Misty,
Please reconsider being a foster mom. I really wanted everyone to see Charlie's story because it is testament to how fostering gets these babies their forever homes. Charlie was at the kennel for 9 months. I met him an adoption event where a pre-approved family came to meet him. Ultimately they decided that a boxer was going to be too much with the husband's condition. This meant that Charlie would go back to the kennel. He was a very well behaved dog, but something transforms them when they get into a home that makes them much more adoptable. I take a lot of pics of my fosters and post about them often to increase their exposure, but even that doesn't explain why they get adopted so much faster once they are in foster.
Boxers are people dogs. Our kennel is wonderful and the dogs get walked 4 times a day, but it's still not the same as being part of a human home. They need people in order to be who they are and they need to be who they are in order to get adopted. Besides helping them get adopted, fosters literally save lives. Not all rescues have kennel space and even ones like ours that do cannot afford many dogs at $13/day there, so often times rescues have to say no to a dog that is going to be euthanized because they have nowhere for that dog to go. The dog has a perfect family for him/her somewhere, but with no place to go until they can be found the dog is killed. The difference between yes and no on taking a dog is very often all about whether the rescue has an available foster.
I'm sure one of these babies will end up being a foster fail for us, but so far the joy that comes from seeing them meeting their forever family far outweighs the sadness that comes when you say good bye. They get really attached to you, but when it's the right family for them you can see them instantly bond with them as if they had been with them for their entire lives. I tear up every time I see that magic. And the other thing that helps with letting them go is knowing that space in your heart and home is available again for another one in need and trust me there is another one that needs you, another one who's very life may depend on you be available. Please think about putting that app in to your local rescue.
