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Everyone is jumping on the puppy train, but what if you aren’t ready for the 16 year commitment and still feel lonely?
I have been fostering dogs for three years. As I type this our latest foster dog is passed out on my couch.
He is one of of dozens we have had over the years. Our first one was a Pitbull/German Shepard mix. I cried so hard when I had to take him to PetSmart for “Adoption Day!”. If you can make it through the first one without becoming a foster failure, then you may just get to experience the joys of being a foster dog parent too!
Being a foster is not like dog sitting. Two years in to fostering, my partner and I decided to try a dog sitting app. We had been enjoying having dogs so much and we were ready to make money off of it. We babysat about 4 dogs. But it was a short lived experience and we soon returned to fostering. What we learned is that foster dogs bond to you. Somehow dogs know that their owner is coming back. Fosters know they have been abandoned. Fosters look up at you with those big eyes, follow you around like you hung the moon, and slowly show you their personalities with trust and time. It is incredibly rewarding. Having your own dog, or at least being a dog’s world for a few weeks is a very different experience than babysitting.
