The Ultimate Guide To Fostering Dogs: 10 Skills You Need To Know

Updated: 2/28/2020

You’ve decided to foster dogs.

So, you did your homework, selected a reputable organization, and you signed up to foster.

YAY, YOU!

What a gift you are giving to a rescued dog, and what a gift you are giving yourself! Fostering dogs is an incredibly meaningful journey, filled with love, celebration, challenges, and tears.

If this sounds like you, keep reading – our guide to foster dogs will help you prepare to begin fostering like a pro!

Fostering dogs allows you to discover this beautiful animal you’ve decided to bring home. In the process, I guarantee you will discover yourself.

Read: Fostering dogs will help you become a better pet parent.

About Fostering Dogs…

Do foster dogs come with a guide or instruction manual? What is fostering, anyway? How do you foster dogs?

Fostering is…

…providing a safe, warm, loving home where a dog will live until they are adopted.

foster dogs live with you as if they are your pet.

foster dogs may live with you for just a few weeks, or for many months. Some dogs, like seniors, may live with you for years.

…providing opportunities for your foster dog to become a better pet.

you spend time learning all about your foster dogs.

you provide structure, routine, and a learning environment.

you provide them with opportunities to experience trust, companionship, and the acquisition of skills through training.

you help restore their health.

The overall goal in caring for foster dogs is not only to provide a safe and healthy environment but to also identify and work towards helping your foster dogs become better pets.

…providing the agency your best.

You’ve partnered with them to care for their dog.

Be a good steward with their dog.

Follow protocols. Well designed protocols should provide safety, best practice guidelines, and fiscal responsibility with donor dollars.

Be teachable. The science behind veterinary medicine and animal behavior is constantly changing. Seek new knowledge.

Communicate and give feedback.
- Share your discoveries with the agency administrators.
- Share your concerns.
- Ask questions if you have them. If you are unclear about how or when you should share information with the rescue administration, ASK.
- Barring an alarming event or concerning symptom, a weekly report is a good practice, I think.
- Keep them in the know about your foster dog.

Communication is a two-way street. If you haven’t heard from them, reach out. Rescue administrators are pretty doggone busy.

…asking for help when you need it.

speak up. No one should expect you to take care of their dog with no support.

Likewise, they should expect you to ask for help when you need it. It’s not really fair to wait for someone to “check up” on you, although it is the better agency that has regular communication practices built into their foster program.

I’ve had many a late night conversation with a foster parent concerned about heartworm treatment or diarrhea or witnessing an odd, quirky behavior.

Look – no one is a mind-reader. If you are concerned, worried, irritated, or have had second thoughts about what you’ve gotten yourself into, say something.

Many a good rescue relationship eroded for no other reason than a failure to communicate.

…participating in the safe and appropriate placement of your foster dog in a new home and community

provide your agency and interested adopters with useful and accurate information to help determine the best placement.

You are responsible for this dog’s happiness and safety, the adopting family’s happiness and safety, and the community’s happiness and safety, not necessarily in that order.

Is your dog noisy? Say something, or it may be placed in apartment living. Does your large dog get rambunctious? Provide training or don’t place in a home with small children.

Guide To Fostering Dogs: 10 Skills You Can Use

1. Take A Reward-Based Obedience Course

A basic obedience class using reward-based or force-free training (this means no shock, pinch, prong, choke, or collar corrections are used, nor any fear tactics) is a great gift to give yourself, so SIGN UP! It is the best investment you can make in yourself if you plan to be a regular foster home for a rescue group or municipal shelter. Heck. It’s the best investment you can make in yourself as a dog owner.

In a well-chosen obedience class, you will learn the basics of reward-based training and how to teach your dogs skills and manners such as sit for petting, come when called, stay in place, loose-leash walking, taking a treat nicely, among others. It will better the relationship you have with your pet while giving you foundation skills to help you as a foster parent. For more information on finding good classes, click here.

2. Take The Potty Outside

Failure to house train is a top reason a dog is given away, banished to live outside, or sent to a shelter. Sad, as this is such a fixable problem! It requires discipline and patience, and tolerance for possible – no, almost certain – potty accidents. Start with the basics of house training. If your dog continues to have issues with accidents, they may have an infection of the urinary tract or a gastrointestinal problem, and a vet visit is in order.

adult dogs can be house trained!
start with a puppy house-training schedule for all dogs
be disciplined with the training protocol
be patient -if you are consistent, the dog will learn!
you must be tolerant of a few accidents. Don’t want the dog to pee on your heirloom rug? Don’t give your foster dog access.

3. Love The Crate

I am an advocate for using crates.

I know there are plenty of you that have some pretty strong feelings about putting a dog in a crate. I don’t view it as “locking them up” when they’ve been properly introduced to the crate.

I believe crate-training is a life skill all dogs should have. I mention their use above with house training, and I believe it’s important to ask your dog to “kennel up” for at least some period of time most days of the week.

Why my foster dogs sleep in their crates.

Crate training is teaching your dog to be relaxed while kenneled.

Reasons to crate train a dog?

Emergency preparedness – how do you keep your dog if you are displaced away from home? (how would you manage your pet in a shelter, hotel, a friend’s home, or having to board your pet somewhere?)
Veterinary visits (recovery in a kennel post surgery, perhaps?)
Safe transporting in a vehicle.
Help your dog learn independent quiet time, a key confidence builder.
Your dog’s adopter may want to use crates and would appreciate your training.

Crate training is a necessary life skill, even if you don’t want to use it every day.

4. Touch Your Dog!

I bet your foster dog is snuggling with you on the sofa and getting plenty of affection. But… do you know if your foster dog has any sensitive areas on his or her body? Any areas that cause unpleasant “memories” or emotional responses? Areas that elicit an “oh that feels good!” reaction?

The family that adopts your dog will be quite appreciative knowing what reactions to expect when touching or grooming their new pet.

Also, by really giving your foster dog a rub down, you may discover lumps or areas of concern the veterinarian may have missed during their physical exam. Here’s how I do a routine skin check.

Does your foster dog like petting? Maybe not!! Use The Canine Consent Test to find out.

A word of caution: Resist the urge to coddle your new foster dog.

By coddle, I mean letting your foster dog get whatever and do whatever because “they’ve had a hard life”.

If the foster dog is getting privileges that your own personal pet isn’t getting, you may be coddling.

Yes, the dog may have had a sad rescue story, and you want it to know that its new life is covered in awesome sauce from this day forward, but not requiring your foster dog live by the house rules can facilitate behavioral problems.

Provide the same routine that your other pets get. If you ask your pet to be polite, expect the same of your foster dog, and help them succeed.

5. Get Out And Go!

No one will argue the benefits of exercise for our healthy dogs. Many people looking to adopt a dog want to adopt a dog that can join the family’s activities. From daily walks in the neighborhood to sipping beverages at the local coffeehouse, people want to bring their pets along.

What do you want to discover?

How does your foster dog behave on a walk?
In a noisy home improvement center?
On a busy urban street?
Do they become upset or excited seeing unfamiliar dogs?
Hearing unfamiliar sounds?
Do they feel overwhelmed in a crowd?
How does your foster dog do when you have company at the house?

If you don’t feel like you are the person to find out these answers, talk to your agency’s administration about someone who can help you get these answers. They should have someone on their team who can provide you with coaching or physical assistance.

Thoughts on walking reactive dogs

6. When Is Recess?

Play with your foster dog! It will tell you a host of information. Not only will you learn which games are your foster dog’s favorite, but you can also learn some important information, like

if your dog gets overly excited or overwhelmed and fearful and how those emotions are displayed, and how much effort it takes the dog to calm down.

Playing with your foster dog can help teach good social skills, and you are armed with a list of “favorite toys to buy” to give to the dog’s new family on adoption day. The new family will surely be appreciative when they can target their purchases to the dog’s likes.

When your foster dog plays with other dogs, supervise them and observe important social skills.

Your adoptions coordinator will want to know if your foster dog will require special consideration when placing him or her in a home with other dogs.

Always seek guidance from your rescue administration if you see social behavior that is concerning.

To read more about the benefits of playing with your dog, click here:

7. Please And Thank You!

Help your foster dog practice manners!

Your foster dog should be exposed to basic manners training, and should practice every day.

If you don’t know about manners training, take a class!

Teaching your dog to sit politely for any reason is so important, and good manners will help your foster dog stand out above the rest. Isn’t it nice when a dog sits politely for petting from strangers?

Likewise, learning a behavior like “wait” teaches impulse control, relationship skills, and confidence.

8. Restore And Maintain Health

Your rescue organization in conjunction with their veterinarian should be the leader for you here, making sure that your foster dog is treated for major illnesses/injuries, spayed or neutered as appropriate, current on vaccines, on heartworm prevention, and remains parasite free. Always follow the instructions of the treating veterinarian, and your rescue organization’s protocols. If you think your foster dog is sick, quickly inform your organization’s administration. Know the ideal weight for your foster dog and please, keep them at that weight. Do not overfeed your dog.

Thoughts on free-feeding

9. Be Patient And Go Slow

If your only take-away from this blog post is one point, let it be this one.

Slow down and give your foster dog a minute to figure out all this new: new house, new people, new animals, new sounds, new smells.

Your foster dog just had their world turned upside down, either from being in a scary shelter environment, found as a stray, or given up by their family. They don’t know where they are or who you are. Resist the urge to coddle or dote over; let them come to you. Set them up to succeed in your home.

The first few days should be quiet days. Create a retreat with the crate away from everyone. If you have multiple pets, you may want to wait until the second or third day to begin introductions and even then only your best, most neutral pet should go first. Your foster dog may not eat for a day or two, may have a potty accident even when you’ve been told that they are potty trained, and may be reserved in their personality. These are normal behaviors.

10. Be A Show Off!

Who’s Awesome? Your Foster Dog!

The sea of adoptable rescued dogs is VAST! Don’t believe me? Go check out Peffinder.com. You want to make sure your foster dog stands out in the crowd.

Write A Good Narrative. Do you think your foster dog is awesome? Say so! Depending upon the platform your rescue organization is using (most use Petfinder – go check them out) you may have limited space for writings. Basics to include: The dog’s age, weight, and sex; the basic skills of house trained, crate trained, leash trained, and any other manners they possess; if they are safe to be around cats, other animals, and children, and what you believe your foster dog will need in order to thrive in their new home.
Visualize your foster dog’s perfect family. I often asked myself, “Who is this dog’s perfect family?” If the perfect family could somehow magically appear, what are they like? What skills do they have? What kind of home do they have? What is their lifestyle, their activity level, their dog experience? Don’t make your dog sound perfect if he’s not. You might say, for example, “While George finds the sounds of fireworks quite upsetting, thunderstorms don’t seem to be particularly stressful for him.” A well-written biography brings interest and invites more conversation about a dog’s qualities and needs.

Create an Avatar to help you write attractive biographies for your foster dogs.

Good Photographs Are Necessary

Take Good Photographs. A picture really is worth a thousand words and when you need to draw attention to your foster dog, getting good photography is super important. Here are tips from some photography pros:

Use natural light – if indoors, position your dog near a window when the outside light is coming indoors. Outdoor shots in dappled sun or bright shade are equally nice, the light is neither too bright or too dim.
Look at the camera! Get your dog to establish eye contact and look directly at the lens of the camera or your smartphone. You may choose to find an assistant who can stand behind you and direct the dog’s eye contact while you work the composition of the photos. Remember you can crop your shots, so don’t worry so much about filling up the screen.
Get the eyes in focus! The rest of the photo can look “soft” or out of focus, but you want the eyes to be sharp.
Try to capture the dog engaged in its favorite activity. A dog carrying a ball or toy or begging for a treat is an endearing shot and helps tell the dog’s story. Families want a dog that is a good match for their lifestyle. If you have a very active foster dog, don’t only take pictures of him sleeping on the sofa.
Plan to take a lot of pictures! Getting good photos isn’t easy or quick. Bring your patience, and recognize when your pup has lost their patience. It’s no fun for either the photographer or the dog to be frustrated. Stop the photo session and try again another day.

Share Contact Information

Keep contact cards in your pocket when you and your foster dog are out and about. Include the dog’s name and the rescue organization’s email and website. A link to the dog’s online profile is a plus. Make it easy for an individual or family to reach out to your rescue organization for more information.

Finally, stay present with your foster dog.

They live in the present, and your best work will be done by being aware of what they are asking you to provide at that moment. Not food or yummies or affection per se, but guidance, interaction, fun, assurances, and new, safe, and happy experiences.

Learn when they need more exercise (or less), or more intellectual stimulation, or more distance, more quiet time, more predictability, more variety. Dogs are amazing creatures, unbelievably resilient, and incredibly grateful when we listen to them speak.

Thank you for fostering.

The Ultimate Guide To Fostering Dogs: 10 Skills You Need To Know