by Jerica Collins

Created on: October 05, 2008   Last Updated: May 19, 2011

When a pet is cast away from their home they need love and attention to help cope and learn to still trust people. Though animal shelter staff can try to give attention to every animal, for most it isn't enough. There are so many other animals that they may get a short walk every day if lucky, but most will not receive the petting and individual attention they need. A foster home is much more likely to be able to give this affection. The dog may even be lucky to be in the care of a whole family and get loads more affection than they could possibly get at a shelter. Homes also are able to focus on the training and socialization that many stray dogs need. Though we need our animal shelters due to the number of stray dogs, many really need to be in foster homes so they can learn to be in a home again. In a shelter, dogs are bombarded by people they don't know, strange barking dogs, and may not be used to being in a small kennel. Dogs who are already timid and that already had behavioral problems (the main reason most dogs are abandoned) will only become more frightened and may even develop other issues.

A foster home is a place where the caretakers learn all the individual characteristics of that dog. In a shelter, unfortunatly, they cannot learn everything about each animal. The foster home is able to introduce a dog to different things such as other animals, kids, adults of every type, housebreaking, basic obediance, playing, and even just enjoying some time outside with people (in a park or on long walks). In a shelter there is no possible way to do any sort of training and not much of a chance of giving any socialization other than with the other shelter dogs who can be quite noisy. The foster home would be able to let a potential adopter know the good and the bad about the individual dog. It is necessary for adopters to know good AND bad in the animal they hope to have through its whole life, this in turn makes it less likely the dog will end up abandoned again.

By living with a family (or individual person), it will make the dog more adoptable because the dog can be trained. It is so much easier to tell the personality of a dog when he is in a more relaxed and comfortable situation that a home provides. The foster home may even know other people who can adopt the dog or end up adopting the dog themselves. They are able to truly attest for the dogs behavior and training, rather than just give a guess as the shelter does from a short observation. A foster home really is the best place for a stray dog. After all if you were a dog given the choice to be in one or the other, which would you rather?

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