Pat Miller - How to Foster Dogs: From Homeless to Homeward Bound

How to Foster Dogs

From Homeless to Homeward Bound

Pat Miller, CPDT-KA, CBCC-KA

Dogwise Publishing

A Division of Direct Book Service, Inc.

403 South Mission Street, Wenatchee, Washington 98801

1-509-663-9115, 1-800-776-2665

www.dogwisepublishing.com / info@dogwisepublishing.com

2014 Pat Miller

Photos: Greg Armes, Sumner Fowler, Shirley Greenlief, Claudia Husemann,
Nancy Kerns, Pat Miller, Paul Miller, Shannon McAuliffe
Graphic design: Lindsay Peternell
Cover design: Kristy Allen

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, digital or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher.

Limits of Liability and Disclaimer of Warranty:

The author and publisher shall not be liable in the event of incidental or consequential damages in connection with, or arising out of, the furnishing, performance, or use of the instructions and suggestions contained in this book.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Miller, Pat, 1951 October 14

How to foster dogs : from homeless to homeward bound / by Pat Miller, CPDT-KA, CBCC-KA.

pages cm

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-61781-134-0

1. Dogs. 2. Foster care of animals. 3. DogsBehavior. I. Title.

SF427.M587 2013

636.70832dc23
2013039775

ISBN: 978-1-61781-134-0

Printed in the U.S.A.

More praise for How to Foster Dogs

More people than ever are interested in fostering dogs, however this romantic notion may be a disaster without the right tools, which is what a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant provides. Millers tips will help you to integrate the Foster pup into your family from day one, and without that often talked about need to dominate the dogas she effectively busts the so-called dominance theory. Miller also addresses what to do regarding training and several common behavioral issues.

Steve Dale, CABC, radio host (Steve Dales Pet World, syndicated Black Dog Radio Productions and WGN Radio); newspaper column My Pet World (Tribune Content Agency); contributing editor USA Weekend; contributor to Decoding Your Dog

It is a realistic but enthusiastic and informative look at fostering dogs, a truly lifesaving and rewarding strategy to help shelters reduce euthanasia of healthy and treatable pets. The materials are comprehensive with helpful citations for the behavior/ training information and health information. I especially appreciated the discussion of all the different types of animal welfare groups that use fostering and Pat is smart to recommend doing a little research on any group foster volunteers endeavor to helpyou just never know until you see it firsthand.

Sharon M. Harmon, CAWA, Executive Director Oregon Humane Society

Pat Miller does an excellent, comprehensive job of teaching readers how to go about fostering intelligently and successfully. Invaluable information and support is plentiful on every step of the journey, beginning with finding a foster dog, making preparations and conducting introductions, through training and socialization and, finally, the adoption process. How to Foster Dogs is a vital resource that should be required reading for every foster home!

Nicole Wilde, author Help for Your Fearful Dog and Dont Leave Me! Step by Step Help for Your Dogs Separation Anxiety

This clearly written, comprehensive guide covers everything from how to find a shelter or rescue to partner with, to how to decide which dogs you can take on, to the heartachy joy of saying goodbye at adoption. Of course, all that is just what Id expect given Pats decades of experience in sheltering and rescue.

Jolanta Benal, CPDT-KA, CBCC-KA, author The Dog Trainers Complete Guide to a Happy, Well-Behaved Pet and host of The Dog Trainers (Quick and Dirty Tips for Teaching and Caring for Your Pet

Dedication

To Mandy, Squid, Captain Jack Cricket, Boing, and all the others who over the years have shared our home and our hearts on their way to their forever homes.

The lovely and perfect Mandy, with me, many long years ago. Photo: Sumner Fowler

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Writing a book is never a single-person endeavor. My thanks go to the many Peaceable Paws apprentices and academy graduates who offered suggestions for this book including Catherine Schuler, Helene Goldberger, Jolanta Benal, Sean Howard, Simone deLima, Laura Nalven, Melissa Chow, Bob Ryder, Valerie Balwanz, Amy Trice, Andrea Brady, Sharon Messersmith, Diana Foley, Estelina Dallett, Leslie Clifton, Chris Danker and AnnMarie Easton. My apologies to any I may have inadvertently left out.

And of course, eternal thanks to my husband, Paul Miller, for his never-ending support for this book as well as all my countless other projects and a life of total immersion in animals. I could not do this without him.

Finally, thanks, always, to the people at Dogwise Publishing for being such a fantastic resource for so many of the excellent new books that serve to feed our ravenous appetite for new information about our beloved dogs. We are incredibly lucky to have these great folks.

In the 1980s and 1990s, when I was working at the Marin Humane Society (MHS) in Novato, California, fostering was a very occasional thing. Every once in a while an animal in need would touch the heart of a shelter worker who offered to take that dog or cat home to help her through a bout of upper respiratory infection, or some other temporary medical issue. Occasionally someone would foster a pregnant mom until she could have her babies, or foster a litter of puppies or kittens until they were old enough to be placed, but in those days, with euthanasia rates in the U.S. at an all time high (18 to 20 million homeless dogs and cats euthanized at shelters every year), it seemed to make little sense to save unborn puppies, or to allocate many of our limited resources to save dogs who had medical problems. Dogs with behavioral problems were rarely fostered. Resources were always scarce, and there were inevitably always more healthy dogs in the shelters kennels to take the place of sick ones, or those who were behaviorally challenged.

I fostered several dogs and a few cats over the 20 years I was at MHS. Most memorable for me was Mandy, a seven-year-old spayed female tri-color Collie, who was surrendered by her owner because she was incontinent. In addition, she was seriously overweight, badly matted, and had infected burns on the insides of her hind legs where the urine had soaked through her mats to the skin.

A piece of my heart will forever rest at the Marin Humane Society. Photo: Paul Miller

I had Rough Collies (Lassie Collies) throughout my childhood, and am still drawn to them to this day. My heart went out to Mandy, and I offered to foster her. Our shelter vet treated the urine burns and provided medication for her incontinence. I took her home; she walked into my house and lay down on the floor like she had lived there all her life. She never left my family. A foster failure, as some call it when a foster parent ends up adopting a foster charge. I prefer to call it a foster success.

We have fostered numerous other shelter animals since those days. It was one of the things that kept me sane and allowed me to work at a shelter for two decadesknowing that, from time to time, I was able to make a difference to at least one of the many.