Hi Humans! Ms. Maraschino here. I’ve been musing- like a lot- and I have something I really want to talk about. It’s going to take a while so bear with me.
Squirrels.
No not really, sorry. But I’m so determined to have a blog about squirrels one day. It’s gonna happen.
It’s fostering. I want to talk to you about fostering, and everything that comes along with it.
When humans think about fostering, it seems super simple. A rescue finds a cute dog and brings some peanut butter on a spoon to lure it into a crate. You volunteer to cuddle it until the rescue finds an adopter. And, best part, you pay for NOTHING! Easy peasy lemon squeezie, or whatever my mom always says and thinks she’s so funny.
Well, yes and no.
The “pay for nothing” part is pretty cool, but there’s so much more involved in the fostering process.
When a rescue takes in a dog, they have to answer a ton of questions before the foster even comes into the picture. That’s what we’ll chat about today.
Let’s make up a dog- we’ll call her Floofy.
Ok so- the rescue gets a call. Someone saw Floofy living under a car in the driveway of an abandoned dairy farm on an old country road…and it’s snowing. And there are 40mph winds (sounds dramatic, but sadly, it’s not as far-fetched as you think).
First, the rescue has to get Floofy to trust them enough to come out from under the car. That can take hours- it can sometimes take DAYS. Floofy likes it under her car. She knows it. It’s her safe space. The car didn’t abandon her like her humans did. It’s never done her wrong. She’ll need a really good reason to want to leave it for a couple of two-leggeds with treats and a leash.
But the rescue, they know what they’re doing. They’ve been here before. So they whisper and sing and love that poor baby out from under that old Volkswagen (I’ve decided it’s a Volkswagen), and drive her down that old country road, in the snow and 40mph winds, to her foster.
Wait!
Nope, not so fast. First Floofy needs a trip to the vet.
The rescue needs to know what the foster will be dealing with.
Does Floofy have frostbite? Fleas? Broken bones? Dental disease? Heartworm?
Anxiety? Aggression? Aversion to broccoli? (that last one is very traumatic for me so I felt the need to include it)
Once the rescue determines exactly what kind of care ol’ Floofy needs, they can decide what type of foster she’ll be heading to, as she’ll need one who is well-versed in the type of care she requires.
Ok so NOW, after all of that, Floofy is finally ready to be fostered!
And that’s all for today.
I told you this was going to take a while- fostering is complicated!
Please visit me next week when we dive into the good, bad, heartbreaking, and heartwarming pieces of the fostering puzzle.
Until then, this former foster pup has a date with a couch cushion and a spoonful of peanut butter (don’t tell my dad- he’s all weird about food on the couch cushions).
Have a great day, two-leggeds!
Marty
