Bringing a new foster dog into the home
Jul. 31st, 2016 11:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
koalathebearI originally wrote this on 3 July 2014. I notice nothing has changed...
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Whenever we get a new foster dog, I'm always excited - and more than a little apprehensive!
Fostering isn't easy for us. We put a lot of effort into our dogs. We don't just put them in the backyard and forget about them - I've heard some people describe that as being what fostering is all about.
We bring them into our homes, love them, care for them, train them, agonise over applications, place them in new homes and miss them while at the same time being happy for them.
Whenever it's time to bring a new foster dog in, the threshold worries are always the same:
1. How will the dog get along with our pack? Our resident dogs are very dog-friendly and get along with all dogs, but there's always disruption to the pack. The dogs are unsettled, sometimes they act very sad and unhappy about the intruder ... it takes a while for things to settle.
2. Will the dog be sick? Will the dog make our resident dogs sick despite their vaccinations and our segregation/quarantine measures? Dodge has caught kennel cough from fosters before.
3. Will the dog be able to sleep through the night or will it cry and complain? I always dread the first night when a foster dog arrives ... I'll lie there, tense and unable to sleep, waiting for any noises. If the dog's noisy, then Dan will say: "This is YOUR hobby!" :)
4. Will the dog hate a crate? We rely so heavily on crates that if a dog is very resistant to a crate, it can be quite stressful for the period up until the dog is crate-trained.
5. Will the dog have behavioural issues? Be food aggressive? It takes time to sort out the pack dynamic. I'm always horrified and surprised despite myself at the lack of food manners in fosters - we're so used to the perfect food manners of our resident dogs.
6. How long will it take to house-train the dog? Our own dogs are very well-behaved, house-training a new dog is a lot of work.
7. How long will it take to train an off-switch? We foster working dogs and think it's important that our dogs know how to chill out and relax in the house
8. How long will it take to settle the dog in? Make it comfortable around us? Around a home? We are training dogs to be family members.
Then there's always the: "How will I hand the dog over after I've become attached to him/her?" "How do I know I have found the right home? How do I make sure I don't make a terrible mistake and pick the wrong owner? Have I done the best thing I could have by this dog?"
*
Whenever we get a new foster dog, I'm always excited - and more than a little apprehensive!
Fostering isn't easy for us. We put a lot of effort into our dogs. We don't just put them in the backyard and forget about them - I've heard some people describe that as being what fostering is all about.
We bring them into our homes, love them, care for them, train them, agonise over applications, place them in new homes and miss them while at the same time being happy for them.
Whenever it's time to bring a new foster dog in, the threshold worries are always the same:
1. How will the dog get along with our pack? Our resident dogs are very dog-friendly and get along with all dogs, but there's always disruption to the pack. The dogs are unsettled, sometimes they act very sad and unhappy about the intruder ... it takes a while for things to settle.
2. Will the dog be sick? Will the dog make our resident dogs sick despite their vaccinations and our segregation/quarantine measures? Dodge has caught kennel cough from fosters before.
3. Will the dog be able to sleep through the night or will it cry and complain? I always dread the first night when a foster dog arrives ... I'll lie there, tense and unable to sleep, waiting for any noises. If the dog's noisy, then Dan will say: "This is YOUR hobby!" :)
4. Will the dog hate a crate? We rely so heavily on crates that if a dog is very resistant to a crate, it can be quite stressful for the period up until the dog is crate-trained.
5. Will the dog have behavioural issues? Be food aggressive? It takes time to sort out the pack dynamic. I'm always horrified and surprised despite myself at the lack of food manners in fosters - we're so used to the perfect food manners of our resident dogs.
6. How long will it take to house-train the dog? Our own dogs are very well-behaved, house-training a new dog is a lot of work.
7. How long will it take to train an off-switch? We foster working dogs and think it's important that our dogs know how to chill out and relax in the house
8. How long will it take to settle the dog in? Make it comfortable around us? Around a home? We are training dogs to be family members.
Then there's always the: "How will I hand the dog over after I've become attached to him/her?" "How do I know I have found the right home? How do I make sure I don't make a terrible mistake and pick the wrong owner? Have I done the best thing I could have by this dog?"
(no subject)
Date: 2018-04-30 08:50 am (UTC)In the end, it all turned out well, he is now a lovely boy who make our days happier <3