Picking up my foster puppy this weekend! any advice?

[Fran101]

me and my friend are going to animal control on sunday to pick 2 puppies that we can foster and find homes for. we are the co-presidents of animal rights club and we thought it would be a good idea and way of saving lives.
we have a list of teachers/parent who are looking for a new dog
we do adopt out to students, but we require that the parents be present.

any advice on fostering? food choices? ect..

thanks

 

[lizzybeth727]

Good for you for fostering! I hope it's an enjoyable and successful experience for you!

One thing to keep in mind when getting an animal from animal control is that you can assume they're sick. 98% of the time it's nothing major, usually just kennel cough (which is really nothing more than a cold). Most illnesses are easily transmittable from dog to dog, so make sure your personal dog (if you have one) is UTD on shots.

More important than that, though, is the fact that a sick dog is probably going to act differently than a perfectly healthy dog. I've rescued dogs that show no symptoms of kennel cough, but they're very laid back and quiet; a few days later they start showing symptoms, and then a few days later (once they're healthy again), you see their TRUE personality!

As far as food, of course I'm going to tell you to feed the dogs a high-quality diet - good food will help build up their immune system and not only help them get over any illnesses they have, but will also help their overall health. You do, though, want to be sure to feed a food that's fairly easy to find, so that you can suggest that the adopters also feed the same brand. For example, it's probably not reasonable that the average adopter is going to feed a raw diet right away, and he's probably not going to special-order food online or drive 50 miles to the specialty store that sells a particular brand. So pick a brand that basically any pet store carries, or even a brand that's specific to only one pet store but there are several locations of that store in your area (example, if there are 20 Petsmarts in a 50 mile radius, it's probably a good idea to get a food that you can buy at Petsmart).

Some food brands give discounts to rescue groups, and some give free bags of food to get you to buy that brand. You can check out the brands' websites for info there. That would be a really great thing for an adopter, too, to get the first bag of food free.

 

[Fran101]

i feed wellness, is that food ok?

i also tend to get attached to animals, VERY EASILY. any tips on how to deal with that? lol ive heard that i shouldnt name them and one of the a/c people told me not to cuddle them or give them too much attention because they arent used to it

 

[PoodleMommy]

i feed wellness, is that food ok?

i also tend to get attached to animals, VERY EASILY. any tips on how to deal with that? lol ive heard that i shouldnt name them and one of the a/c people told me not to cuddle them or give them too much attention because they arent used to it

I dont think that is good advice at all.

There is no reason to treat this animal coldly.

Give the poor thing a name and treat them as any other animal in your home. Just try and remember you are doing a good thing by finding this animal a new home and hopefully it will be easier to give the animal up when it is time.

I think this new dog needs ALOT of love because it is probably coming from a place where it didnt get any.

 

[lizzybeth727]

Wellness is a good brand, as long as it's easy to find in your area you should be ok there.

Unless you're positive it's going to be a very short term foster (like, less than a week), I see nothing wrong with naming the dog. Usually a good name makes the dog easier to adopt out, as the first thing people ask about a dog is "What's his name?"

As far as cuddling/giving attention, you can take your cues there from the dog. If he comes up to you and puts his head on your lap, it's a pretty good chance that he wants attention. Many dogs LOVE physical touch, sometimes more than treats, and depriving a dog of this simply because someone told you he's not used to it would be sad. But of course, if you go to pet the dog and he shies away from you, he probably needs some time to warm up to you before you do a lot of physical praise.

You might want to do some reading about dog body language and how your body language communicates with your dog. "The Other End of the Leash" is a great book about this (and is easy to find at bookstores!). You need to be pretty cautious with your body language with a new dog, because you don't know what kind of bad experiences he's had before - maybe he learned that when people are mad they grab his collar, so now he gets defensive when people grab his collar; maybe he's been hit with a stick before, so when you pick up your broom and swing it too close to him he'll get scared; maybe big, threatening people have scared him before so bending over him is not a good idea. Hopefully the a/c people will give you any advice you might need to know about a dog before you take him, but it's good general information to read about this on your own anyway.

 

[lizzybeth727]

Oh yeah, about getting attached:

I think the important thing here is to keep in mind the family that will be getting him in the future. Think about how badly they've been wanting a dog, how they want to rescue a dog but don't want to go to the shelter, and how happy they'll be with this dog in their lives. Then think about how badly you want this dog to find his home, so that you'll be able to go back and rescue another dog from animal control. It's certainly not easy, I personally have had to adopt out dogs that I'm attached to, but then when you hear about how happy the whole family is, including the dog, it really makes it worth it.

 

[Fran101]

ive read alot about puppies in general, what the a/c people meant by that was to not force them into cuddling if they are scared i guess.
wellness is very available, especially now that its in petco, ect..
i will be fostering probably for more than a week, enough to get the dog checked by a vet, go through adoption forms, find the right home ect..
we are hoping for puppies that will grow to be medium sized, how can u tell? paws?

 

[Fran101]

ya, i thought about that. if i keep this dog, i wont be able to rescue any more
we are planning to keep doing this. waiting for the 2 fosters to get adopted, then going to get more

 

[lizzybeth727]

Small paws don't necessarily mean a small dog.

Puppies are very tricky - you never know what traits are going to start coming out when they're adults. A lot of personality traits are genetic, so without seeing the parents it's extremely difficult to get an idea of what the puppies are going to be like. You might want to consider fostering young adult dogs. There are many many dogs out there in shelters between 10-24 months old, because this is the age when people give up if the dog isn't potty trained, and when the puppy grows out of his "cuteness" and is too much work to be any fun anymore.

 

[Gena]

When we pick up a foster at animal control or the humane society, our first stop is the vet's office. We do a good check up, fecal and hw test. If you're getting a young pup, you probably will just worm and give hw meds instead of the tests. A round of shots and a dose of flea meds for when the pup is clean and dry are other necessities. We're "in" with the vet so they allow us to use the grooming station if it is not in use. Shelter dogs STINK! If the dog checks out ok, it comes home and goes into isolation from the other dogs in the basement run or the outside run depending on weather. Again, a pup would get different treatment...isolation would be VERY hard on a very young one. If after a week or so no sickness is showing, introductions to some of the other dogs start. Of course there is lots of people time during isolation. Having brought home kennel cough too many times, we are VERY careful with contact at first. If you suspect the dog is sick, it might be best to board him at the vet's office to minimize risk to your dog. Again, we are a bit paranoid LOL!

Depending on how long the dog has been in the shelter, you might want to pick up a bag of whatever they feed there, or ask for a baggie of their mix. If they feed a mix of whatever has been donated, bring along a 5lb bag of something as a trade. Food is tough to come by for most shelters. Even if they are feeding Ol' Roy, you want to transition them over instead of boom here's your new food. Another week won't make that much difference

And by all means, name them, snuggle them if they want it. Start doing some basic training as well. A pup that will sit and down and potty outside will get adopted faster than one who won't. Leash work and potty outside are probably THE most important issues if you have time to work on that.

 

[G94]

me and my friend are going to animal control on sunday to pick 2 puppies that we can foster and find homes for. we are the co-presidents of animal rights club and we thought it would be a good idea and way of saving lives.
we have a list of teachers/parent who are looking for a new dog
we do adopt out to students, but we require that the parents be present.

any advice on fostering? food choices? ect..

thanks

As far as food choices go... Purina ONE Healthy Puppy Formula is an excellent choice. Also, ask your local vet about giving Pedialyte to your puppies. The loss of fluids and electrolytes are common amongst puppies.

 

[Dekka]

As far as food choices go... Purina ONE Healthy Puppy Formula is an excellent choice. Also, ask your local vet about giving Pedialyte to your puppies. The loss of fluids and electrolytes are common amongst puppies.

Eww. Please do some research in the food subforum section. There is a great deal better one can suggest in the way of kibble than purina anything.

 

[mom2dogs]

As far as food choices go... Purina ONE Healthy Puppy Formula is an excellent choice. Also, ask your local vet about giving Pedialyte to your puppies. The loss of fluids and electrolytes are common amongst puppies.

http://www.dogfoodproject.com