Lol A few months back, I started following a couple of local rescues on Facebook. As I watched them rescue animal after animal from kill shelters or off the side of the road, my heart knew that fostering was something that I was interested in. Initially, I thought “when my kids are grown and out of the house, I will spend my time loving on dogs!” Then I talked to my spouse about it and we both went “why not now?”
From there, I applied to be a foster with a local organization. I chose a smaller shelter that is run by two volunteers who work full times jobs and love animals. We started with one puppy who was with us for a couple of weeks before he went to live with a family with LOTS of land for him to run around. I LOVE that pup! I was so afraid I would get too attached & never want to give them up… that hasn’t happened YET. For me, I LOVE seeing them choose their fur-ever family & see them live happy, healthy lives. I also love that I get to continue fostering & helping save more animals as they find their homes.
Here are the three reasons we chose to foster animals:
Teaching my kids responsibility.
There are a lot of ways that we teach our kids responsibility and I am ALWAYS looking for ways to add to that. While fostering animals, it is an all-hands-on-deck situation. Although I do a lot of the work, I am always recruiting the kids to help clean up messes or take the pups out to play.
Invest in my daughter’s passion. 
My 11-year-old daughter LOVES animals. She currently says she wants to be a vet and I want to encourage her in any way I can. Through fostering, she is learning how to take care of dogs in a hands-on environment. She walks, feeds, and cleans up their messes to see a little bit of what the animal world looks like.
Doing our part.
I truly believe it takes us all to take care of our town. This is a small way for our family to help these animals. We are able to love them & take care of them to keep them out of kill shelters & help them find a fur-ever home of their own.
So far, we have greatly enjoyed our fostering journey and are looking forward to many pups to come!
