Making hard decisions

I started my journey as a foster dog parent this past fall. I’ve had around seven different Foster’s. Most of the time it has went great. I cannot honestly say that any of the dogs that I have fostered have been unpleasant. I can really honestly say I have really enjoyed most of them. They’ve all held a very special place in my heart. Unfortunately, I’ve had to make some hard decisions when it came to them though. On two separate occasions I’ve had to relinquish my fosters. One time went really well and the dog was able to go back to its original owner. I’m hoping things went well for it for the rest of its life. I don’t really know because I haven’t kept in touch with them. The second time I had to relinquish a foster was just yesterday. Unfortunately, I had to send her back to the shelter which was super hard but I know I did the right thing. The first time when I had to really question my foster she was a female German shepherd boxer mix of sorts. Around five years old. She had been living in a home with a very aggressive dog but I was told that she was extremely good with other dogs. I did not see the warning signs of the situation and walked into it very unequipped to deal with the situation. The first thing was I took her from a private person, and decided to foster her. With no backing from any agency for medical or anything. I thought I would be able to find her a home on my own. Big mistake. I would advise anyone who plans to Foster to go through a rescue or shelter that way they have financial help and just a lot of physical help with decisions and situations. From the very beginning she was a little snappy with my personal dogs. She was snappy with me and my family at first, but then she got over being snappy with my immediate family but she continued to be very snappy with my personal dogs. Not only that, she was very aggressive with new people–the vet, anyone else except my immediate family to the point where she bit someone. The situation got worse and worse as far as her being aggressive with strangers and she got increasingly aggressive with my personal dogs. When the veterinarian refused to treat her without being sedated, I knew I would not be able to find her a home and that same day she jumped on one of my dogs. I had to call her former owner. Thankfully, I still had her information and told her what was going on and told her I would not be able to find this dog a home nor did I feel safe doing it. I told her I didn’t know what would happen to this dog. She might possibly be euthanized if she wasn’t able to take her back and thankfully, she did take her back. Then she admitted to me that she had had some problem with her slightly but nothing she could not handle and that she thought things would be better when she got her away from that other aggressive dog. Unfortunately, it was too late. I suggested training and told the owner she should take her back if anyway possible and she did take her back. I made some firm fast rolls at that point. I would only take in foster dogs from shelters and rescues. I would also look for aggression. No aggression whatsoever would be tolerated either toward dogs or people. The second foster situation that I dealt with was recently. I took in a dog without meeting her first which is a big mistake but it was a desperate time, desperate measure type of situation and it just worked out that way. The shelter assured me that she was good with dogs. She came in and was great with my dogs. Unfortunately, the confrontation was over food so, yes, understandable but her personality totally changed. I did feed separately but they had received treats around each other several times before and nothing major had happened so I was caught off guard when she got into an altercation with one of my dogs over a treat and went way too far. Fortunately, no one was hurt but I could not allow that to happen so I had to ask the shelter to take her back which they did. I also made another rule at that point–I’m not going to take on dogs bigger than my dogs. I just don’t wanna handle that. I don’t feel like I’m equipped to handle that and so I’m only going to take in small dogs. I know when giving out treats and feeding you should do them separately and I usually do, but things had been going so well I just didn’t think that something would happen like that. Plus, the fact that her personality totally changed. When we were trying to get her in the car for the shelter to take her back she was pulling and resisting. The shelter worker was not even able to handle her on her own which told me that dog was very strong. She was a lab mix and so she should have been very strong and I was glad that her medical problems were subsiding to the point where she felt like she could be her true self. The only thing is her true self just wasn’t a fit for my home. Third dog I’m going to mention was not a foster at all. She was actually a dog that I took on. Again I took on a dog I had never met. A young girl had gotten a dog in high school and after she graduated and got a job decided that she did not want the dog anymore. Which is a very sad thing. The dog had been very well taken care of. The dog came to me with luggage. I’m telling you major luggage it seem like this girl did nothing but spend money on her dog. She had a whole wardrobe full of outfits, toys, leashes, clippers, brushes, bandannas, and more dog stuff than I had ever seen. This dog was loved. At least it seemed that way. Not sure what changed. She just decided she didn’t want her. The excuse she gave me was after starting her job she just felt like she did not have the time for her but she only worked a 40 hour work week which is very normal so I’m not sure what the real reason she got rid of the dog was. I suspect it had something to do with aggression but I can never say so for sure. Immediately, when I met her at a Cracker Barrel to pick up the dog and all her luggage, the dog snapped at me. I thought it was going to bite me. That shocked me and I said, “Wow does she do that often?” She said, “Oh, did she snap at you? Oh, she never does that…not sure what’s going on. It’ll be OK.” and quickly handed her to me. Dog was a Shih Tzu mix and only about 13 pounds so she wasn’t a big dog. She wasn’t ominous or anything like that. The girl also seemed to want to give her away very quickly. She was asking a price for her and when I hesitated and said that I’d have to think about it she said, “Well, if you can take her today I will let you just have her.” I thought that was odd too when I said that the lady lived about an hour from me and I wasn’t able to travel that far that day she offered to drive her to me. Was all very strange. My suspicions are that they had some issues with aggression possibly after some sort of event. I feel that someone was mean to this dog and then she started having aggressive tendencies afterwards but I can never prove it. What I do know is after she entered my home, it was very apparent that she was not happy living with other dogs. She always snapped at me from time to time when I tried to pick her up and did not act like she liked me at all. I always felt like she possibly had an issue with certain kinds of women with high-pitched voices. She loved guys, especially with deep voices. She never settled in and we gave it a year. She was not happy with the other dogs in the house. She was not happy with me. So, I made the decision to find her another home. I found an older woman with a deep voice no kids and no other dogs. She was going to be her constant companion and get lots of attention which the dog loved. She loved car rides and she did not like to be left home alone. She also wanted to be the apple of someone’s eye and she loved this woman from day one so I know it was a perfect fit. Who knows… maybe her previous owner-the young woman-had done something because she had a high-pitched voice. She was great with kids. She was also great with men and women with deep voices. All the situation‘s have taught me a lesson. I can look on them and think I made some really bad decisions (or I can say I made some unfortunate decisions), but at the end of the day everyone had a happy ending. I’m glad that that dog got out of the home with that young woman especially if something was happening to her. For that woman to be as frantic about getting her out of that house I have to believe something bad was happening or had happened. So I’m glad that I found the new owner that was perfect for her. As far as the Foster Dog who was aggressive, I’m glad I was able to keep her just long enough for her owner situation to get better where she could take her back. As far as the last Foster Dog that had to go back to the shelter I believe her story has not ended yet and hopefully something better will be her way really soon. All these situations have led to a better understanding of the canine world and fostering and rehoming for me. Knowledge is power.