# Do rescues 'burn-out' their fosterers this way



## Timbarrett (Dec 4, 2012)

We are new to the fostering side. Moving country too often to be confident we can give the right long term home for the dog we want when we settle down..but we have the perfect short term (1-2 years) set-up to foster...

But we have found that the rescue we work with seems always to be increasing the ante..
The first time we agreed to take on a semi-feral puppy and then one hour before delivery it was 'Oh, actually we have a brother and sister. Can you take two?' We knew nothing (the last time I raised a dog I was a child) so we never read all that advice about not trying to raise two puppies at once. Turned out fine eventually and we got two beautifully behaved dogs adopted three months later..

Then it was time for a complete basket case that had been locked in a petshop cage for four years and was scared of everything. Twelve months of rehab but finally adopted..

Urgent call. A one year old mal with a broken leg that had been an outdoor guard dog in a factory. Incredibly smart but HA. Fine with me but scared the sh*t out of the family. Reminded us of the Leerburg video 'so you think you want a high drive puppy?' But almost full size and with a broken leg so we couldn't exercise him or do much to alleviate his frustration. Did get him housetrained in 24 hours and he never bit us..pretty much everyone else though. Once healed he moved back to the shelter.

Next call was for a starved very elderly Boxer with severe intestinal disease. Tick infested on arrival and basically the poor guy was dying as he couldn't keep any food or water down. After 72 hours of misery for everyone we had to tell the shelter his quality-of-life had deteriorated so much it was time...72 hours being just long enough for the family to bond a bit with him. Not a good long weekend.

So now the family has said 'Time Out!. We see a pattern here! The next one is going to have to be a cute fluffy puppy or we quit!'

Do i need to manage this a bit more? Is this how it works..keeping pushing the envelope until you find a limit. Maybe i am a bit naive but I would think the rescue should manage their resources a bit better...


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

I've been in rescue 13 years. You have to understand that rescues are made up of people just like you. No professional trainers or behaviorists or dog people. Just regular people who love dogs, sometimes a bit too much, and are doing the best they can. All they can do is ask. All you have to do is say no. You know your limits and resources; they do not. They're just asking.

I work on the intake side, which means I work with shelters and people wanting to give up their dogs. Unfortunately I do not know all of our fosters personally. I know who has an available spot and who doesn't but I don't know who really needs a break, who's ready for a challenge, and who's ready to pull their hair out. When I get a notification that a dog has 24 hours until it dies, all I can do is ask our fosters. It's up to them to be honest with me if they're up to taking a dog or not. Often I have to tell the shelter or individual "Sorry we don't have room," but I'd rather lose one dog than lose a good foster home for sure.


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## gsdsar (May 21, 2002)

Yup. You gotta stand firm on the next one. That said. Cuter cuddly dogs often don't need fosters. They get adopters. Maybe if you worked for breed specific rescue it would be easier to have a choice. I know my rescue always has choices in dogs that need fosters.


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## misslesleedavis1 (Dec 5, 2013)

It's completely normal for fosters to burn out. It happens, our homes become revolving doors, the dogs we get in are usually problematic. Just say no if you are feeling stretched thin. The fosters are the bread and butter of rescue, without fosters were would the rescue be? most rescues will understand that you need a break. I had a 9 month old here for half a year once that was wa wild man, chewed up everything, destroyed my carpet downstairs with poop and pee, had social anxiety, had major separation anxiety...the list of things that were wrong with him was long lol. He burnt us out. We told the rescue we needed a break after him. They understood.


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## Shade (Feb 20, 2012)

Have a talk with the intake coordinator and either take a break (don't feel guilty) or let them know that you're looking for a easier dog next time as you're starting to burn out.

Sometimes it seems like there's a flood of GREAT dogs with no problems coming through and it's all 'happy happy' and then it's one problem case after another. If you don't like the coordinator know, they may think you're fine with one hard case after another


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

Timbarrett said:


> Do i need to manage this a bit more? Is this how it works..keeping pushing the envelope until you find a limit. Maybe i am a bit naive but I would think the rescue should manage their resources a bit better...


Perhaps you should consider that the rescue is managing their resources. They are sending dogs to fosters who can handle the dog's needs. The 'easy' dogs could be going to homes who are only equipped to handle easy dogs. The dogs you are helping could be the dogs that specifically need you.


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## Remo (Sep 8, 2004)

First, thank you very much for helping the dogs you have helped so far. You and your family are awesome!

Most of the time the folks that help with placing fosters have an idea of a foster's limits and who can handle what sort of situation. Since it would appear that you are able to handle the more difficult situations, they are counting on you for that! You need to let them know that you need a break and would like to have some easy fosters for a while. I usually tackle the more difficult dogs, but recently I had to have a foster moved from my home because of her unpredictable aggression toward other dogs. I felt bad asking to have her moved, but the day that I was at the vet's office having stitches put in one dog, and at the same visit having stitches removed from a different dog, I knew it was time to throw in the proverbial towel to protect all parties involved.

Being intake/foster coordinator is pretty much a thankless and difficult task. You feel like the dog's lives are depending on you figuring out where you can safely place them. I hold such high admiration for the folks who can handle that position. The pressure is immense and I don't know how they can continue to do it.


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## BARBIElovesSAILOR (Aug 11, 2014)

I tried to start a post about this but the mods took it down. Without bashing or name calling specific rescues, I will say that yes, sometimes fosterers get it rough. I have had tick infested dogs, I have also had two dogs with kennel cough that their snot has permanently ruined our floors and area rug. It's like this dried up hard gunk that is impossible to get off. I have had some good experiences with fostering too, where I had a delightful and sweet dogs that were adopted within a couple of weeks. It's all part of our job, we take in the dogs no one wanted, and help them to find a forever family. Some rescues I will never work with again, but I am open to fostering in the future... One day when captain passes away years from now, I would like to foster a gsd to adopt. That is what I wanted to do one day after sailor passed, but getting Captain just kind of Hapenned out of the blue, otherwise I would have done the foster thing. In the past though, I have only fostered to foster. Never with the intention of adopting, and no, I have never adopted a dog I fostered. They were sweet dogs, they just weren't for me, but better suited for another family.


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## Timbarrett (Dec 4, 2012)

Thanks for the advice..but **** is it hard to say no!


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Remo said:


> Most of the time the folks that help with placing fosters have an idea of a foster's limits and who can handle what sort of situation..... I had to have a foster moved from my home because of her unpredictable aggression toward other dogs. I felt bad asking to have her moved, but the day that I was at the vet's office having stitches put in one dog, and at the same visit having stitches removed from a different dog, I knew it was time to throw in the proverbial towel to protect all parties involved.


And then there are people in the rescues who ignore your pleas. This situation is why my husband will no longer allow fostering. Now, normally, he doesn't say boo to me about what I want to do but we had one foster who started fights constantly, had super high anxiety, was way past my realm of knowledge with his anxiety and I repeatedly asked the rescue to move him. This poor dog had no business in my house with 2 teens, 3 dogs and a cat he was trying to kill. It took him getting stitches when my girls had finally had enough to get them to move him. And I'm still dealing with dog aggression in my female GSD because of this 7 years later as she was young when he was attacking her.

99% of rescues are great. Even this rescue this happened with is a great rescue. I was just dealing with the one dim bulb of the group. So if one person in the rescue won't listen, go to someone else that might be able to help you.


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## misslesleedavis1 (Dec 5, 2013)

Timbarrett said:


> Thanks for the advice..but **** is it hard to say no!


It is! But sometimes you gotta just say no for your sanity.


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## chapin (Dec 24, 2014)

misslesleedavis1 said:


> It is! But sometimes you gotta just say no for your sanity.


It really is hard sometimes to say no, but keep in mind that the better you take care of yourself in this, then the more dogs you will have the internal resources to foster/ save. Also, it really seems like different foster organizations have their own personalities. They just have to match up well (our and their personalities).


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## chapin (Dec 24, 2014)

Just curious, but does your rescue org do any kind of temperament testing? It's not fool proof by any means, just curious.


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## Lykoz (Dec 6, 2014)

You are under no obligation to help. 

You do it because you care.
I think they understand that. 

The problem dogs need to go somewhere. But on the same thought so do the non-problem dogs.

So you just need to be honest in what you are willing to take on and how you are prepared to help.

That is entirely up to you. And nobody has the right to judge you. I don't think anyone would. You are adding value.

How much value and what type of value you want to add is entirely up to you.

They are desperate and need all that help... So they are not shy to ask, and shouldn't feel shy...

If you feel uncomfortable you need to speak up. Just be honest.


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## misslesleedavis1 (Dec 5, 2013)

chapin said:


> Just curious, but does your rescue org do any kind of temperament testing? It's not fool proof by any means, just curious.


The one I used to foster for did not. They had a trainer that multiple rescues utilized but for the most part(if a severe issue popped up), dogs would go right from transport (up north) to a McDonald's and we would take them home from there. Mexican dogs are much the same, transported and foster dropped, the foster family is responsible for getting the dog into the vet and so on.


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## Timbarrett (Dec 4, 2012)

Yes, not much temperament testing and certainly nothing formal. I try and follow a crude version of Sue Sternberg's tests for my own understanding and so I can talk to the potential adopters as well. I think eveyone just too busy so it is a bit random what gets done.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

Two of mine right now are from the same rescue. Temperaments are pretty good, but both hate being contained and will bark and bark. They have proven to be destructive if left out. I wish they could understand that they would have freedom if they didn't eat my rugs I did get word that the original rescue is willing to pay for George to have some one on one training today, which is really nice.


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## Remo (Sep 8, 2004)

Our rescue does a temperament test on every dog we bring in, but quite often the behaviors you see at the shelter are VERY different after the dog has been in your home for a couple of weeks.

We also try to do a "nose to nose" test to see if they are dog aggressive, and again, their reaction in the shelter when they are scared half out of their minds can be very different once they start feeling comfortable in a new setting. 

Things like separation anxiety are also difficult to predict until the dog is in a foster home. We do the best we can, but it is far from a perfect science.


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## chapin (Dec 24, 2014)

llombardo said:


> I did get word that the original rescue is willing to pay for George to have some one on one training today, which is really nice.


That's wonderful to have that support. It's nice to hear. I went into fostering thinking that I would have to cover the training (should there need to be formal training to help the dog gain manners that would deem him/ her more suitable for a forever home) but so far, the behavior issues have been mild enough to be correctable sans training. I wonder if you can write it off (tax wise)? Tangential thought.


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## chapin (Dec 24, 2014)

Remo said:


> Our rescue does a temperament test on every dog we bring in, but quite often the behaviors you see at the shelter are VERY different after the dog has been in your home for a couple of weeks.
> 
> We also try to do a "nose to nose" test to see if they are dog aggressive, and again, their reaction in the shelter when they are scared half out of their minds can be very different once they start feeling comfortable in a new setting.
> 
> Things like separation anxiety are also difficult to predict until the dog is in a foster home. We do the best we can, but it is far from a perfect science.



Soooooooo TRUE. It's very much an imperfect protocol, but it helps. At least, it seems to (a lot)!!


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