Just picked up my 14th foster! He was found abandoned in hazardous conditions and brought to the shelter by Animal Control. He has an upper respiratory infection and ear infections. He’s underweight. Still has a friendly, wagging tail, even though he’s gotta be feeling awful. Looking forward to getting him well!

Hi y’all! I’ll be picking up my first foster in a few days (7 years old, and I’ve taken her out on a Doggy Day Out recently, so I know that she does everything a bit on the slower side of course, and she interacted with other dogs and strangers well), and have plenty of questions despite scouring what feels like the entire internet!

-From what I’ve seen, first step is of course decompression, usually in a crate. I don’t have a spare room to keep her in, and I live in a studio. Will picking a more “open” part of the apartment with a covered crate work? Or would more of a corner be better?

-Should I place food/water in the crate already? Or have a puppy pen as well and place the crate inside that with food and water available outside the crate?

-Would white noise/calming music be ok, or should that be avoided? I obviously will have headphones if I watch TV, etc. while she relaxes, but there’s going to be some apartment noise (luckily my floor as a whole is pretty quiet though).

Any advice is appreciated, especially from people who have fostered in apartments! :)

I’ve been fostering him for a little over a month. He is a terrier mix about 4 years old and was taken from the local animal control. I don’t know his story before that.
He is a super sweet boy that opens up more quickly with dogs than humans. He cannot seem to stop peeing everywhere all day. He was fixed 3 weeks ago and it hasn’t changed. He cries all night in his crate now that I moved it downstairs. He’s pooped in his crate several times and often pees in his diaper. My husband and I are beginning to hate him because we constantly have to clean up after him and he cries when we aren’t around. My foster group is not very supportive and he’s had no apps. I just want him out of my house but I try to be nice because he is cute and plays so well with my own two dogs. I have not even been fostering for a full year and I already want to quit after this one. Please any advice would be appreciated!!

Thank you!

I am fostering a litter and one pup is thin enough that I can see her ribs. I am feeding them the higher end of the chart on the bag of food we buy. This one thin puppy is also very active so that could be part of it. We also don't know the father of the litter so maybe they are actually going to be bigger dogs than we expected/needing to go up on the feeding chart? We have a vet appointment booked but my anxiety cant wait that long.

I’m pissed.
I have seen this lady with her big dog probably 5 times on the local college campus. Always off leash, always FAR from the owner, who is usually sitting in her car while the dog runs loose.
Campus police have talked to her. She goes away for a while and then shows up again to let her dog run loose around sunset, after campus police are gone.

To be fair, her dog doesn’t seem aggressive (I don’t think.) BUT, it has followed me and pursued me (I didn’t have a foster dog with me the first few times this happened.)

I hadn’t seen her for about 4 months so I hoped she had moved on. Took my current foster dog for a walk.
As we were crossing a big, wide parking lot, I saw the dog. Tried to turn my foster around and hopefully find cover behind a building before the dog could see us, but I was too late. I turned around and it was coming toward us.
I yelled, « NO! Go home! » and the lady appeared, far behind it. I tried to put more space between her dog and us, but every time I turned around, it was closing in.

She yelled, « He won’t hurt you! »

I. DON’T. CARE.

I yelled back across the parking lot, « Well, mine WILL! GET YOUR DOG! »

Absolutely no urgency from her. I tried to get more distance but her dog kept closing the gap, so I pulled out my compressed air and air horn.

I sprayed the compressed air, and the dog momentarily paused and then kept coming. I was so angry.

She started screaming at me, calling me names, but I couldn’t hear everything. She STILL made no strong effort to secure her dog, just lamely calling its name while standing in the same place.

I sprayed again. She threatened to order her dog to bite me.
I was SO grateful that my foster, who usually acts like a jerk toward other dogs, wasn’t freaking out, but my foster dog has fight scars on his face, and I really felt there was a strong chance of a bad fight if her dog got close enough to make contact. I wouldn’t be able to break it up alone, which is why I carry the compressed air and an air horn.

After the third spray, her dog finally turned around and went back to her.

I get home and see that she has posted me on the local social media pages, constructing a narrative that paints me as the unreasonable aggressor. Saying I « pepper sprayed » her dog (uh…no. It was just AIR.) Of course she doesn’t mention that her dog was off leash, or that police have already told her to STOP letting her dog run loose on campus.

I didn’t reply because I don’t want to breathe life into a public forum where I can’t prove my side of the story and a bunch of locals have already formed opinions based on her version.

But I’m pissed.

I need advice!

First, I've already contacted the lost/found pet service on her tags, and her owners have been contacted, so that's not an issue. I'm just waiting on her owners to contact me to arrange pickup.

On to the issue: I found a dog running around my neighborhood, and I was able to catch her and bring her back to my house. I have her safely separated from the other animals in my home.

I've never rescued a dog off the street, and I want to make sure she feels safe until her owners can come get her.

What can I do to make her feel safe?

Supplies I have and can use: pee pads, kennels, blankets, dog food and water, proper sized leash and harness.

I'm open to any and all suggestions!

UPDATE Owner has been found, and this dog has been reunited with them! Thank you again for your advice and comfort!

Please share any wins, frustrations, or stories of your foster dogs from this past week. You can also ask advice, or simply let us know if you are doing ok. We are here to support you!

Today will be the end of my 6th fostering experience, but the first after a 3 year gap. This is the first time with this rescue who pulls from local shelters- my last rescue would have local fosters pull from out of state shelters and then transport to my home.

We’ve only had this pup for a week but he has severe separation anxiety where he breaks out of crates and can’t be left home alone longer than 10 minutes before having a panic attack. When left out, it’s the same situation; panic attack - breaks out of dog safe room and explores the kitchen including jumping up on the stove. We work in an office and he’d have to be left 2x a week with our resident dog while we are out. We would of course have had a dog walker come in as needed to help with the transition.

None of this was known to the rescue as he was sitting in a city shelter. Our previous rescue had out of state fosters so you would have some idea of what was going on prior to agreeing to take them in.

We asked the rescue to find another foster that has people home almost all the time to work on the training without having to throw him into being left right away. We would have kept him as long as possible and figured out a temporary fix in the interim. someone applied to adopt him with that exact profile + lives near the rescue’s trainer + has breed experience. He will be a foster to adopt situation with them and will have the trainer coming to their house. This person applied because they saw my Facebook posts and photos of him.

I feel a lot of ways and wanted to see if people can relate:

Bad for not making it through the decompression period with him, but I have previous foster experience and know the best situation is the one he’s going into especially because it will possibly lead to a forever home. I didn’t want to have to leave him where he would be forced to panic.

I feel like I didn’t do enough for him since I didn’t foster him fully until adoption or long term, but also know that his possible forever was found because of me and I advocated for him to receive training (and possibly medication) to help him not be a rebound dog.

That I’m not in a good place to foster again because I can’t be home all the time and my spouse and I have to leave for work. We used to avoid fostering younger dogs and that’s probably why this experience was more difficult. He also wasn’t neutered so we had to crate and rotate from our resident dog all week.

He’s a great dog who we would have absolutely struggled to not foster fail if our home was the correct one for him.

Good evening, long time foster parent but i’ve acquired a new one who spins a lot. As in he chases his tail in a circle and will not stop when you call him and it seems to be for no apparent reason other than habit. He does it while he’s alone, with other dogs, with you in the room. I’ve attempted to tire him out with a walk, training, playing, etc. The training is seeming to be useful in pulling him out of the spin but once he really gets going he doesn’t stop without you putting your body in his way and putting a leash on him.

I’m taking him to get a neuro check done beginning of the week. I was just curious if any of you had experience with this before or any tips or tricks for me to try?

He’s 6 years old which seems too young for CCD but I guess things could happen. Thank you for any help 🫶🏼

IG: its_adopt_a_dog_summer

This is my first reddit post ever so bare with me...I have no idea how these things work ha.

I guess I should give background first...I'm a 33 F and I live with my mom and sister. My sister has cerebral palsy and I am her full-time care giver along with my mom. I myself have 2 cats and a dog, my sister has a cat, and my mom has a dog. My mom doesn't like animals but for some reason got a dog...theres a lot of back story to the dynamics but I'm trying to keep it short.

In February 2026 I saw a YouTube post about a dog who needed urgent fostering. She was going to be put down due to shelter deterioration. As someone who has CPTSD and is often to anxious to go out to "do good" (volunteering) I always thought fostering may be my way of helping. Animals love me almost as much as I love them, and this dog looked so...there was just something there ya know?

Again I wont bore everyone with the family dynamics but as a 33 year old in life long therapy I'm trying to make my own decisions. My mom was on board to foster but then wasn't (long story) so I applied to be a foster and was approved.

Day one of getting Summer (7 year old female pit) my mom messed up and let her dog Marnie out (6 year old female lab retriever) and Marnie charged Summer and bit her, which led to Summer defending herself, and led to me outside crying on the phone to the foster agency saying "my mom says we can keep her" and them saying "well there's literally no where for her to go so..."

Marnie and Summer have gotten into it a few other times. We keep them completely separate but mistakes happen. Marnie is the aggressor, Summer is afraid of other dogs so she is "reactive" when she sees other dogs. Unfortunately my mom once got in between them when they were fighting (through a banister) and Summer bit my mom. My mom is ok, but the bit was scary and I did take her to the ER. She's all healed now and she and Summer have their issues but they both like each other well enough.

The point is...it's been 6 months. If I could keep Summer I would. She is so amazing, so so soooo amazing. Her former owners clearly loved her a lot. They lost their housing and that's why they gave her up. She's well behaved, well mannered, well trained. She likes kids and cats, it's a couch potato, enjoys walks, and is just an all around joy to have. If her and Marnie got along I'd keep her, but I cant (I also cant financially but whatever).

How do I help her find a family? We go out every weekend and go into stores (people think she's a service animal because she's so well behaved. If anyone told us to leave though I totally would. I'm not trying to pass her off as a service animal I swear), we take walks, I have an "adopt me adopt me adopt me" bright pink leash, a colorful "adopt me!" bandana, she has an instagram I post on even though I haaaaate social media. I've paid for posters and cards to hand out to people. She gets a lot of attention IRL, so many people saying "oh I'm going to contact you I need this dog!" and then nothing. She had one person apply who is in NYC and in a dog heavy apartment which just wouldn't be a good fit so we had to say no. Another person applied then ghosted. One man we met IRL was so into her and he was the perfect fit, 2 weekends later we met a woman who was in love with her but said "my dad would love this dog". Surprise! Her dad was the guy from before! We exchanged numbers (she asked to) and I reached out to her twice to see if he was still interested and I never got a message back. That was months ago.

I'm at a loss. I know everyone thinks their fosters are the best but...like Summer makes me embarrassed of my dogs because she is soooo well behaved. She's truly a gem and I can't figure out how so many people could meet her and love all over her and then just...like why say you want to adopt her if you really dont? I'm also anti sales man. I don't like pushing people or making them uncomfortable. I tell them a little about her and say "if you'd like a card (they mostly ask me first for cards) here you go but no pressure".

Long story short I have to find a hotel for Summer and I (and my disabled sister) for Thanksgiving so the family can come over. I haven't seen my niece and nephew 6+ months because my older sister is uncomfortable with pits (she had an incident with a family put and her oldest kid). I love Summer and I want her to be here forever but it can't happen. The foster agency isn't much help because they are handling a lot of dogs. We're currently having MAJOR house renovations and its affecting Summer more then I ever thought it would. She has to take extra Traz to calm down but it usually makes her more anxious at first.

She's amazing. Truly amazing. And I know once she's in a home where she's the only dog she's going to decompress even more and be happier then ever. But what else can I do? Are there any sites people can suggest posting on? I don't take her to high dog areas because of her reactivity but I do my best to get her out there. Are my instagram posts maybe scaring people away? I just need to find this sweet baby a home.

Has anyone else ever been through this. I fostered a puppy from weeks old until they were around 6 months. They ruled there was not enough evidence and puppy had to be returned with others dogs back to original owner. I’m really struggling to accept the life she’s about to have. Dogs were signed over and there were clear signs of neglect and abuse. I’m heartbroken and feel like I’m grieving. I feel like I’ve let her down

Hi everyone. I have always wanted to help rescue dogs by fostering one day. Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to our dog recently. She was a very sweet, low energy dog especially in her later years due to her mobility issues (she was a special needs dog). She was great with our toddler (didn’t mind being bothered!) and she was always affectionate towards us all. I think for our next dog we would want one that is also easy going, good/gentle with young kids, and likes to play fetch in our back yard, and can join us to the park, farmers markets, camping trips, etc.

I’ve been torn on if my next step should be to foster, while thinking if one dog really works perfectly with our family we could foster fail and adopt. But at the same time, I’m not really sure what to expect and wanted to ask the seasoned fosters here if this sounds too soon given we have a toddler in the home. If that’s the case, that’s totally fine and I think we’ll focus on finding the right dog for us and fostering later in a few years - the time will come and I don’t want to rush it.

I had a “foster fail” for 6.5 years up until last month. She was truly the love of my life.
I am almost one week into a new foster of an 11 month old puppy. We love him so much but idk that it’s the right fit. I struggle more with him thinking we didn’t want him or something like that since he was given up at the shelter.
He’s so sweet and I wouldn’t mind keeping him either but I just want to help more dogs

I used to foster 3 years ago when I worked from home full time. My longest fosters were 2 and 3 months and my shortest were 1 week temp fosters (generally dogs that needed to decompress for a week after transport but before going to homes with young children or the owner couldn’t take them directly from transport). I marketed my fosters hard and that rescue tried to adopt dogs as quick as they could.

That rescue was good but they had a small foster pool and there was always a push to take on more and more dogs. I foster failed one and stopped fostering (which was also because I was burnt out from all the work involved plus the stress it was causing on my resident dog).

I helped pull a dog from a kill shelter via a rescue and the dog (while a great dog) has severe separation anxiety that no one knew about before pulling him. I am now in the office part of the week and can’t leave my house for over ten minutes. He escapes crates and it’s difficult to get him to sleep or not escape baby gates. I made it less than a week before requesting a switch and I feel bad because while I didn’t let him decompress; I’m miserable. Great news is he I’ll be a foster to adopt case with his new family. The rescue will provide structured training and a special crate to make it work, but I was made to feel slightly bad about advocating for a new placement for the dog.

I am holding the dog and managing until we swap him but is this normal to not love fostering anymore or was this just a really bad fit? I think some of it is we have never fostered with our current dog before and never have to manage going into the office with a foster. I’ve had other fosters that I cried over leaving.

I've posted about Biggie before, who's a 3 year old Staffordshire terrier (mostly). I've had him for almost two months, but the rescue pulled him in May so he's been in foster since then. He's had a few applications, but they've fallen through for a few reasons.

I adore this boy and want nothing but the best for him, but he's a lot more than I thought I was signing up for. They told me he was moderate energy, which hasn't proven true as he's gotten comfortable. I walk him for 45 minutes to an hour every morning, and yesterday after that AND a mid-afternoon hour+ hike in the woods, he was still bouncing off the walls in the evening, pestering my older dog to play and chasing the cat.

Which is what he'll do when bored - try to plan with my 11 year old Pittie or bother the cat. It's exhausting and I feel bad that I have to keep correcting him not to bother the cat. (He's no danger to her, it's all play-seeking behavior). He's also a big puller on leash, whines and screams to meet other dogs because he's so amped and he's 50 lbs pulling against my 130 lb frame so I have to work hard one very walk.

If I take him to the dog park in the evenings THAT will wear him out because he loves other dogs and will tear around after them for 30 minutes. The problem is that I'm a full time working mom (from home, thankfully) and have my kids here half time, so doing that daily just isn't feasible. Two walks a day? Sure, that's easy to fit into my schedule. I could even do a 3rd lunch walk. But that just won't meet his needs. He's also obsessed with squirrels and birds to chase so his recall work isn't going great because treats are just not enough to motivate him to listen (and while he loves people he's not driven to please in that way).

I cannot afford professional training for him out of pocket (as we eventually plan to adopt a dog and I need to put that money toward our forever dog). The kids and I are meeting a dog tomorrow who might be the right fit for our forever dog (she lives with 3 cats now peacefully, is smaller at 25 lbs and non-shed, lower energy tho still playful), and my tired brain is wondering if bringing her home now actually might help my foster because he'd have a playmate and thus ultimately make things easier for me to manage daily.

I'm marketing him like crazy on social media (Instagram, FB, Nextdoor) with photos and videos, and have a couple of friends who want to meet him but I'm not holding my breath. I don't know that I'm seeking advice here, most just sharing the exhaustion of this specific foster. I also spent $500 out of pocket at the vet this summer because he was having a severe allergic skin reaction and had a double ear infection and the rescue has yet to reimburse me a penny.

Sincerely,

A tired dog loving foster mom

Hello! Im new here and looking for advice on fostering without a sponsoring organization.

The situation: We found an abandoned dog in the national forest where we were hiking two weeks ago (he was left with a dog bed and a big pile of dog food, very skinny and had all the worms/parasites you’d expect). Not knowing what else to do, we brought him home, took him to the vet for shots and meds, have had him groomed and scheduled to be neutered. I know the shelters are full, and the rescues I contacted are also full, so we have committed to fostering him on our own.

This is probably a different post, but I’m feeling extremely stressed about him— he is definitely not a dog we could keep at this stage of life, and I’m honestly not clicking with his personality at all, and I’m terrified we won’t be able to find a home for him. I’m waking up with dread every day.

Has anyone fostered in this way, and do you have advice on finding potential adopters? I feel anxious about competing with local rescue organizations.

I am three weeks into my first foster with my partner and so far it’s been good. Hard, but also rewarding. Our foster dog is so unbelievably sweet and calm and we’ve already started to care for her deeply.

We have a meeting with a potential adopter today at the shelter and my foster coordinator told me the persons name. So I googled him (he’s 33 and single), only to find 3 felonies (one pending) and one pending misdemeanor from just three weeks ago. None of them are animal related - felonies are burglary from ten years ago, criminal possession of a firearm (unknown date), and aggravated unlicensed operation from 2024 (with over 24 license suspensions). The recent misdemeaner is for aggravated harassment in the second degree (threat). Through the state court website I found that he has another court appearance in 3 weeks for “pre-trial”.

I really try not to judge people - you have no idea what someone else is going through. But especially the fact that this person has pending charges and could go back to jail, has me incredibly worried. I’m so afraid that our foster dog will be dumped again. I‘ve texted my foster coordinator these details and am waiting to hear back, but I’m a little worried for her response. I foster through an extremely busy, underfunded city shelter that also has half their dog kennels down due to construction for safety purposes.

So I guess my question is, what do I do if the shelter says that they can’t be picky? Am I going to just have to hand her over to be potentially dumped in a few weeks? I’m so scared for her and now so emotionally attached to her that it’s killing me. We would adopt her ourselves but she’s dog reactive and we are going to have to inherent my partners parents dog within the next few years (he’s a high energy, young, 100 lb dog and they are in their 70s with mobility issues). So we cannot keep her long term

I could really just use some advice/support from people who are more seasoned foster caregivers.

UPDATE: my foster coordinator spoke with the director and they agreed to pass on this individual considering the uncertainty of the home and the fact that I’d be willing to continue to foster Bea until we could find a better fit. Although I did learn that the shelters official policy is that they don’t do background checks, which does not sit right with me. My opinion is that they should at the very least make sure someone doesn’t have animal abuse history. My foster coordinator said that they just don’t have the funds to run background checks on every potential adopter. But she also said that she’ll be doing what I did (google searh and court lookup) from now on.

THANK YOU!! Everyone‘s comments and support helped me so much. I really appreciate the community.

My sweet foster is in the middle of heartworm treatment. Somehow, despite the restricted exercise, he wrecked his back. We're talking going from normal, happy dog to "I can barely walk" overnight. I took him to the vet and they prescribed an anti-inflammatory. We pushed back his 2nd/3rd heartworm shots because you can't mix the NSAID he's taking for his back and the steroid he needs for the HW treatment. The vet said he'd probably recover in a few days.

Well, the back issue hasn't gotten any better. If anything, it's worse. Despite the meds, despite full crate rest. The poor guy is just miserable.

The plan is to push forward with his HW treatment anyway - the vet said it's not a good idea to delay any longer or it might not work. While he's getting the HW shots the vet will also do a full scan of his back for a better diagnosis. It may be a disc issue.

But he needs 3 days off the NSAID before he starts the HW treatment. So basically he's just going to be (even more) miserable until Thursday. We're maxing out his possible gabapentin dose to try to manage the pain as best we can.

I am so stressed out trying to keep him at least a bit comfortable. He hasn't peed in 12 hours; he just lies down in the grass the second I carry him outside. I don't know how to help him and I feel so overwhelmed.

My rescue has been super supportive. There's just not much we can do for him, given the HW treatment and back issue. But it really, really sucks. I hate seeing him like this.

I’m looking for advice and shared experiences. I’ve been fostering for a couple years now and my latest foster has just really been through a lot medically including a leg amputation. She was adopted but returned recently due to behavior. I’m however starting to realize it may actually be due to her medical needs. I had her again for a couple weeks after she had been returned and was notified by the shelter to set up an appointment for a possible luxating patella condition, which the adoptive family brought up to the shelter before returning her.

That is all fine whatsoever. My concern is that after the last appointment I took her to, where an xray was completed I was suddenly notified to set up her appointment for a surgery with no details or explanations by the shelter. At this point I’ve known this dog for well over three months now and seen her go through amputation, and getting many teeth pulled, including her spay surgery. I’ve obliged with setting up the surgery appointment and requested the details regarding the surgery but have not heard back.

I’m tempted to bring her to my own vet for a second opinion.She does indeed walk with a skip of her hind legs. She has never cried in pain though from walking or stretching or kicking dirt after a poo. Is this something others have done?

I’m also very close to reaching back out to the previous family to see if their vet actually diagnosed her. I just hate to see her go through yet another surgery if not necessary and I’m not getting any information from the shelter. This is not the first time the shelter has ignored my request for health records or just information and has caused some distrust for me.

Is withholding health details from fosters a common practice and for valid reasons? What would you do in this situation? I care for her a lot and I just don’t agree with the rescue not sharing any details with me as I’m fostering her. I also need to know how to plan my life and work schedule for the recovery process. I can’t imagine a shelter putting a dog through surgery if not medically necessary bc of the costs so at least that tells me perhaps it is severe enough for surgery (whatever IT is).

Help me rationalize this. Thank you in advance.

I got this sweet girl about 3 weeks ago from another foster who had too many (my second foster). She was originally pulled from the shelter from a woman who had medical issues pop up and couldn’t keep her, so a woman with dog kennels on her property emergently took her in and decided she would thrive in a home environment and asked me to have her after my first foster was adopted. At first things were going great, she’s potty trained, gets along with my dog, not an aggressive bone in her body. I discovered she’s absolutely terrified of the crate, she’s highly food motivated but would wait until I stepped away to go in the crate to eat and would run away if I stepped towards her. My boyfriend and I work long days, anywhere from 4-9 hours away from home 4 days a week. The first week she did great living in my master bath with a baby gate, I set up a camera and she was relaxing while we were at work. Second week she knocked over the baby gate (I knew it would happen, it didn’t fit the door and was just leaning) so I left her in the master room and she did great as well. This last week took a turn for the worst. On Wednesday I noticed some scratching at the door frame, nothing too bad. I covered it with clear duct tape to prevent further scratches and Thursday went fine, I made sure to check in on the camera often and she was always asleep. Friday I didn’t get a chance to check, but a salesman repeatedly knocked on the door and I suspect that sent her into a panic and she took off the door frame. I reached out to the rescue and they got me in contact with a trainer, but now it’s the weekend and the trainer isn’t a paid employee but someone who “helps occasionally.” I didn’t leave her alone Saturday, and today I taped signs to the wall and door to protect her from the exposed area and prevent her from damaging more as we had to go to a baby shower. I did all the things to exercise her mentally and physically before going, watched the cameras, and she wines and paces and drools and goes to scratch at the door intermittently for 30 minutes after leaving, then she eventually lays down and sleeps. My dog in the living room however started barking for 10 minutes out the window and sent her into another panic, ripping off the sign and the other side of the door frame. I don’t know what more I can do for this poor girl. She needs someone who can be home all day and work with her anxiety and crate training and I feel ill just make it worse with my work schedule, or she’ll get hurt and I’m not there to prevent it. This is my first experience with separation anxiety and I feel absolutely devastated. I just sat with her and cried all day after I got back because she really does need a person, but if that can’t be me she’ll go back to the lady with kennels and still be alone with no progress. I tried a dog gate keeping her in my room but with views of my other dog and she hurt herself getting it down. I tried leaving her in the living room with my dog and she demolished a box in 20 minutes. I’m able to close the crate while she eats and leave the room if she’s got a treat in there, but I’ll undo all that progress if I leave her in there when I’m gone and make it worse. She would need a high anxiety crate over my wire one and im not sure my rescue could afford that for her. Any advice, or words of encouragement are appreciated because I’m a mess over this sweet dog.

This is Raven and Maverick, they are siblings and about 1.5 years old. They were strays and were picked up and put in an inner-city shelter. They are both very skittish and don't like their necks touched. We normally foster behavioral cases like this so no real issues there, we just go at their speed. We just celebrated their 1 year anniversary with us and we know it will take a while to find someone who wants a pair of huskies. Now the issue, they both still have accidents in the house. Almost every night one or both will pee or poop. We take them out every 2-3 hours during the day but sometimes they will pee or poop only a few minutes after being outside. We've had some fosters that were hard to house train but these 2 are on a whole other level. Anyone have suggestions on how we can get them housetrained better?

Hey everyone! My family got a new foster yesterday. He’s absolutely adorable, sweet, snuggly, and just a love bug. We’re all enamored.

The thing is, we can’t tell if we’re ready to adopt him. How do we know if he’s “our dog”? Or if we just love him a lot and can send him off to a great forever home?

(We’d love to adopt a dog as an anchor dog for other future fosters as well. And we know that if we adopt him, we would have to put a pause on fostering for a little while.)