Fostering
a Golden can make all the difference for that dog.
As
a foster home, you provide a safe haven for a Golden in need.
You provide food, water, an indoor home for the dog, and, most
importantly of all, love. You
will evaluate your foster dog to see what type of permanent home would
be best. You will be
responsible for taking your foster dog to the vet for any necessary
routine veterinary care including shots, a heartworm test, spaying or
neutering. Love a Golden
Rescue will pay the vet or reimburse you for that routine care, for any
emergency care, and for any other veterinary care which is pre-approved
by the Foster Home Coordinator.
We
all have our own dogs and understand the need for the foster dog to fit
into your home with any other pets you may have.
Many foster dogs enjoy playing with other dogs and often seem to
learn the ropes faster if they have another dog to teach them.
We
will offer support for your fostering.
If you have any problems with your foster dog, we’d like to
discuss it with you and see what types of solutions we can work out.
If a foster dog does not work out in your home for any reason, we
will move it as soon as possible.
Some
foster dogs come directly from loving homes and will often fit right
into your household routine. Others
may not be so lucky and may need to learn about what it’s like to be
part of a family. Although
those dogs may be more of a challenge to foster, they also provide huge
rewards as you see their personalities unfold and their confidence grow.
You truly have the opportunity to teach them what love means.
Some
people (including all of us at one time or another) are reluctant to
foster for fear that we will become so attached to our foster dog that
letting the foster dog go to its permanent home will be very hard.
Rather than deciding not to foster though, please consider that
fear to be a good sign--it shows how deeply you care about the dogs.
We each deal with this reluctance in our own way.
Some people focus on how happy the dog will be in the adoptive
home and how happy the adoptive family will be with the dog.
Other people reason that when the foster dog goes to its adoptive
home, another dog then has a desperately needed chance and can come to
the foster home. Still
other people think about their foster dog as belonging to an unnamed
friend (who is identified at the time of adoption).
They look at fostering as similar to dog-sitting and care for and
love their friend’s dog, but also look forward to the time when the
friend and dog can be together as they are meant to be.
Rest assured that if you try fostering and then find that you
absolutely can’t let your foster dog go, there is a solution—you can
adopt your foster dog.
To
become a foster home, please contact us at volunteer@loveagolden.com.
The process is very similar to adopting a dog from our rescue.
We will set up a convenient time to come visit your home with one
of our dogs and can discuss fostering in more detail at that time.
You may also complete
an application form "on-line" to apply to be a foster home - just
"Click" - HERE.
There’s
almost always an extra pair of dark brown eyes looking for love.