Another dog thread... Fostering?

Would those who have fostered dogs share their experiences? My girlfriend wants a dog badly, and while she realizes she can't have one now due to starting grad school in the fall, she is thinking about fostering over the summer.

Would the following situation be okay for a foster dog for a summer?

Pros:
+ Most loving "owner" in the world
+ Would get as many walks/runs as it wanted
+ "Owner" would be alone for the summer. She is a very social person, and is going to be lonely. Because of this, the dog would get all the attention in the world when she's home (which leads to a con)

Cons:
+ She's never had a dog before (but has dog watched a few)
+ Will be working about 30-45 hours a week, but this might be spread out over 7 days
+ Small apartment
+ Do foster parents have to pay for vet bills? She can handle the food, but not the vet bills

What say you great folks? I know that she is not in a good situation at all to be an owner, but it seems to me that even this situation is better than the situation of a shelter. And I/she won't be offended if you say "This is absolutely not a good idea".

Small dogs only. The time away may be an issue, but fosters are needed. If the dog has not been trained yet it will have to stay in a crate for 30-40 hours a week. Nothing over 35 lbs for sure.

Just my two bits.

vet bills usually covered. A lot of rescue agencies will only accept fosters with a fenced yard. Training experience is helpful. Lots of fosters have training issues or came from not so great homes and can have issues that take time and attention to sort out to make the dog more adoptable. Maybe better to start out as a volunteer to transport dogs if she has a vehicle that can hold a crate. She'll spend time with the hounds, learn a lot about handling and training. Can be a little heartbreaking as well as rewarding.

You have to get in with a foster group. My wife and I are. Try to get one that does small dogs, they are the best for an apartment setting. 8-10 hours away from home a day is not bad for a foster dog. Most small foster dogs get crate trained by the foster, so it maybe a new experience for both foster and dog.

Vet bills are covered by the foster group. Some dogs will have minor medical issues and will medicine or bandages replaced, etc.

Our group gives us food.

We have never had fenced yard and most groups (at least around my area) don't require you to have one, mainly because they are desperate for fosters.

They may want her to participate on adoption events on weekends. They go to area pet stores and show off the dogs.

The best piece of advice I can give her, is to be patient. It takes a lot of effort to take care of a foster dog. They usually have had a crappy life and need to learn to be housetrained again and retrained on what toys and treats are.

We have had several shelter dogs and a couple puppy mill breeders. They have all been adopted by great people. Our group doesn't just adopt out to anyone, there is a application and interview process.

I hope that she does it, what people do to domesticated animals in today's world is horrible. There are a lot of dogs that need homes and if there is one more person out there that can assist in that process of finding a dog a home, that helps out more than one would think.

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: I hope that she does it, what people do to domesticated animals in today's world is horrible. There are a lot of dogs that need homes and if there is one more person out there that can assist in that process of finding a dog a home, that helps out more than one would think.

Word. Same goes for cats (I'm a cat person) but when we looked at cats at the local shelter, we also had a look at the dogs even though we knew we couldn't get one as I'm somewhat allergic to dog hair.

What some of these dogs had done to them by the people who owned them before was frightening and yet pretty much all of them should turn out to be nice and loving dogs if they get adopted by the right sort of people.

Cats are just as bad as dogs, shelters have so many that need good homes. I unfortunately can't have cats, my wife is allergic.

We had gotten an owner surrender once, it was a male pug. People told our rescue manager that the dog ran into lawn furniture and it injured its eye. They couldn't pay for the surgery.

The real story was that the people had gotten the pug as a puppy. At some point they got some large breed puppy the decided that the pug was an appetizer. It destroyed his left eye, it had to be surgically removed. When the vet took in for examination before the surgery, they found the pugs body riddled with teeth marks, the worst around the neck and head.

People make poor choices, but these people (as stupid as they were) made the right choice to give the pug up. It didn't belong with them.

We took him in, I took care of the medical stuff for his eye, and 6 months later he had a new home with another pug.

Why don't you two just have a baby instead?

We can't

townsend7 wrote: Why don't you two just have a baby instead?

This has to be the most ponderous thing I've read on here in a long time.

I know someone who fosters dogs (we met a new one yesterday). She is a long time dog owner (took on fostering after her last dog passed away) and is pretty good at training them.

gamby wrote:

townsend7 wrote: Why don't you two just have a baby instead?

This has to be the most ponderous thing I've read on here in a long time.

Maybe I should have added a smiley? Babies don't usually chew the furniture.

Our Basset Hound came from the Basset Hound Rescue of Georgia. He was malnourished when they got him, and still thin, but healthy when we got him... Within hours of him living with us, we fell in love. Had he been our foster, we could not have given him up.

My German Australian Shepherd was abandoned after she "bit someone." I took her in after she was picked up by the police abandoned on the side of the road. She is the modest obedient dog I have ever had.

One of my cats escaped being removed from a vacant apartment. Apparently he can open cabinets. He has recently learned to open doors. Let me rephrase that. He has recently trained me to double-lock everything.

My other cat was a barn cat and is the only surviving cat of her litter after 3 years.

I don't support selling animals (unless the money went to them such add in a shelter.) Nothing pisses me off more than the CL adds where the dog desperately needs a new home. Cost of living fee of $100. That and those with no patience getting an animal that they don't really want to take care of. The fees keep good animals out of good homes for no good reason except for one person coming out with a few more dollars.

Now that I have hijacked your thread, good day to you.

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: Try to get one that does small dogs, they are the best for an apartment setting.

Careful with that, small dogs are NOT always good for an apartment. What you want is a LOW ENERGY dog. (ie: a Jack Russell is small but very high energy and will tear up an apartment.) Any dog that needs a lot of daily exercise is bad for a small apartment and for long crate stays. You should look at an older dog perhaps, or something like a bulldog who prefers sleeping most of the day anyway.

Many foster dogs are "special needs" so find out what you are getting into first. If you are a newbie, I would not recommend fostering a dog that came from a fighting ring or something over 120 pounds!

pinchvalve wrote: Careful with that, small dogs are NOT always good for an apartment. What you want is a LOW ENERGY dog.

This weekend a E36 M3szu carried by an old lady bit a Lowes greeters nose off. Can't find the story but there ya go. Don't get a nose eating E36 M3szu.

Thanks for the all the comments. She is not new to dogs--she's dog watched bulldogs, Goldens, a part lab/part chow/9 parts something else, among others, and I (although I'm not involved too much in this) have had 2 dogs: One the best Golden in the world, the other the biggest and dumbest golden in the world.