10 Things To Know About Foster | pet adoption

Millie! Hi, come on up. Okay, lazy girl. My little Millie girl. I'm feeling a little emotional today because we just had a meeting with a potential adopter and I think it's perfect but it means that Millie is gonna go away in a few days. But this video is all about the 10 things to know before you foster because what to know about fostering isn't just that you get a free dog for a couple days or a couple months or a couple weeks. It's way more than that and getting it wrong at a fundamental level fostering could not only hurt you but it could also hurt the dog. I made every mistake in the book and I have cried in my car more times than I'm happy to admit. Though if you watch my channel at all you know that I am quite an emotional person especially when it comes to animals. So if you're even thinking about fostering which I really hope you do, this video isn't meant to scare you. It's mostly just meant to help you prepare for everything that you might not be prepared for. So if you are thinking about fostering which I really really hope that you do, this video will save you from having any surprises that no one tells you about fostering. First let's talk about why fostering is so important. Shelters are overcrowded. They're overcrowded because people don't spay and neuter their animals. The shelters are full because people don't understand what it takes to be a pet owner and they get pets that don't actually suit their lifestyle and shelters are more crowded than ever due to economic and political things going on in the U.S. And when shelters are overcrowded they euthanize animals to make space for new animals to come in. In 2024 around 5.8 million animals enter the shelter approximately 600,000 animals are euthanized. And in L.A. specifically which has a huge overcrowding situation between January to September of 2024 L.A. city shelters euthanized over 1,200 dogs which is a 72 percent increase compared to the previous year. And again that was before kind of everything happened that's going on right now. And I know it's really easy to blame city shelters especially in L.A. where funding continuously is cut but shelters euthanizing animals is just a result of everything else that I mentioned earlier. That is why it's important to foster if you are able to. You know it wasn't that long ago that I actually hated dogs. I was scared of them. You can ask one of my friends. She had two dogs and I absolutely did not want to be close to them at all. And then I adopted my first dog Levi in 2013 something like that and then Luke and then since then I've been a foster parent for many many years. There are things that I have learned throughout my foster journey about what it takes to foster and then about just my emotional capabilities. So let's just jump into the 10 things you need to know before becoming a foster. And again I hope that this list doesn't discourage you from becoming a foster parent because it's so fulfilling and you are literally saving lives doing it. But better to know all the information before you go into it so you know how to prepare for it. The first thing is not all rescues are the same. So there's the shelter system which is normally funded by the city. The rescue is more of like a private organization. There are non-profits for the most part and they will either find dogs on the street. They will either get information about dogs that need help from private citizens or in the case of like Millie they are in close contact with city shelters and are contacted by the people that work at the city shelters when a dog needs to be picked up. Both shelters and rescues need fosters so whether you want to go through a rescue or through the shelter directly it's really up to you. That being said there are many rescues out there that aren't actually legitimate and there are actually a lot of rescues out there that are just ******* mean. The very first dog that I fostered, Roscoe, was my first time fostering. It was my first time fostering a pit bull and that rescue I don't even remember remember the name of it but they were very unsupportive. They actually I caught them talking ---- about me on a thread that I was in. So there are rescues that do well. There are rescues that don't do well and unfortunately unless you have like first-hand experience or you talk to someone who has fostered before you don't really know which rescue is which. I am currently fostering Millie through the California Doodle Rescue and so far they have been really really great but if you have any questions about where you are located and if I've heard any great things about rescues in your area please let me know in the comments. But I say all that to say just because you had a really good experience fostering with one rescue doesn't mean that'll happen again and vice versa just because you had a horrible experience with a rescue doesn't mean that they're all like that. So take it from me I had a really bad experience with my very first rescue and I still fostered and you know I found the I found the rescues that I prefer to work with now. So unfortunately not all rescues are created equal and that's just don't let it deter you from fostering in the future if you have a bad experience. The second thing is that fostering is not for everyone. Fostering is incredibly emotional for lack of better term. You're kind of like their halfway house. You're giving them a place a quiet not necessarily quiet a safe space to land in between the shelter system or the streets or an abusive home and finding their forever home. You get attached to these dogs. The shortest foster I had was five days. When I had to take her to her forever home I cried. Millie is probably the longest foster dog that I've had in for about a month and I will definitely cry and I know Brian is going to cry because you end up falling in love with these animals and depending on what type of situation your foster pet comes from you will see major growth. For Millie's case she was scared. She wouldn't let anyone touch her. She would nip at people that tried to get too close to her and now a month later she is sleeping on her couch. She has dog friends. She knows how to walk up to people and she has fully blossomed into herself. Being able to see that growth in a dog that did not have a chance in the shelter system is worth any financial heart or any emotional hardship that you may go through and sometimes that's just not something people want to deal with. I totally understand fostering is not for everyone. Maybe you're just not emotionally available yet to be able to handle such a heartbreak because even though it's a happy thing when a foster dog leaves your care it is heartbreaking because you spent 24-7 with a dog and you've helped them come out of their shell. I guess you don't really know if you're able to actually handle it until you foster but trust me when I say it's worth it. You are more than capable of fostering a dog and if it's too much of a heartbreak when the dog leaves your care then just know that at least you helped save one life. But following up with that point, point number three is before you start fostering you have to set boundaries. For me, I already have two dogs. I don't want a third so I have a very clear boundary set that no matter how much I love my foster dog I do not want a third dog period. So even though I know it's going to break my heart to have her go to her forever home it is a clear boundary that I have set for myself emotionally and you know that's why I foster is to be able to help dogs get to their forever home. So clear boundaries have to be set. The fourth thing you need to know about fostering that you might not know is that you actually don't pay for anything. You don't pay for vet care. You don't pay for food. That is something that the rescues pay for. That being said, rescues are only able to take in as many dogs as they can financially handle because all they're getting is donations but you personally do not have to pay for anything for a foster dog. If you don't have like a leash or a dog bowl or whatever I think it's something that you should have anyways. Like I have dogs in and out of this house all the time so I have extra leashes. I have extra bowls. So I have toys. So anything like just to make them more comfortable I don't have to you know buy myself but food I don't have to buy. She hasn't had to go to the vet yet in my care but if she ever had to I don't have to pay for those bills. So honestly I think fostering is like kind of like a great gateway into whether you are able to be a good dog owner just because like financially there's no risk for you. I will never discourage someone that has kind of like a stable home environment that can that has love that they can offer. I'll never discourage someone like that to not foster but it does help that you don't have to pay for things. Number five is you may have to say no to certain dogs. Again it's know your limits know your boundaries. We have fostered dogs of all breeds of all sizes but the one thing that I will not the one type of dog I will not foster anymore are puppies. I don't know I just I don't I know people think puppies are cute. I like I like a grown dog but two my dogs hate puppies. They are very like they don't like a lot of energy and puppies bring the energy. So any rescue that comes to me saying hey we have two puppies can you foster my immediate answer is no. For you maybe it's the type of breed maybe you're not actually able with all the breed restrictions going around in complexes maybe you're actually not not able to foster a certain breed. Maybe you don't want to foster a big dog or maybe you don't want to foster a small dog. There are also many dogs that have medical needs. Are you able to take care of those needs? If not a medical dog is probably not one that you want to foster. So these are all things that you have to ask whether it's the shelter or the rescue. When they asked me to foster Millie I said do we know anything about her temperament? I need to make sure that she's spayed or neutered. Whatever dog I have they have to be spayed or neutered because Luke does not like an intact dog. He does not like it. So I say no mostly for my own personal dogs because I also want to make sure that they're comfortable in these fostering situations. So just think again maybe kind of like your nose you won't know until it actually comes across your plate. Like I didn't know I didn't want to foster puppies until I fostered puppies because I raised my boys as puppies and I guess maybe it's different when you plan to keep them forever but oh yeah those foster puppies were a lot and I will not be doing that again. Number six this goes not only for fostering but if you are adopting a dog this is a rule that you need to know. It is the 3-3-3 rule. It's a rule that says that dogs take normally take three days to decompress, three weeks to settle in, and three months to fully feel at home. They will not feel comfortable in a new environment immediately and for Millie in particular it definitely took her I would say three days even for her to let us touch her or like come up to her without being scared and now obviously a month later she's more than comfortable but you have to understand that these dogs if they're coming from the street, if they're coming from an abusive environment, if they're coming from a shelter these are high high stress situations. So just because a dog is acting one way in the shelter doesn't necessarily mean that that's how they're going to act at home in a calm, I keep on saying calm but my house isn't calm, in a safe environment. Actually that should be another point but I'm just going to mention here don't don't judge a dog by how they are in the shelter because again shelters are really high stressful situations and maybe they're scared like Millie was shaking when I picked her up from the shelter and she was so so scared but now she is thriving, she is playing, she is running and that is not the personality that I saw when I first picked her up. On the other hand of the spectrum I've seen dogs that were deemed as aggressive in the shelter system but were taken out, put in, put with a seasoned foster that knew how to handle those type of dogs and they became the most loving calm dog when they were taken out of the shelter. All that to say that one don't judge a dog by how they act in the shelter system but two if you do rescue or you do adopt just make sure you understand that it may take them a while to feel really comfortable in their new environment and just be patient. Number seven, this one's really important but when you are fostering you are their voice in helping them find their forever home. You are the main, you are the only source of behavior information on what to tell potential adopters. Are they house trained? Are they good with cats which I just discovered by accident Millie is good with cats. Are they leash reactive? Is it manageable? That is all information that you need to find out because we want to find the most compatible home for your dogs and also those are all things that can't be discovered in the shelter system. Again this is why fostering is so important because you're able to really discover what does this dog need, what is this dog's true personality like. Number eight is if you have kids in the and obviously I don't have children but I do know dogs and there are certain dogs like Millie who do not like to be grabbed and dragged and touched without giving without her giving you permission. If your kids don't know how to approach dogs, if they don't know how to respect scared dogs, those are rules that you have to give them or else what could happen. If a kid came up to Millie without her permission she would bite them 100 percent. Maybe not today anymore because she's a more calm dog but when I first adopted, when I first fostered her if any children came around her and touched her without her permission she would have turned around and nipped at them and what would happen if that actually happened? She would have probably been put to sleep. Please make sure if you have kids they have rules. Same with dogs. They have rules as well. Number nine. I've alluded to this this whole video but fostering is emotionally draining. You do fall in love with this dog and then when that dog is taken away from you it is heartbreaking so it's really scary when you spend all this time and love on a dog just to see them go away and for you to never see them again so there's definitely emotional oh god so there are definitely emotional aspects to this you will definitely get attached but that's kind of the whole point you know you want to become attached to these animals because you want them to feel your whole love because you want them to feel comfortable with you so you can then figure out what their personality is and find their forever family and finally oh I kind of already mentioned it but the tenth thing that you need to know before fostering is that all the emotional heartbreak maybe the potential frustration of cleaning up pee and poop in your house or having a scared dog that doesn't want to be touched all those things are worth it in the end you are literally saving a life not only the life of your foster animal but also the life of the dog that took the kennel of your foster animal and has more time to find their own adopters in the system and not be euthanized fostering is probably one of the most fulfilling experiences I have ever had I am so grateful that Brian doesn't get mad at me when I just bring home dogs so those are the 10 things to know before you foster again I hope that this doesn't scare you away from fostering because again it's just such a fulfilling thing and knowing that you have saved a life and are kind of the reason why once they are adopted they have found their forever home there's nothing more fulfilling and just as a side note every time I foster it is always guaranteed that in my comment section it'll be like why don't you adopt them they're so cute and comfortable with you they should adopt you should adopt them and if we're being honest those kind of comments while I know it's from a place of love those kind of comments do annoy me because if I were to adopt a third dog that means I would have to stop fostering which means that another dog would be euthanized because there are just simply not enough fosters to help alleviate the issues at the shelter system and I know that's something that you don't like inherently understand if you're not in the rescue community but those kind of comments kind of get under my nose because it's like well I'm doing this for a reason and that reason is to help animals stay alive really and if there were more fosters that could help take animals out of the shelter system maybe we would adopt a third dog or maybe if we were in a house with a yard that I didn't have to walk the three dogs and could just let them roam maybe we would get another dog but there's just so many things again it's the boundaries that I set for myself that prevent me from adopting another dog one of my foster dogs honestly if we were to adopt one it would have probably been been Millie but again you have to set those boundaries and if you see someone fostering instead of telling them to adopt the dog maybe just say thank you for fostering I'm Aja Dang I'm gonna have another good cry I've been on the verge of crying this entire video and yeah if you are a foster parent and want to add anything to this list please let me know please let us know in the comments as well because these are just things that I wrote down off the top of my head and yeah a month ago I would not have been able to pick up Millie she would have snapped at me but now you have felt love you know what it means to be in a loving environment and you are just absolutely thriving so this might be the last time you see Millie hopefully it is because we want you to get your forever home you're so cute my little girl and um yeah Millie and all the other rescue animals say thank you for watching this video and for those fostering thank you for saving our lives what are you looking for huh