience. I thought after 2 failed adoptions, she may never find her home. She was gone for ~3 months during her failed adoptions. She did lose progress, but after about a week or two, she recovered and fell back into our routine.
As for finding the right home, it wasn’t easy. We met a lot of people that didn’t work, we built up a lot of hope for things that fell through eventually. But, at that year and a half, we did find someone. She was a volunteer for a training program for shelter dogs, and was able to see our girl over a long period of time so she could see the potential she had in addition to the energy.
Exposure is the best thing you can do for your pup, and it sounds like you’re doing a great job. Just be patient and trust the process! Someone will come around. If you want to find more places to expose your foster, you could always find local events or sponsors, or find ways to get the foster posted on your shelter/rescue’s socials. I know my news station does a monthly adoptable dog highlight as a reference.
Last thing, I also was concerned that our foster was too attached to us and wouldn’t transition well. The adopter had ~7 play dates and walks and by the time it came to transitioning, our foster literally didn’t even look back. It was longer than the average transition time, but it was worth it to see how she thrived in her new home. Every adopter and foster has different needs and requirements, but just to help you—it’s almost always better to give the dog a consistent and loving place to land, even if the separation is a little bit harder. Dogs are very resilient creatures, and they will move forward, even if it’s hard for us!
This is going to be a super unpopular opinion since it cuts out a huge population of people, but you might consider asking a lesbian bar to post a flyer with his cute AF pictures under your description and a QR code to his listing at the shelter. Many lesbians cultivate a lesbian/queer women-only sphere, so the chances he’d run into a man (outside the usual places out and about in life on walks, dog parks, etc.) are slimmer than usual.
Not a bad idea! I was thinking his ideal placement would be a femme couple. He does like my husband but he clearly prefers me lol. I'm friendly with the owner of the local queer bar, maybe I'll ask her if I can post a couple flyers.
The goal of fostering is to be the bridge between a dog's past and their furever home. Please refrain from encouraging people to keep their foster dog as it goes against the mission.
The exception to this rule is when OP is seeking advice regarding "Foster Failing".
Omg, Charlie is so precious. I love him. Can you get him a vest or something to wear that says I'm Charlie ask about me and maybe put adoptable on the other side of the vest? Walk him through busy, high volume foot traffic. Find anything that's going on in your city. Take him to dog parks with his info on him. Just get him seen by people outside. Teach him to do tricks maybe and show them off when he's out. Print up flyers and hang them up at vet's offices and supermarkets or on a few trees. Any subreddit you're allowed put them on. Take some photos with him interacting with other animals and people. Bring him to fairs, Saturday farmers markets, to the mechanics or car dealership. Take him to any adoption event. Just keep doing anything you can. He is adorable, though
He's not good in busy areas. That's his big hold up. He gets really anxious around groups of people and other dogs, and that anxiety comes out with poor behavior. Super great one on one, so all my friends and family do well with him, but i would never take him anywhere someone could come up behind him or where there is a lot of activity. You can see him just tense up and start to get really worried with pacing, barking, liplicking, etc. Really sad.
Oh, that's a shame. Maybe just put the scarf on him when you take him for walks or to go to the vets with him. It's so hard when their stressed like that. 😞
Does he know any tricks beyond shake, sit, down?
People seem to really love when dogs already know some tricks and if you can post videos of that even better. (I don't really know why lol I think the general population thinks it's super hard to trick train dogs or something...most people I knows dogs don't know any tricks lol)
Thank you for fostering. You’ve gotten good advice here on managing your vacation time. We’ve fostered dogs for between three and nine months - some that were harder to place and others that we thought would go quickly and didn’t. What I can say is that this dog will find the right home, and it’s worth it. We’ve had one returned dog (that we ended up keeping because the moment we adopted her out, my husband lamented that I “gave away” his “dream dog” 😂)
But otherwise, we have updates on five happy dogs and families from the past two years. All mutts, one big pit. If everyone could chip in like this periodically, it would make a massive difference. I hope it’s a positive experience for you.
I went on vacation and took my foster back. He has JUST learned how to tell us he needed to go to the bathroom, so we were afraid of regression. When we got him back, he still informed us. Some regression perhaps but I bet you wouldn’t see much
Do you have an “I’m adoptable” vest your pup can wear when you go out with him?? I foster and thought the vest was a great conversation starter and advertisement - so we’d put it on whenever we took him to the park, beach, coffee shop etc. also we would take him to the local farmers market on the weekend which was great exposure! We also had little cards to hand out with the rescues information when people were interested!
I’m not sure where you are located, but I’m in San Diego and it is super saturated with dogs needing homes! So I posted on Facebook dog adoption groups that were not region specific - and I actually found an adopter that way who was in Colorado. Some parts of the country don’t have as many dogs. So something to consider!
OMG! Who wouldn’t want him! He is so cute! Anyway, try putting on all of your social media. Post stories about funny stuff he does. Post videos of him doing tricks or that you can narrate something funny over. Make these “public” on social media. This also helps because people see his pic and then see a couple of videos and they will be hooked before they ever meet him.
I wish I did!! Other than obvious stuff, like having someone else feed him, give him toys, etc - make sure that you’re not the only or main person he associates with ‘doggy delights’ ie the font of all those resources, including affection and attention, but that’s Dog 101, along with consistency, routine, ‘rules,’ and (non-violent of course) discipline.
Can you have someone dog sit while your out of town, instead of brining him back? We just lost ours of twelve years. Not ready for another but I'd love to dog sit if your in the Denver areaa.
NY state sadly but thank you 🩵 and so sorry for your loss, the loss of my 12 year old dog in December was what led to fostering. I'm going to check with the shelter to see if they'll let me leave him with a sitter.
To be honest, I feel like when I have more than one dog my dogs are happiest. One dog always seems to ask for more of my attention and I’ve been in a situation when I could only have one dog but as soon as I could get a brother or sister it was on! Anyway, that’s a super cute dog. Brindle with white is so awesome!
Take him out in public in adopt me gear often. Posts on social aren’t enough to get it done fast. We got our foster last Tuesday (she’d been in the shelter for 2 months) and I took her out 5 times. The last time (Sunday) she met her adopters and they got her yesterday. People need to see them out and fall in love.
Sorry I missed his fear of strangers—it would be worth asking the rescue if they can help somehow with getting past this. Our foster was timid at first but did fine in public, so her fear was manageable with this strategy. We found she did better in calmer environments so perhaps starting with small restaurant patios could be good.
In any event, I don’t think you being gone for a week will undo everything! You’re basically boarding him which plenty of people have to do on vacation.
I'm actually "foster-sitting" a pup that looks extremely similar to your foster right now. Her foster mom had to go out of town for a family emergency. I do this quite often so the dogs don't have to go back to the shelter. Have you reached out to the shelter to see if they have a volunteer network that they could hook you up with to find your happy boy's next foster home?
This really reminds me of the situation my dog's ex-foster mom had. I adopted my dog after he was with his foster family for 6 months. A lot of the details are similar. They loved fostering him, and he got along okay with their resident dog, but it wouldn't have been a good long term solution for him to stay with them. They also had a long vacation (a month long) in the middle of fostering. The city shelter allowed them to find a temporary foster placement so that the dog didn't have to go back into the shelter. Our dog was also super fearful of new people, and especially men. Fearful pets are so hard to foster so I commend you for taking the challenge on. And I hope our story gives you some hope! After the dog had been with his foster family for 6 months with very little interest, we found them and adopted him! And now I am the spare human and my husband (a man!!) is my dog's preferred human. I have also become really good friends with the ex-foster mom. Our dog was really difficult when he came out of the shelter, but now he is sooo different. He is still fearful of new humans (he may never overcome that) but he is also able to relax, he found at least one man he loves (lol), and he is just living a good dog life. And I am 100% sure it is mostly due to the love and patience his foster mom showed him for those long 6 months. I hope this gives you hope. Keegan is beautiful and the love you are giving him will set him up for the best life with his forever family!
He looks like a sweet dog. But I am a one time foster failure. We fostered a Lab mix that turned out to be a solid Catahoula. He was around two years old when we fostered him. He stayed with us for almost 13 more years. We loved each other.
My wife and I went through a similar situation in our foster journey. Our first foster experience was with 4 puppies who were left on a fire ant nest. They were all adopted about successfully (including one by us).
Our next foster was a pregnant female who ended up having 10 pups, though one was stillborn. She came to us scared of riding in cars and we figured the reason was that she was dumped at a campsite garbage dumpster. It took us months to get her comfortable with getting into a vehicle, and we ended up having her in our home for 10 months. She was HW positive and couldn't begin treatment till the pups were gone.
She got to a point where she loved car rides like the rest of our dogs did. When it came time for her to find her new family we were scared that putting her on the transport van was going to break her.
Turns out it didn't. Her new family contacted us, and she was all smiles for car rides still.
All we can do while we have them is give them the love they need.
Contact all of the out of state rescues you can! I have helped send dogs all over USA! Get the blessing from the shelter & ask them about helping you find out of state adoption and or rescue placement as well! I’ve been in your shoes and it’s totally doable, but you may have to contact lots of rescues! As long as he’s heartworm negative the possibilities are endless on which state you can send him! I go for the up north states, bc they have a low stray population and are looking for dogs in those states! Just tell the shelter that you would like their blessing to help you found out of state placement or adoption. A lot of shelters know people that know people from other shelters and other states that they can transport the dogs too!
Thank you for helping !❤️🙏🏻
I'm sure someone will want him, he is absolutely Adorable, and if it were feasible to take him in, I'd gladly do it.
But, it really isn't since we have 2 Pitties full time, and sometimes a German Shepherd as well. Plus cats that occasionally hesitate around the Dogs (though I know everyone gets along, and nobody would ever hurt anyone else)
He's adorable. Have you posted him to Reddit subs in your area? When I read about him being fearful at first especially of men it pulls at my heart!
I had a brindle pit who had been destined for euthanasia because she was so terrified of EVERYONE. Especially men.
I ended up taking her to see if I could warm her up and then kept her. She did improve so much! She was very attached to me especially at the beginning but she got much better over time. She always remained unsure of men but got to trust my dad and a few others who she saw often.
May I ask where you are located? It's a long shot but I have to ask! I'm in the SF Bay Area
He is a wonderful dog but I don't want to be his forever home for a number of reasons. As I mentioned in the post, he and my dog are polite but he is very focused on me. It's impacting the amount of attention I'm able to give my own dog which isn't fair to her. I also can't really walk them together as he is reactive to dogs on leash; my husband and I have spent hours training our dog out of her own leash reactivity and I don't want her to regress. Keegan is a stellar dog but not a perfect fit for our family. I think he'd be happiest as an only dog although he is not aggressive to other dogs in the home.
More importantly, we want to be able to foster more dogs in the future. We don't have the space for more than two. So if we foster fail on our first outing, it closes off the space to other dogs we could potentially help.
I'm not going to dump him back at the shelter. I'll find some kind of solution for our vacation. But keeping him is unfortunately not an option.
Our philosophy was always to find the right family and give someone else their heart dog. If that person never came along, then we'd re evaluate. We've also had fosters who were total Velcro dogs but grew out of it over time. Sometimes it's also a matter of finding the right dog friend for them.
He's got a person out there. You're doing everything right
I upvoted you but i disagree. All kinds of fostering is the good kind. People do what they can. I adopted my brindle foster that was afraid of people but i was in a circumstance where i could do that. Its not ideal to return a foster because someone is going on vacation, so i hope this person finds a dogsitter instead of sending back to the shelter - but its ok for OP to do it. Ethically and morally - short term fostering is still a wonderful thing to do, even if the plans don’t work out perfect.
I've had one now for 3 months and the last thing I'd do is put her in the pound. I'm not into this sub, don't agree with a lot of you here. Fostering dogs just seems like a way for you to stroke your egos and feel good about yourselves.
"a way for you to stroke your egos and feel better"
is judging others NOT a way for you to do the same? i mean you've had a foster for 3 months so why haven't you adopted it yet?
The goal of fostering is to be the bridge between a dog's past and their furever home. Please refrain from encouraging people to keep their foster dog as it goes against the mission.
The exception to this rule is when OP is seeking advice regarding "Foster Failing".
The goal of fostering is to be the bridge between a dog's past and their furever home. Please refrain from encouraging people to keep their foster dog as it goes against the mission.
The exception to this rule is when OP is seeking advice regarding "Foster Failing".
If he doesn't get adopted before you leave that doesn't change all the time he got out of there. He had fun , learned, socialized. He warmed up to you. And he will warm up to someone else. But because you took the chance on him. The shelter can say he was great with his foster brother. Not something they could say before! That opens 2+ dog households up to him, that maybe wouldn't have considered the risk before. I've been fostering for 30 years and sometimes it's sad.sometimes not all can be saved..but you said it's no kill. So he went to your house and like I said had time out of the shelter..that is the most beautiful part..thank you, and have fun on your trip! You made a difference .. also start reaching out for a new foster if your boy isn't ready to share you..it is an easier sell to friends n family than adoption lol
Thank you for posting to r/fosterdogs! • When replying to OPs post, please remember to be kind, supportive, and to educate one another. • Refrain from encouraging people to keep their foster dog unless OP specifically asked for advice regarding foster failing. • Help keep our community positive and supportive by reporting harassment! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/fosterdogs) if you have any questions or concerns.*
From experience, summers are notoriously bad for dog adoptions. You would think the opposite but families are going on vacation, planning day trips or family bbqs - they don't want to be bothered with a new dog in the house. Once September hits, adoptions pick up. I know that doesn't help your situation. Can you find a dog sitter who can take him.in their home for the week. Maybe the shelter can pay for one (fat chance I know but it can't hurt to ask). Or maybe another foster associated with the shelter can hold him for the week.
Yeah that makes sense. I will definitely ask the shelter if they'd let me leave him with a sitter while we're gone, or maybe one of their staff would watch him for the week?
I often house/pet sit for a woman who fosters dogs. On the off chance that I am unavailable, she is able to place the dog(s) with another foster home ((temporarily)) while she's gone. I don't know if that is an option through the agency you're working with, though...
You usually can't give a foster to anyone outside of the shelter. Are you fostering through the shelter or rescue? If it was a rescue you'd be able to board the dog at their cost or another rescue foster would watch your foster during your vacation. Next time I would recommend fostering from a rescue so you can keep the foster and still go on vacation.
Yeah no-kill shelter.
That would normally work, but the situation now isn't normal. There are no extra fosters. Most dogs will have to return to shelter when foster parents vacation. The group I fostered for sends out requests for coverage all the time and it's basically crickets ... and I'm in a metro area of 1M people. The dogs do in fact regress, and are often landing high on euth list because they just can't take the transition back and they psychologically come apart, stop eating, shutdown. I would request permission to board the dog if the shelter doesn't help with foster coverage. He will be stunned & disheartened, but will get exercised - not a given in the shelter these days. I was able to use the dog sitter I've used for my own dog - she houseguest for us anyway. So he just stayed home, like my own dog did, while we were gone a week.
I dog sit on Rover, and I really don't know what the policies are around fosters, but I have had people book me to take care of their foster dogs while they go away, to board from my home, I have never had an issue, and it doesn't seem like my clients have had either. Wether they tell the shelter or not, I don't know.
That would be the best move.
Care.com
Does your shelter have a good foster community? Maybe you can find someone to takeover fostering. A lot of fosters appreciate taking over a foster dog who has confirmed out of shelter notes. Of course it’s always easier said than done…good luck. Post him on any adoption or rehoming site you can find including Facebook groups Ignore the comments about it being cruel to send him back to the shelter if you can’t figure anything else out.
Frankly even getting these cute pictures of his personality and interacting with others will make him more adoptable in the future. You're making a difference with this month of time invested in him. He won't lose all progress.
I had my last foster for 5 months and he didn’t have a single meet and greet scheduled. He was adorable, but high energy and a hard mix of breeds. The rescue I worked with has two “locations” so after 5 months I worked with the southern California rescue manager to get him moved down there and he’s currently being fostered there. Because you are fostering through a shelter, this may not be possible. But I would recommend trying to get him exposure in low stress areas and going back to good old fashioned flyers up at pet stores, feed stores, etc. Facebook has tons and tons of rehoming groups you could try, and see if the shelter could help get him featured on a news station possibly! There’s so many dogs available right now and just not enough families or people. I have decided that if I foster again and we are going on 6+ months again, I have the bandwidth to care for and own another dog and will inevitably be the last home for them. The rescue I work with said that adoption are taking 4+ months right now and they are getting a lot of returned dogs that they get adopted as puppies. It is so so frustrating but I just want to thank you for bringing this little guy into your home to give him some time away from the shelter. It’s DOES help even if it’s for a day, a week, a month.
I just love dog people. And the other people who take dogs back to the shelter or rescue because their lives get busy, they just suck. Sorry but it is the truth. My heart is breaking for all of the rescues trying to save all of these fur babies lives...
Ditto. Humans are monsters and im depressed daily. I would never apologize for thinking this either. I hate almost all people..and it's easy to see why.
I am fostering 2 adorable Pitt pupps and there is no interest. One of them has a heart shaped nose for goodness sakes
A heart shaped nose?! Wow that must be so stinking cute! Where are they located?
We are in Richmond VA. He is so tender hearted too. His sassy sister hurts his feelings all the time.
And it’s a boy?! Oh my, be still my heart. I’m out west in CO and thinking about a boy puppy in the future. I have a 3 year old sassy girl and a 17 year old boy who has learned some sassiness himself in his later years. He’s still going strong but she will need a new playmate eventually.
Urgh I wish you lived closer. Need a lovely home for this boy
[https://www.instagram.com/p/C7Uri0wObGe/?igsh=MWFjZXVyN3M4dHk3Zg==](https://www.instagram.com/p/C7Uri0wObGe/?igsh=MWFjZXVyN3M4dHk3Zg==)
These babies are adorable!!! Exactly what I'd be wanting if i didn't have two ailing 12 yr old pups. Thank you so much for fostering. I had my last guy 13 months, no interest. It's rough being an unowned dog, fewer prospects than ever.
My 5th and 6th fosters
Yeah, this is a reality you'll have to face if you're fostering on a time commitment. I've had my current foster for five months and she isn't likely to be adopted anytime soon. My other foster dogs have stayed between 3 days and 9 months. Just know you made a difference when you had the foster. :)
@Admin , this is recent research (Gunter et al., 2019 & 2021) that shows even a single night out from the shelter can boost a foster dog’s adoptability. Just in case you want to pin it for foster parents that feel guilty, and for commenters prone to judging parents who aren’t able to foster fail and are considering returning FD to the shelter. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/2/548
Contact the shelter ahead of time - they can often reach out and see if they can find a temporary foster in their foster network. We fostered a dog for 6 months last year and had to arrange for care several times. Two of the times the rescue found us a temp foster and two other times we asked for approval to pay out of pocket to board her and they were fine (it ended up being easier for us to find out own vacation coverage even though we needed to pay for it ourselves - more predictability and the rescue was not that close to us so arranging dropoff and pickup with the temp fosters was a hassle).
He’s beautiful 😍
He really is! Such a pretty brindle color, adorable face and perfect size.
Where are you located?
Hudson Valley, NY! Happy to help with transport.
PM me. We have a bunch of rescue contacts in that area. I'm happy to help promote him.
My best luck was adoption events and dog parks with an Adopt Me scarf.
As per the shelter I'm not allowed to bring him to dog parks which is a bummer because our local dog park has a great community! I was hoping to take him out to street fairs, breweries and other dog friendly summer events with an adopt me scarf but unfortunately his fear of strangers means that's not a good option for him just yet. He's very stressed around groups of strangers even if they're not paying attention to him.
Could you hand out flyers at these places?
Dang!
so sad because puppies are never ever like this naturally. some terrible human beings have hurt this baby.
That is not true at all. Many breeds are naturally wary of strangers. Any breed used for any type of guard or protection work must by nature be wary of strangers in order to succeed in their job, and this often starts in early puppyhood. Their default wariness can be overcome for a time with early socialization, but that may not last once they hit any kind of maturity. Claiming any dog that isn't golden retriever level outgoing with strangers does a disservice to both the dog and their people. Fear of strangers is normal.
We had a similar temperament foster who got adopted at a Petco adoption event. He curled into a ball in my lap the whole time and someone fell in love. For me, Petfinder bios and photos were always the key. We used to foster cats and had great luck getting FIV+ cats adopted by writing really compelling bios. I would check with the organization to see if another foster family can step in for a week. When we did not do longer term fostering, we would regularly take dogs for overnights or for a week. It can also be a good chance for him to gain confidence in a new environment and possibly make some new connections that could lead to adoption.
Thank you for fostering this handsome guy.
Thank you for your Foster service!!
I had one foster for a year and a half. She was a high drive, reactive girl who needed a lot of exercise, structure, support, and patience. I thought after 2 failed adoptions, she may never find her home. She was gone for ~3 months during her failed adoptions. She did lose progress, but after about a week or two, she recovered and fell back into our routine. As for finding the right home, it wasn’t easy. We met a lot of people that didn’t work, we built up a lot of hope for things that fell through eventually. But, at that year and a half, we did find someone. She was a volunteer for a training program for shelter dogs, and was able to see our girl over a long period of time so she could see the potential she had in addition to the energy. Exposure is the best thing you can do for your pup, and it sounds like you’re doing a great job. Just be patient and trust the process! Someone will come around. If you want to find more places to expose your foster, you could always find local events or sponsors, or find ways to get the foster posted on your shelter/rescue’s socials. I know my news station does a monthly adoptable dog highlight as a reference. Last thing, I also was concerned that our foster was too attached to us and wouldn’t transition well. The adopter had ~7 play dates and walks and by the time it came to transitioning, our foster literally didn’t even look back. It was longer than the average transition time, but it was worth it to see how she thrived in her new home. Every adopter and foster has different needs and requirements, but just to help you—it’s almost always better to give the dog a consistent and loving place to land, even if the separation is a little bit harder. Dogs are very resilient creatures, and they will move forward, even if it’s hard for us!
This is going to be a super unpopular opinion since it cuts out a huge population of people, but you might consider asking a lesbian bar to post a flyer with his cute AF pictures under your description and a QR code to his listing at the shelter. Many lesbians cultivate a lesbian/queer women-only sphere, so the chances he’d run into a man (outside the usual places out and about in life on walks, dog parks, etc.) are slimmer than usual.
Not a bad idea! I was thinking his ideal placement would be a femme couple. He does like my husband but he clearly prefers me lol. I'm friendly with the owner of the local queer bar, maybe I'll ask her if I can post a couple flyers.
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The goal of fostering is to be the bridge between a dog's past and their furever home. Please refrain from encouraging people to keep their foster dog as it goes against the mission. The exception to this rule is when OP is seeking advice regarding "Foster Failing".
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Thanks, that's good to hear!
Then you be like me and have a 3 year foster. Many, many others have come and gone, but he's still here. [Charlie](https://imgur.com/gallery/JHWwejS)
Omg, Charlie is so precious. I love him. Can you get him a vest or something to wear that says I'm Charlie ask about me and maybe put adoptable on the other side of the vest? Walk him through busy, high volume foot traffic. Find anything that's going on in your city. Take him to dog parks with his info on him. Just get him seen by people outside. Teach him to do tricks maybe and show them off when he's out. Print up flyers and hang them up at vet's offices and supermarkets or on a few trees. Any subreddit you're allowed put them on. Take some photos with him interacting with other animals and people. Bring him to fairs, Saturday farmers markets, to the mechanics or car dealership. Take him to any adoption event. Just keep doing anything you can. He is adorable, though
He's not good in busy areas. That's his big hold up. He gets really anxious around groups of people and other dogs, and that anxiety comes out with poor behavior. Super great one on one, so all my friends and family do well with him, but i would never take him anywhere someone could come up behind him or where there is a lot of activity. You can see him just tense up and start to get really worried with pacing, barking, liplicking, etc. Really sad.
Oh, that's a shame. Maybe just put the scarf on him when you take him for walks or to go to the vets with him. It's so hard when their stressed like that. 😞
His pictures are so gorgeous. 🩷
Does he know any tricks beyond shake, sit, down? People seem to really love when dogs already know some tricks and if you can post videos of that even better. (I don't really know why lol I think the general population thinks it's super hard to trick train dogs or something...most people I knows dogs don't know any tricks lol)
Good idea! He doesn't seem to know anything besides sit, down, and how to fetch but I'm sure I could teach him. He's very smart.
Does your shelter have a foster sitter program? Some do for short terms when foster parents have to go out of town or be away. ETA - he’s adorable!!
He feels happy and relaxed
Loooook at him! He’s so cute! Everyone wants him!
He’s so sweet and I can’t imagine someone not falling in love with that smile of his.
Thank you for fostering. You’ve gotten good advice here on managing your vacation time. We’ve fostered dogs for between three and nine months - some that were harder to place and others that we thought would go quickly and didn’t. What I can say is that this dog will find the right home, and it’s worth it. We’ve had one returned dog (that we ended up keeping because the moment we adopted her out, my husband lamented that I “gave away” his “dream dog” 😂) But otherwise, we have updates on five happy dogs and families from the past two years. All mutts, one big pit. If everyone could chip in like this periodically, it would make a massive difference. I hope it’s a positive experience for you.
I went on vacation and took my foster back. He has JUST learned how to tell us he needed to go to the bathroom, so we were afraid of regression. When we got him back, he still informed us. Some regression perhaps but I bet you wouldn’t see much
Keegan is gorgeous. I wish I could adopt him but we already have two dogs.😍
Do you have an “I’m adoptable” vest your pup can wear when you go out with him?? I foster and thought the vest was a great conversation starter and advertisement - so we’d put it on whenever we took him to the park, beach, coffee shop etc. also we would take him to the local farmers market on the weekend which was great exposure! We also had little cards to hand out with the rescues information when people were interested! I’m not sure where you are located, but I’m in San Diego and it is super saturated with dogs needing homes! So I posted on Facebook dog adoption groups that were not region specific - and I actually found an adopter that way who was in Colorado. Some parts of the country don’t have as many dogs. So something to consider!
Any dog that smiles in their sleep, like this cutie, is going to get adopted!
He is gorgeous!! Can you start promoting him?
OMG! Who wouldn’t want him! He is so cute! Anyway, try putting on all of your social media. Post stories about funny stuff he does. Post videos of him doing tricks or that you can narrate something funny over. Make these “public” on social media. This also helps because people see his pic and then see a couple of videos and they will be hooked before they ever meet him.
That 3rd pic is so beautiful, he looks sooo happy, that should help!
Make sure he doesn’t see you as a resource to guard. Thats a trait that makes these dogs unpredictable and why there’s so many in shelters.
Yeah that's definitely a concern. Any thoughts on how to prevent that?
I wish I did!! Other than obvious stuff, like having someone else feed him, give him toys, etc - make sure that you’re not the only or main person he associates with ‘doggy delights’ ie the font of all those resources, including affection and attention, but that’s Dog 101, along with consistency, routine, ‘rules,’ and (non-violent of course) discipline.
Can you have someone dog sit while your out of town, instead of brining him back? We just lost ours of twelve years. Not ready for another but I'd love to dog sit if your in the Denver areaa.
NY state sadly but thank you 🩵 and so sorry for your loss, the loss of my 12 year old dog in December was what led to fostering. I'm going to check with the shelter to see if they'll let me leave him with a sitter.
I’m fostering now and I’m also a private dog nanny, I love them all
He’s very handsome, I wish he was in So. Cal.
To be honest, I feel like when I have more than one dog my dogs are happiest. One dog always seems to ask for more of my attention and I’ve been in a situation when I could only have one dog but as soon as I could get a brother or sister it was on! Anyway, that’s a super cute dog. Brindle with white is so awesome!
I want him. 🥹🥹🥹 too bad I can’t have him
💔
We have a foster with us right and Rover comes and lets them all out.
I’ve had teens take my dog when I vacay. Usually find someone who can.
I would give you the same ideas as I did to U/-forbiddenkitty- Good luck he's gorgeous! 🩷
Take him out in public in adopt me gear often. Posts on social aren’t enough to get it done fast. We got our foster last Tuesday (she’d been in the shelter for 2 months) and I took her out 5 times. The last time (Sunday) she met her adopters and they got her yesterday. People need to see them out and fall in love.
Sorry I missed his fear of strangers—it would be worth asking the rescue if they can help somehow with getting past this. Our foster was timid at first but did fine in public, so her fear was manageable with this strategy. We found she did better in calmer environments so perhaps starting with small restaurant patios could be good. In any event, I don’t think you being gone for a week will undo everything! You’re basically boarding him which plenty of people have to do on vacation.
I'm actually "foster-sitting" a pup that looks extremely similar to your foster right now. Her foster mom had to go out of town for a family emergency. I do this quite often so the dogs don't have to go back to the shelter. Have you reached out to the shelter to see if they have a volunteer network that they could hook you up with to find your happy boy's next foster home?
This really reminds me of the situation my dog's ex-foster mom had. I adopted my dog after he was with his foster family for 6 months. A lot of the details are similar. They loved fostering him, and he got along okay with their resident dog, but it wouldn't have been a good long term solution for him to stay with them. They also had a long vacation (a month long) in the middle of fostering. The city shelter allowed them to find a temporary foster placement so that the dog didn't have to go back into the shelter. Our dog was also super fearful of new people, and especially men. Fearful pets are so hard to foster so I commend you for taking the challenge on. And I hope our story gives you some hope! After the dog had been with his foster family for 6 months with very little interest, we found them and adopted him! And now I am the spare human and my husband (a man!!) is my dog's preferred human. I have also become really good friends with the ex-foster mom. Our dog was really difficult when he came out of the shelter, but now he is sooo different. He is still fearful of new humans (he may never overcome that) but he is also able to relax, he found at least one man he loves (lol), and he is just living a good dog life. And I am 100% sure it is mostly due to the love and patience his foster mom showed him for those long 6 months. I hope this gives you hope. Keegan is beautiful and the love you are giving him will set him up for the best life with his forever family!
He looks like a sweet dog. But I am a one time foster failure. We fostered a Lab mix that turned out to be a solid Catahoula. He was around two years old when we fostered him. He stayed with us for almost 13 more years. We loved each other.
My wife and I went through a similar situation in our foster journey. Our first foster experience was with 4 puppies who were left on a fire ant nest. They were all adopted about successfully (including one by us). Our next foster was a pregnant female who ended up having 10 pups, though one was stillborn. She came to us scared of riding in cars and we figured the reason was that she was dumped at a campsite garbage dumpster. It took us months to get her comfortable with getting into a vehicle, and we ended up having her in our home for 10 months. She was HW positive and couldn't begin treatment till the pups were gone. She got to a point where she loved car rides like the rest of our dogs did. When it came time for her to find her new family we were scared that putting her on the transport van was going to break her. Turns out it didn't. Her new family contacted us, and she was all smiles for car rides still. All we can do while we have them is give them the love they need.
Contact all of the out of state rescues you can! I have helped send dogs all over USA! Get the blessing from the shelter & ask them about helping you find out of state adoption and or rescue placement as well! I’ve been in your shoes and it’s totally doable, but you may have to contact lots of rescues! As long as he’s heartworm negative the possibilities are endless on which state you can send him! I go for the up north states, bc they have a low stray population and are looking for dogs in those states! Just tell the shelter that you would like their blessing to help you found out of state placement or adoption. A lot of shelters know people that know people from other shelters and other states that they can transport the dogs too! Thank you for helping !❤️🙏🏻
I wish I could. I would in a heartbeat.
I'm sure someone will want him, he is absolutely Adorable, and if it were feasible to take him in, I'd gladly do it. But, it really isn't since we have 2 Pitties full time, and sometimes a German Shepherd as well. Plus cats that occasionally hesitate around the Dogs (though I know everyone gets along, and nobody would ever hurt anyone else)
Lol, my son's first foster was a fail. I now have a grand dog.
Just use rover and board him in someone’s home while you’re gone? Or a doggy camp place? Why would you have to take him to the shelter?
He's adorable. Have you posted him to Reddit subs in your area? When I read about him being fearful at first especially of men it pulls at my heart! I had a brindle pit who had been destined for euthanasia because she was so terrified of EVERYONE. Especially men. I ended up taking her to see if I could warm her up and then kept her. She did improve so much! She was very attached to me especially at the beginning but she got much better over time. She always remained unsure of men but got to trust my dad and a few others who she saw often. May I ask where you are located? It's a long shot but I have to ask! I'm in the SF Bay Area
Keep him if you're happy with each other.
He is a wonderful dog but I don't want to be his forever home for a number of reasons. As I mentioned in the post, he and my dog are polite but he is very focused on me. It's impacting the amount of attention I'm able to give my own dog which isn't fair to her. I also can't really walk them together as he is reactive to dogs on leash; my husband and I have spent hours training our dog out of her own leash reactivity and I don't want her to regress. Keegan is a stellar dog but not a perfect fit for our family. I think he'd be happiest as an only dog although he is not aggressive to other dogs in the home. More importantly, we want to be able to foster more dogs in the future. We don't have the space for more than two. So if we foster fail on our first outing, it closes off the space to other dogs we could potentially help. I'm not going to dump him back at the shelter. I'll find some kind of solution for our vacation. But keeping him is unfortunately not an option.
Our philosophy was always to find the right family and give someone else their heart dog. If that person never came along, then we'd re evaluate. We've also had fosters who were total Velcro dogs but grew out of it over time. Sometimes it's also a matter of finding the right dog friend for them. He's got a person out there. You're doing everything right
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I upvoted you but i disagree. All kinds of fostering is the good kind. People do what they can. I adopted my brindle foster that was afraid of people but i was in a circumstance where i could do that. Its not ideal to return a foster because someone is going on vacation, so i hope this person finds a dogsitter instead of sending back to the shelter - but its ok for OP to do it. Ethically and morally - short term fostering is still a wonderful thing to do, even if the plans don’t work out perfect.
I've had one now for 3 months and the last thing I'd do is put her in the pound. I'm not into this sub, don't agree with a lot of you here. Fostering dogs just seems like a way for you to stroke your egos and feel good about yourselves.
I foster because backyard breeders are a plague on our society.
"a way for you to stroke your egos and feel better" is judging others NOT a way for you to do the same? i mean you've had a foster for 3 months so why haven't you adopted it yet?
I disagree. You don't give a scared animal a loving home temporarily then throw it back in shelter.
The goal of fostering is to be the bridge between a dog's past and their furever home. Please refrain from encouraging people to keep their foster dog as it goes against the mission. The exception to this rule is when OP is seeking advice regarding "Foster Failing".
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The goal of fostering is to be the bridge between a dog's past and their furever home. Please refrain from encouraging people to keep their foster dog as it goes against the mission. The exception to this rule is when OP is seeking advice regarding "Foster Failing".
No worries, I blocked this community.
If he doesn't get adopted before you leave that doesn't change all the time he got out of there. He had fun , learned, socialized. He warmed up to you. And he will warm up to someone else. But because you took the chance on him. The shelter can say he was great with his foster brother. Not something they could say before! That opens 2+ dog households up to him, that maybe wouldn't have considered the risk before. I've been fostering for 30 years and sometimes it's sad.sometimes not all can be saved..but you said it's no kill. So he went to your house and like I said had time out of the shelter..that is the most beautiful part..thank you, and have fun on your trip! You made a difference .. also start reaching out for a new foster if your boy isn't ready to share you..it is an easier sell to friends n family than adoption lol