A Foster Parent's Responsibilities: Love is Not Enough

There's a lot more to fostering than just dropping a dog into your home and putting out another food bowl. While that might be the very baseline of what needs to get done - food and shelter - that really is no more than what they were getting at the shelter. As a foster parent we are in the position to offer so much more!

The job of a foster parent is to provide those basics, but it is also to set that dog up so that they have a better chance at being successful once adopted. The foster parent gets to know a dog and learns their strengths and their weaknesses. They teach a dog the skills it needs to live in a house - house training, walking on a leash, what they can and can't chew on... And when they see some issues that are outside of their skill set as a foster parent they seek outside help. Doing nothing is at its most basic a form of neglect.

Former foster boy Langley struggled with impulse control so we had all kinds of games we could play where he was rewarded for controlling his impulses. Here he is in a rather intense "down-stay"

Love is not enough. While love is important - in fact necessary - love will not teach a dog that the trash can is off limits and they can chew on toys but not pillows. That takes supervision, setting their living space up so they can be successful, and consistent, positive teaching from their human. And if you put your hand up to foster a dog, you are that human so get to work.

You don't have to be an animal behaviorist to foster a dog, but you should be willing to start learning some basic training skills and be flexible enough to understand that each dog that comes into your life is going to have a different set of skills and needs. Your job is to do your best to meet those needs.

Young puppies need to be exposed in a positive way to as many different textures, people and places as possible. This will set them up to be confident and resilient adults. Fostering a puppy means lots of outings.

Start small - pick a skill/behavior that your dog isn't yet fluent at and start learning how you can reinforce the behavior you want to see. Can you change around their living space to make it easier for them to practice the behavior you want them to be doing? Pick up a book like "Don't Shoot The Dog" or "The Other End of the Leash" and start teaching yourself today. The better you learn how to be a teacher, the more successful your learner will be!

Some rescue groups, like the one that I foster for, New Rattitude, even offer training stipends so take advantage of that and start learning along with your dog. If you love dogs, then I promise you, spending time learning more about them won't be wasted time.