Fostering stinks

The dog in this picture is Rugger. He had been seized from his prior owner who kept him in a basement on a bare concrete floor. Rugger had virtually no hair when he was first seized due to a raging skin infection. He waited out the court case in a shelter where he received treatment, and he had already recovered a lot when he came to me, but the skin infection was a recurring thing and oh my dog did he stink. This picture appeared as a Facebook memory today with the caption "Why are stinky dogs the most affectionate?"

Rugger was with me for many months as we worked through his medical issues and worked to find an adopter who was willing to take them on, knowing that it was a chronic condition that would have to be managed, probably for the rest of his life. But that adopter was found and I cried my tear ducts dry on the long drive home the day of his adoption. 

Rugger wasn't a young dog then and he may have passed away by now. I heard from the adopter in the beginning but haven't for a quite a while. And that's fine, that means the dog was successfully re-homed. That's the goal. I have never regretted it one bit. In fact I've never regretted trying to help any dog. I don't regret the pee and the poop, the chewed woodwork and chair legs, the time, work, and money put into fostering. I don't even regret taking a chance on a dog that ultimately had to be euthanized. Even when we failed, at least we tried, and gave the dog a chance it didn't otherwise have. 

But, as bad as the smell was, that's not what I most remember about Rugger. The first thing that comes to mind is how happy he was, how loving and trusting he was, and how grateful he was for the kindness and care he received as a foster. Because he was never really a "foster." As long as they are in my home and under my care, they are my dogs. As long as they are here, they just assume this is their home, and they relate to me as their human, not their temporary caretaker. How can I do anything less in return?

Not all fosters smell bad, but you can count yourself lucky if that's the worst problem your new foster presents. There are dogs that are easy to place (Biscuit is my most recent example). Many, especially owner-surrenders, just need a short term waystation until a new home is located. Sure, some will cause you lose sleep as they learn to deal with the disruption in their lives and routines for reasons that they can not know or understand. But I've never had a new foster take more than a couple of days to learn to accept being crated and that's a skill that will benefit them greatly in any new home. You can do a lot of good for a dog in a short period of time. 

Although there seems to be more people involved in rescue than ever, the demand always exceeds the supply of foster homes. Backyard breeders won't stop producing puppies as long as there is a lucrative market (don't even get me started on the goddamn Amish). 

Rescue groups like Green Dogs are all in need of fosters. Many shelters have fostering programs as well. There are breed-specific rescue groups for any breed you can name, and any decent breed affinity group will also have a sub-group dedicated to rescue of their breed. A bad experience with one group is not a reason to turn away from the greater cause, there are many others out there and all of them need help. 

The idea behind this post was to promote fostering, not to scare people off. As tough as it can be, it's also incredibly rewarding, as anyone who reads this blog with any regularity must understand. You'll meet a lot of people with more dog skills than people skills, and eventually call them friends. And yes, fostering brings a lot of joy to the humans you'll encounter as adopters too. But that's merely an incidental benefit, a side effect that arises from the true reason to foster – to help a stinky dog like Rugger.

So in this world of the simple and odd,

The bent and the plain, the unbalanced bod,

The imperfect people and differently pawed,

Some live without love,

        That's how they're flawed.

                            - Berkeley Breathed