Choosing a family for your beloved foster dogs

A little over a month ago, there was an interesting discussion among rescue folks about their rules and restrictions when choosing an adopter. Here’s a link to the original article. In summary, they discussed how some rescues/shelters can be so caught up with their rules, they sometimes miss out on a potentially great match. How old are they? Do they have a fenced yard? How many hours do they work? If they don’t look right on the paper, they don’t even make it to the next step.

The rescue group I volunteer for has a motto “It’s always about the dogs“. We try to be flexible with rules as long as we believe that it is in the best interest of the dogs and all involved. I recently had the biggest dilemma choosing a family for my foster. I initially had a few interests locally as well as a very serious inquiry from East coast. Occasionally we do adopt dogs out to out of state homes if the transport and home visit can be arranged. I really liked this retired couple in East coast for my foster. We talked over the phone and through emails almost daily. Even though they were 1600+ miles away, they were able to connect and fall in love with him by watching his adoption/training videos on the Internet. They asked the right questions and we discussed his continuous training “if” he were adopted by them. The only major roadblock was that they did not have a fenced yard. They live on a 6.25 acre property in a rural area. The area is surrounded by a stone wall and their drive way is 900 yards to the nearest street. On a typical application form, he would have to check “NO” to the fence question without explaining the situation. The couple sent me a satellite image of their property as well as a 10-minute long video of their house and surroundings. They called it “Portfolio”.

When I discussed this with others, more questions and concerns were brought up. How do we get him up there safely? What if they didn’t like him in person? How would he come back to us if it failed? Who is going to cover the cost? How about the fence? Can’t they find a dog locally? Why this dog? These were all valid concerns. I also found out that one of the major rescue groups in their area turned their application down, because they didn’t have a fenced yard.

When I discussed some of my concerns with this couple, again, they had the right answers. Returning was not an option, just as it wasn’t for their previous rescued Border Collie.

We discussed various options to transport him. When pilot & paws option failed, the second best option was to ship him on a continental flight as many recommended. PetExpress was also an option but I felt that he would get more stressed being in a crate for 30 hours, compared to 3 hours on a flight. They offered to pay for his new crate and for the flight. I spent the next two weeks working on whistle recall as well as getting him used to the plastic crate he had to travel in.

To be honest, I was overwhelmed… I went through so many scenarios and what ifs. What if they didn’t feel the connection in person. What if they are not really the type of people I thought they were. Should I adopt him closer so that I could go get him if things went wrong? Believe me, I have dropped applications like bricks before. If one gave a questionable answer to my question, I threw back some tough questions. My goal is to filter those who aren’t ready for this breed or those who are not the right match. If they want the dogs bad enough, they would come back with good debate and solutions. Yes, these were all once “disposable” dogs. Many were on death row, and nobody wanted them. But we, fosters, spend hours and hours to make them more adoptable. We spend many sleepless nights caring for them, cleaning diarrhea and vomit, removing ticks and fleas, training, and taking our vacation days to go to the vet or to transport. We want them to go to the perfect home. It’s never easy. People lie. People change minds. Our dogs sometimes end up in the wrong family and come back to us. I can’t take the risk when he has to travel 1600 miles. But I had to trust my gut feelings this time. Because some things, you just have to.

Let’s try to look at this from an applicant’s point of view. He could have gone to a breeder or a pet store (in some areas where they still allow selling dogs) and get a puppy for the same price or even lower. He could also have gone to a local shelter, pay $25 to get a dog right away. Some shelters are so full, they are desperate to get these dogs out. I’ve been seeing this type of ads more and more lately. “Cats $5, Dogs $10! This weekend only!” And there is always the back yard breeders who sell puppies on the side of a road. Instead he chooses to find a dog from a rescue group and insisted on it because he believes in it. Doesn’t that say something? Enough for you to at least consider even without a fenced yard?

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It’s been a week since Louie arrived at his new home in upstate NY. I warned them that it could take a week for him to show his true personality that they saw in the videos. Well, I was wrong. Within a few hours I got an update saying that he was already making himself at home. No panting or loose stool out of stress; which he had for a while when I got him and whenever he was anxious. I can’t imagine how happy he is to be the center of attention. They also agreed with the description I put on his adoption bio. “Louie is a puppy in a big boy’s suit. You will know what I mean when you meet him“. I think they found their puppy, and he has found his forever home.

Some of the updates from Louie’s new family: