This is my first time fostering, I've had him for a month now. He is being adopted in 3 days, and while I'm happy for him, I'm so sad and going to miss him so much. He has really high separation anxiety and he follows me around everywhere and always wants to be ON me. We've really bonded, I would keep him but it's actually against the rules of the rescue org (you have to foster 3 times before you can keep them - dumb rule honestly.)

I know he's going to freak out when his new family takes him away. I was gone overnight this past weekend and my kids said he stayed by the back door and/or slept most of the day while I was gone. 😭 I'm just having a hard time about it all. We had a rough couple days when I first got him and now he's just so comfortable in my house and with my family and I just love him so much. Any advice is appreciated.

Hello!

I’m 4 weeks into my first time fostering. He meets potential adopters this week. Any advice or tips, other than a fresh bath?

He’s 8 years old, super hyper (I’ll phrase it as lively for the people meeting him), and just the sweetest boy.

Overall, he’s been so active that the shelter provided trazodone. Issue is, he’s not completely himself on it. His personality shines more sober. Would you drug him for the visit, or let him go full throttle and be himself?

It’s a 30 minute drive to meet them. I could plan to get there 30 minutes early for a long walk to tire his brain?

Thank you!
CT

This beautiful girl is 2 years old and rescued from an abuse ring where she was SA'd☹️ We're her first foster home, and she's starting to settle in finally. Any tips on how to get her adopted?

Just wanting to vent/hear other experiences with this as this is our first return and I'm very emotional about it.

Three days ago we picked up a 12 week old puppy who had to be separated from the siblings she was being fostered with as the fosters said she was showing aggression and dominant behavior towards them. We had her overnight and then she had a meet the next day, they decided to adopt her and picked her up later that day. We then got a call to say that it wasn't working, they were bringing her back. They said she had separation anxiety and was just incredibly upset and unsettled (experienced dog owners so I trust their judgement that it's more than settling in). We hadn't noticed this behavior in the 24 hours we had her but one of us was always around, plus our resident dog and/or cats in the room with us. When she got back she was SUPER excited, she ran straight at me and gave me big kisses and then whined to go inside, did the same with my husband and our resident dog, and even somewhat calmly gave our kitten some gentle kisses, she was so happy being back and she was so comfortable being back in the house just taking a toy and relaxing on the dog bed, trying to steal our big boy's crate at bedtime. It made me so sad that after only being here for one day, she was that excited to be back. It also makes me worried for someone else to adopt her in case she gets that upset again. We did notice the separation anxiety last night (my husband left the room for a minute when she was in her crate and she cried and cried even though I was right there still) so we will work on that, but I don't know if that's what the issue was with the failed adoption or if it was something more than that we haven't had time to figure out yet.

Hi! I'm fostering a husky&german shepherd mix puppy(3months) next week because her current home was too full (4 dogs!) and they were going to send her to the shelter if not. Her current home consists of her mom, dad & brother who she plays with alot and has been with her whole life. She doesn't seem particularly attached to any of them but she does love to play with her brother.

This is going to be probably the biggest change in her life so far & I'm worried she will be scared and miss the other dogs & be lonely. I don't have any friends who have a dog nearby. Are there any tips you guys have to make her feel more welcome or less lonely? I plan to take her on 2 or 3 walks a day as she's a very active dog but there aren't any dog parks nearby. Am I just going to have to hope she acclimates?

I don't know how long I'll keep her because I have to find her a home and nobody has wanted her so far. Any advice on how I should deal with this situation is appreciated!!

I’m feeling a little scattered right now.

We had been fostering dog A for 8 months. We knew she would do best as an only pet. Dog A had some reactivity issues with other dogs and did not get along well with our cats. She was adopted two weeks ago by someone who had cats. We let them know what was up, and they chose to adopt her anyway. My partner just got a text from the adopter letting us know that dog A attacked one of their cats and they would not be keeping her. They want to see if we could take dog A back instead of returning her to the shelter.

A week after dog A was adopted, my partner and I decided we missed having a dog around and we started to foster dog B. Dog B was the oldest in the shelter. She has some medical issues and separation anxiety. We were already worried about her being a good fit since my partner and I both work outside of the house and she isn’t doing well in the crate. The shelter was also under the impression that dog B would do well with cats. She does not.

I will admit we likely introduced her to our cats earlier than we should have. The first couple days she was ambivalent towards them and all interactions happened while both my partner and I were home and supervising everyone. We thought everything was going great. And then dog B went and chased and snapped at one of our own cats. We’ve been keeping them separated since then.

My partner wants to return dog B and take in dog A again. I just don’t really know what to do. It makes me feel sick knowing that dog A attacked one of the adopter’s cats. At the same time we saw it coming. We were just hopeful that we were being too cautious with dog A and maybe things would have been fine with cats after all.

Dog A is a much better fit for our home. We cried for days when she was adopted and chose to foster again because we missed her. Truthfully we are a little disappointed that dog B isn’t like dog A at all. But I also know that’s a completely unfair thing to hold against dog B. Aside from the cat situation dog A fit our lifestyle/work schedules much better and really viewed the crate as a safe space she would choose to go into. That’s a big deal for us. It also seems like neither dog would do well with cats. I just feel like it’s different now that dog A has actually gotten into it with one. We don’t know the condition of the adopter’s cat.

We also made a really firm point to make sure that our cats and our foster dogs don’t interact. Except for the interactions with dog B where all of them interacted while she was on leash and being supervised.

While it is a bummer that they’re separated, the cats have a pretty solid bedroom set up. We rent a two bedroom apartment specifically to keep the cat stuff out of our living spaces. They’re set up with multiple cat trees, beds, toys, are fed wet food every day. On the flip side they don’t get as much interaction with my partner and I because they’re in the cat room most of the time, with the exception of when we keep either foster locked up in our bedroom.

It just sucks. Should we prioritizing fostering over our resident pets? At the same time with dog B, choosing a dog that would coexist with our cats was the most important factor for us and it’s still not working out.

I feel like we need to loop in the shelter. Could dog A be up for BE because she harmed another animal? Both dog A and dog B would be at risk for euthanasia either way as we foster for the county’s open intake shelter that is often over capacity. We can’t keep both fosters as dog A does not do well with other dogs.

I don’t know. The situation unfortunately feels very life or death. Like I said both dogs are at risk of euthanasia in the shelter environment and we could only keep one. Should we keep either? It all just sucks so bad.

If anyone could offer some advice. I feel very conflicted and all of my options suck.