Fostering dogs is one of the biggest needs of any rescue group and one of the most rewarding volunteer efforts! To see one of our homeless labs go to a new forever home is a renewing, wonderful feeling. The simple trust that these labradors place in us is humbling and fulfilled only when they wag furiously with their new owner. But before they get to their new home, many of our dogs need a foster home first. Our dogs have been through a great deal of stress when they reach a foster home. Sometimes we know their background, sometimes we don’t. The dog may have been ignored, tied outside, played with too roughly, reprimanded loudly or harshly, never reprimanded at all or perhaps it has been homeless and subject to unpleasant stray dog experiences. At a minimum, the dog is going through an emotional upheaval that he/she does not understand: why did my human pack abandon me?
We need fosters EVERYWHERE, but most particularly in the Richmond/Tidewater area. If you can help, please write info@lab-rescue.org. Thanks!
Supplies you will need
We provide a crate to our foster homes and strongly recommend that you use it both to protect your home and to train the dog to a crate. Young dogs, particularly, will need to be crated at their new home to prevent all that energy from becoming destructive! We also ask that, when you attend your first adoption day, you get a few Lab Rescue dog tags and some adoption contracts. We ask our fosters to provide food. We recommend ProPlan chicken and rice unless the dog has a known allergy. If you already have a dog, and that dog is on another food, please discuss that with us, so we ensure that the food is not too rich for the foster dog. We recommend that you add about a half cup of water to the food. Chew toys are also recommended for the dogs, so they have appropriate items to chew as opposed to things like shoes.
What kind of veterinarian care will my foster dog have received?
All our foster dogs should have a rabies and DHLPP shot. We get them a bordetella shot and heartworm/lyme/erlichia test if they are strays and we also spay and neuter all our dogs.
What if my foster dog needs medical attention while I am fostering him/her?
We ask that you contact one of the foster home coordinators or a board member to get information and advice about whether the dog needs to go to the vet and the timeframe for that visit. You will be provided with contact names when you are approved to foster.
Know your limitations
We welcome our fosters, but we ask that you be realistic about what you can take on with your current home and/or professional schedule. Please consider that dogs cannot be crated for 12 hours, so your work schedule and your social schedule are important in determining whether it is possible for you to foster a dog well. When you have a foster dog, you cannot leave your dog in a crate in the morning, leave for work and then decide to go out for a drink after work. Your first thought must be to relieve that dog and give it attention and exercise after work. Also, if you do not have a lot of dog experience, tell us, as we try to match dogs to the right fosters.
How to introduce your dog to the foster dog
The best way to introduce your foster dog to your dog is as follows: when you first get the foster dog, allow him/her to walk around outside your home so he/she can smell where your dog has been; this alerts the foster that there is another dog around, and he will be familiar with the smell of the dog already when the two meet. It is best to have two people to introduce them, one holding the leash of each dog, outside. If you cannot have two people, and assuming that your dog has no dominance issues, then let your dog out and keep the foster on a leash. Let them smell each other and walk around a bit in the yard. It would be good to go on a walk with both of them at that time so they get used to each other in a non-direct way. Of course, if it is obvious that they are already best buds, and they are dying to play, let them play off leash in a fenced area, but with supervision.
How to assimilate the foster dog into your family and activities
It is important to assimilate the foster dog into your family. You want to have a crate for a dog that is younger, and you want to establish that it is OK for the dog to be in the crate for down time - in other words, if you are fixing dinner or your three kids come home and are running around the house. If a dog is older and doesn’t need a crate, try to keep the dog in the same room as you until you know you can trust him not to chew or go to the bathroom. Sometimes a foster will leash the dog to their waist, so the dog stays right where the foster parent is. Try to introduce the dog one by one to family members and don’t have the dog surrounded by five people for introductions. A calm indoor routine will be best for the foster dog. Please do not invite all your kids’ friends over, for example, on the first day you have your foster. If you don’t mind, we like you to let the foster dog sleep in the bedroom - it means a lot to a Labrador to be with his pack. You may be sleeping, but from the dog’s point of view, sleeping in your bedroom is quality pack time. Taking lots of walks or spending lots of time outside exercising your foster dog is important. The dog will be less anxious in a new surrounding if he is tired. We ask you to pick up any bones or rawhides the first few days until you know that your dog and your foster dog aren’t going to fight over them.
What to expect the first few days
You can expect any or all of the following, depending on whether the dog is directly from an owner or the dog came from a kennel or shelter or both: pacing, panting, shedding, excessive drinking, excessive energy, tiredness, clear relief to be in a home again, wanting to go outside all the time, seeking constant attention, requests for popcorn when watching TV. Often the excitement or stress can cause temporary un-housebrokenness (if that’s not a word, it should be). Please provide your foster dog plenty of opportunities to go outside and relieve him/herself. During the first few days, confine the foster dog to the room you are in or watch him/her at any time that the dog is uncrated. If your dog has loose stools, we recommend that you boil either chicken or hamburger, drain it, and then give your dog 1/3 cup of cooked rice, 1/3 cup of cottage cheese and 1/3 cup of the boiled meat for the next two meals and then gradually add in the regular food. Most labs eat about 2 cups twice a day of dry food. If a dog is older or overweight, you should seek advice from the foster home coordinators about what and how much to feed the dog.
If you have one, we ask that you affix a Lab Rescue tag to the dog’s collar so that we may be contacted if the dog should get loose. If you do not have one, please pick up a few at an upcoming adoption day, and in the meantime, either print your phone number on the collar or use one of your dog’s collars with identifying information on it. Please leave the Lab Rescue tag on the collar when the dog is adopted, or if the collar is yours, please remove the tag and give it to the new adoptive parents to put on their collar.
How to prepare your dog to get adopted
You can best prepare your dog to get adopted by expecting the same behavior of your foster dog as you do of your own, but you may have to work at it to enforce it. Try to teach simple commands and use your dog as the teacher. Keep in mind that while it seems strange to you that the dog does not respond to “sit”, “stay” and “come”, it is not the dog’s fault. Patience and rewards are the way to teach simple commands such as “sit”. Most labs are very food driven. Do not play roughly with your foster dog, such as tug, as that does not teach that the human is alpha and is the boss. Exercise the dog appropriately and encourage it to let you rub his/her belly, as that is a submissive posture. If you have specific questions about how to train a foster dog to rid it of a bad habit, please call us.
Get the dog in a routine, for bathroom breaks, eating, exercising and calm times. If the dog is young, you should use a crate when you are not home, and perhaps at other times if the dog is not well-mannered during meals, etc. Having the dog out of the crate while you are watching your favorite TV at night, however, teaches the dog how to act during relaxing time. You should have some chew toys that they can enjoy while they are lying there. If needed, you can leash the dog to your foot or hand, so that they stay put during TV or computer time. You should always crate a dog when you are not with him/her. This is for both housetraining and chewing purposes.
How long will I have my foster dog?
Everything depends on the dog and you. The usual time is about two weeks. If the dog is a young yellow female, the dog will go quickly. If the dog is older, but you send us lots of updates about the dog that interest potential adopters, you help shorten your time of fostering. We also have frequent adoption days, and to the extent you can bring your foster dog to those events, it exponentially increases his/her chances of getting adopted, particularly if the dog is older or has special needs. We can accommodate any periods of time that you have obligations that interfere with your ability to foster, with advance notice please.
How does Lab Rescue adopt out dogs?
Our adoption process is explained elsewhere on our website. You should know that we have adoption coordinators who try to match up the best person for the dog. The dog is our client, not the potential adopter. Approved applicants only may contact you to come and see the dog for possible adoption. Your name is not known to any persons other than the coordinators and approved applicants. We welcome your input into the adoption process. If you have concerns about an applicant that is referred to you, please contact either the referring adoption coordinator or the foster home coordinators.
If you would like to be a Lab Rescue foster home, please call our Lab Line at 301-299-6756.