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first time fosters - advice? (long)
We're getting a foster next week. She's a 7 month old pittie and has been in the shelter since December. We haven't even met her yet, the rescue I'm working with has assured me that she's very sweet, and very timid and scared right now.
They've been treating her for kennel cough and will get her all her shots. He said they'll get her fixed but I haven't been told when.
So....I have some questions 
1) We have a 3 yr old pit mix. He's a runt so I think they will be about the same size right now. He loves playing with other dogs but he can get a bit overzealous about it. I'm concerned that the foster dog will be overwhelmed by him. Any tips for introducing them?
2) I've never worked with this rescue group before. What should I expect from them as far as getting the dog spayed, getting her out there to be adopted? I did say that we were able to keep her long-term if necessary.
3) Our dog has the run of the house but we are going to crate-train the foster. We have a wire cage - its a bigger one, the right size for her - but should we cover it with a blanket or something to make it more private for her? Given her situation, I wondered if she could use a quiet, dark place as her own.
I think those are the main questions but I'll welcome any other tips, advice or thoughts. We have two kids - 10 and 3 - and I'm already expecting them to fall in love with this dog and have little broken hearts if/when she's adopted. But we keep talking about how awesome it will be for her and maybe we could foster another dog if it goes well. Any tips on doing this with kids involved?
Thanks for reading, sorry its so long!
Re: first time fosters - advice? (long)
I have never fostered a dog, so I dont have much insight on 1 and 3.
2. With the cat rescue I worked with, one person was in charge of scheduling the spays/exams ect. It was complicated for me because I wanted to know more up front about what the timeline would look like for those things, and she was a bit more lax. I would just get in touch with whoever schedules those things as they probably are billed to the rescue and so the rescue uses certain people. I guess there is the possibility you pay out of pocket for those treatments, but my understanding is that most rescue groups front the cost.
The group I worked with asked me to send pics and they put the cats up on the website with the other foster cats. I did not have to do anything else to get them "out there". They also had cat adoption events on the weekends, but by the time mine were healthy enough to go they were already out of our home. Our rescue has cages in pet supply stores like petsmart, petco, ect and that is where our cats go when they are ready for adoption.
Dog groups in our area usually also have adoption events on the weekends, maybe yours does this? You might be expected to show up with the pup sometimes. With our foster cats, we never had any potential adopters come to our house. However, we adopted our cats from the same rescue and we went to their foster mom's house before adopting. The foster mom seemed trained in what questions to ask and all of that to screen potential adopters (us!).
ETA: Clicked "post" too soon! I think it is awesome you are fostering. Good luck!
How to introduce a new dog:
1) For the first step, do not take your new dog into your home right away. Have your husband meet you outside when you first get home with your foster. Take your permanent dog and your foster for a walk together. Don't let them interact right away. Just walk. Just go as far as you can (20 minutes maybe). If the walk is going okay, you can try a quick leash introduction (butt sniffing). If you don't feel comfortable (one dog is lunging/barking/etc..) skip that introduction for now.
2) When you bring your foster into your home DO NOT let them off leash or give them the run of the house. Instead, bring them straight to a "safe" place in your home which will be off limits to your permanent dog. I like to keep my foster in our spare room. I'll give him a crate, bed, water, food and then baby gate off the door. That way foster and permanent dog can smell one another without interacting. If you suspect any type of crate/barrier aggression, put a blanket over the baby gate so that they cannot see one another.
3) This room will be your foster dog's "home" for a while. I would feed and water the dog in this room. I NEVER feed my foster dog and permanent dog in the same room. My permanent dog is very food agressive. I'll either put one dog behind a baby gate or, in the case of fosters who like their crate, I'll feed them in their crate.
4) Organize supervised play time in small increments. Give the foster dog a few days to get settled, before allowing the dogs to interact. Keep BOTH dogs on leash so that you can break up any fights before they happen. Pick up all toys/treats and do not allow the humans to sit on the floor. Start with 20 minutes of play time.
4a) The more you can walk them together (where they're just together, not interacting) the better. Walk, walk, walk!
5) Go slow! I had one foster who took two SOLID weeks of slow introductions before I could trust them together.
6) Even if you think the dogs get along, do not leave them alone together when you are not fully able to watch them. If you are cooking and only have half a mind on your dogs, they need to be separated. This is for their safety as well as your own.
Good luck! This is a great thing you're doing. It will be hard and you'll want to quit and when your first foster leaves you, you'll cry your eyes out. But it is SO worth it to help a dog into their forever home.
If you have any questions, I can try to answer them here!-- Thoughts become things, choose the good ones! --
5 cats. 1 baby.
Congratulations! Fostering is a fabulous experience. We haven't been able to foster for a while (cat issue) and I've missed it a lot. So have my kids.
1 and 3. I think it helps to introduce the dogs in a neutral area (like a walk or a park) with the dogs controlled on leashes. Baby gates and crates are a great thing to have on hand to keep the dogs apart while unsupervised and while they're eating or while the kids are eating. I would try half covering the crate to see if she likes it but watch her at first. I had a foster that would try to eat anything he could pull into his crate.
2. Try to get all the specifics from the group before you take the dog. You'll need to know who pays for food, toys, vet care. And if they have a specific vet you need to use or if you have to have vet visits authorized and how to do that in emergency cases. Find out if they want you take pics (really good pics are the best tool to find a good home imo) and if they want help with her write up. Ask how much input you get with application approval.
And for the kids -- It is important to take special care to remind the kids that this dog may be extra sensitive and stressed. My kids were told not to chase the dog but rather to sit quietly and call the dog. We always put the dogs in different areas when the kids ate to minimize any food fights.
My kids liked knowing that our "forever dogs" came from foster homes. We spent a lot of time talking about the amazing families that took care of our little ones before they came to our family. This conversation carried over to what kind of "forever home" we wanted our fosters to find. And how finding the perfect forever home might be a little sad for us but the most wonderful thing for our foster. My girls liked packing little care packages for the fosters to take to their new home (just simple things like a bag of the food we fed, copies of the photos we took, some favorite treats, a favorite toy and blanket and a little letter about the dog). And we have a wall with framed photos of our fosters that my girls love to look at to help them remember the dogs that have been with us.