Let's be honest here. Had we not fostered dogs, I probably would be dealing with really bad stage IV melanoma. It is not lost on me that fostering saved my life. Had I not lobbied so much for Nemo to get pulled, had the stars not aligned that Pancake and Waffles got adopted to make room for Nemo and Dory, who knows where I'd be now. Had the shelter not gotten a donation to pay for Nemo's expensive heartworm treatment, I'd be up a creek.
So, why do we foster? Well, many reasons actually. I got my first dog as soon as my parents bought their house. I was like 4. His name was Fluffy. He was anything but-lab/shepherd mix, black, last one left in the litter from like New Brunswick. I don't remember life without a dog. He died when I started college. Then came crazy Dustie from the Bridgewater shelter. She had issues......but we never gave up on her. Quitting on a dog just wasn't something we were willing to do. I still carry that today. Nemo is still not housebroken-so what? I clean up the few accidents and move on. He ate a bunch of my clothes and shoes. So what. Molly steals things. So what? Still love them. Lost count of the number of screens replaced on the back door. So what.
As I reflect back, I also think a phone conversation sparked me as well. I had read a book and needed to interview someone. The assignment, book, grade....all forgotten now but not the phone call. I spoke to the animal catcher (it was the 70s). I asked what happened if no one came for the dog. I found out what happens. I never forgot that.
When my parents got their most recent dog, Petfinder was young. You found a dog on the internet. They found Ginger. She's now 13 and going strong. Ginger lived on a chain in the backyard of her 'people' and was limited to certain parts of the house. Even though she had alerted her 'people' to a candle fire, they gave her up. I remember going to the house of the woman who ran the rescue. She was going to take us to see the Ginger (She was staying in her home until adoption). The rescue woman had a herd of dogs all following her around the house. I thought she was crazy (I HEAR you laughing at me!!!!!) but was also intrigued that she had SO many dogs in her house!!!! HA!
We got Molly shortly after moving into our house. She was from my sister's former in-laws. Accidental litter. I was a breed snob then, I'll admit it. Molly turned out the be the poster child for the anti-lab. She's bossy, steals stuff, has bitten several vets, food aggressive.....but we love her. We don't quit on dogs. Yes, she did two rounds of dog training. The thing she learned best was 'let's trade' where she gets a treat for giving up an item we want back in one, maybe two pieces. She steals ANYTHING she can get her mouth on and the louder you yell, the better the treat needs to be for her to give it up.
Fast forward to 2008. We are going to get stuff for Molly but want to avoid adoption days. We were not sure if Molly would welcome an addition but she does well with a few other dogs who have visited for a few days here and there. I check, it is Cattitude Adoption day. We're fine...no cats for us. YEAH......but we get to the store and they do dog adoptions, too. We fall for the dog named Carly. We bring her home a few days later. We keep bringing her back to the rescue to visit every few months. We meet Terri, sucker for black dogs and probably the reason why Carly got pulled from a kill shelter down south. Terri asks us if we want to foster. Hmm.......never really thought about it.
We go home, talk about it and decide to give it a go. So, 2009, July, 4 years ago, we started fostering. We have had over 30 dogs pass through these doors. Ranger was our first foster. I swore after he got adopted that I could not do this again. Dave then asked me about the dogs dying in the shelter because we refused to help them.....damn him....
The hardest thing when I was diagnosed? Having to step away from rescue. I hung on as long (and probably longer) as I could. I kept up with follow ups on adoptions but we had no fosters. Eventually, I was having such difficulty with typing and my health that I had to give up follow ups. It was one of the hardest things to do and it did not go over well. However, I needed to take care of myself first and I was falling behind fast. In hindsight, I had no choice. Life became incredibly difficult after I gave up follow ups this time last year. We drove some transports.....I would sleep. I had to completely drop out for a while. Happily, we are back. More limited but back. We have placed two dogs so far. To me, this was the final thing I needed to add back into my life in order to feel like I had my life back.
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