What’s a foster fail? You offer to foster in your home an animal from a shelter or rescue, but you eventually decide to adopt the animal yourself because … why?
That’s the story we want to read!
I asked friends online to tell us about their foster fails.
“How did you decide to foster this animal—where, when, why? How long did the decision take to adopt the animal yourself—minutes, hours, days, or … ? Tell us about the life your former foster ended up living with you!”
Here are some of their answers.
Erin Saywell (Indiana) SO MANY. Ribbon when I got her … she’d been acquired as an eight-week-old puppy, chained up outside and essentially forgotten. Her collar had grown into her neck/throat, and had to be removed by my friend, Lynda, a vet. I liked her from the moment I met her after agreeing to foster her. She walked into the venue where we were meeting, the world’s largest flyball tournament … and was just calm and confident. What a great puppy, I said … “but not my kind of dog.” (We named her Ribbon for the spooky story for kids, “The Girl With the Green Ribbon”, about the girl who always has a green ribbon around her neck, and on her death bed, she tells her husband he can remove it … and her head falls off.) I listed her for adoption, but didn’t find anyone interested. I kept doing stuff with her, because she loves doing STUFF… anything where she gets to play with me is GREAT! I finally realized that she was indeed “my kind of dog” and we’re still having a blast together. She’s gone from a chained-up pup to an accomplished dog with titles in AKC Fetch, UFLI Flyball, and in IDS dock diving. Herart’s Girl With the Green Ribbon FTI, TF, HOXII, EOPI …
Photo by Erin Saywell
Joanne Pomeroy Schultz (Tennessee) Yes! I’m absolutely a foster failure and I’m proud of it! Bentley, my Shih Tzu, was a foster fail. And a blessing. As to the cats—all are rescues that either just showed up or were homeless. My first three came as kittens. This was before I started the rescue and I did try to find homes for them. Tennessee is saturated with cats, so I never could—those were Purrcy, Oliver, and Max. Then there were adults that were either living in our back yard or would randomly show up. Most of them came with an upper respiratory infection and I would get the medical care and fix them and they would just never leave. That would be Charles, Frankie, Cheeto, Nacho, and Mason. They started out as outdoor cats only, but they are now indoor-outdoor. The three kittens that are full-grown cats now are Hermie, Wednesday, and Henry. Hermie was supposed to go to Nashville to get adopted out, but while I was in Bothell, trying to get my house ready to go on the market, my husband Jim and my son Kyle were taking care of Hermie and fell in love with him and wouldn’t let me take him, so we ended up keeping him. Then there was Wednesday. She is a ghost tabby and looks a lot like Hermie, except she has a tail. She was feral when she came to me and she was only about 12 or 13 weeks old. A lady had her spayed and was going to release her back to the park where she was live-trapped and I decided to bring her home and put her in the kitten room and try to work with her and socialize her so she could go to Nashville. It took me five months for her to trust me to let me pet her … on her terms. By then, she and I had gone through so much together I didn’t have the heart to send her away. She loves me. Then there’s Henry. He came to me at ten days old with his sister and his mom. His sister and his mom went to Nashville and found homes, but he has an inoperable sinus tumor so he has become a permanent resident until the time comes that I have to put him to sleep. He’s spoiled rotten! Despite all of this, I have taken over 300 cats and kittens to Nashville to find their forever homes. My rescue has been large-scale, so it’s understandable that there will be times when medical emergencies happen and they have to stay with you. Fostering is wonderful and rewarding. And it’s extremely needed! I HIGHLY recommend it! You’d be great!!! I currently have 20 kittens and two adult cats I’m fostering at my home, waiting to go to The Catio in Nashville.
Grace Linden (Washington) My foster win is Kimmie! So full of beans and personality. Keeps us on our toes as she zips around! Loves to do big stretches and train!
Photo by Grace Linden
Amy Suggars (Ohio) Zane came to me as a foster from the Flat Coated Retriever Society of America, which pulled him from a shelter near me. Zane was extremely shy/fearful when I first met him. He was also noise sensitive. He wouldn’t eat at first until I figured out the sound of the kibble being poured into a stainless steel food bowl scared him. Loud noises bothered him, and so did high, happy voices. My goal was to boost his confidence so that he could go to a new forever home. Fortunately for me, he was food motivated, so I was able train him using food instead of praise or toys. The first thing I did was teach him to touch a plastic lid using a modified version of clicker training (modified because the sound of the click bothered him). Once he was happily touching the lid I moved on to having him touch the palm of my hand. It was a painstaking process but I could see his trust and confidence growing every day. I was eventually able to marry the command “come” (said in a neutral voice) with the palm touch to get him to come to me. As he became more comfortable with me I was able to teach him basic commands (sit, down, stay, and walk on a loose lead). I believe that learning the commands brought an order (predictability) to Zane’s world so he could relax and blossom into a happy dog. After many months of training and love Zane was doing well and the Flat Coated Retriever Society’s rescue arm had a person interested in adopting him. But by that time, I was completely in love with Zane and could not let him go! I was a foster fail! I’m happy to say that Zane went on to live many years with me and I think (hope) he came to love me as much as I loved him.
Photo by Amy Suggars
Marilyn Marks (Connecticut) Buster came with that name from a client who couldn’t keep him because he attacked her dog. He bit my husband (mild nip) for coming near me on day one. Who could I adopt him to? He turned out to be a fabulous dog, my husband’s bestie, really, who helped me work with aggressive dogs.
Dawn Heaton (United Kingdom) Pudding—foster fail! I was asked to foster an aggressive toy poodle for a rescue. He went out to two homes on trial. The first was a pet home; he lasted 24 hours before he had bullied the resident dogs and was pinned in a room growling and snarling and not letting anyone in! He then spent a couple of months with a dog trainer, who decided he wasn’t a match for them either, before returning him to me! I had eight other dogs and wasn’t looking for another, but he befriended my husband—smart move; none of the other dogs even notice if my husband is there or not—so of course he ended up staying.
