To Foster or Not To Foster?
Fostering is an easy, short-term way to save the lives of pets in need. By opening your heart and your home to dogs, cats, puppies or kittens, you not only prepare them for life in a forever home, you also help another family gain the unconditional love a pet brings into a home .
According to the 2024 Hill's Pet Nutrition State of Shelter Pet Adoption Report, more than two-thirds of people (68%) have a positive view on fostering pets. What prevents them from fostering? A fear they’ll end up adopting their foster pet. Concern that they lack time or space, and the feeling that they already have too many pets. And, a lack of understanding regarding what is required of a foster parent.
None of these concerns should stop you from fostering!
The good news is, Lucky Dog Animal Rescue provides the supplies you need, (as do many other shelters and rescues across the country), including dog crates, collars, leashes, cat condos, support and medical care. And, we have an active adoption event schedule that will give your foster pets lots of chances to find a forever home! Plus, if you need to travel or have a conflict arise, we can find temporary foster coverage to help!
Over the last few years, even for Lucky Dog, whose successful foster program is well-established, finding fosters has become more of a challenge. This could be because people already have their hands full with their own pets or due to lack of time, but the need for fosters has never been greater. Puppy litter fosters are the most urgent need, followed closely by fosters who are open to taking larger dogs, over 45 lbs. Lucky Dog will provide support and resources, and we are on hand to help fosters through the process of allowing pets to decompress and adjust in their temporary home.
At Lucky Dog, our fosters are more than just volunteers—they're literal lifesavers. By offering temporary homes to puppies, dogs, kittens, and cats, fosters make it possible for us to save at-risk animals from euthanasia. And, by moving an animal into foster care, we make space in overcrowded shelters for a new pet to come in.. The only limit on Lucky Dog’s life saving is the number of foster homes we have. The more foster families we have, the more dogs, cats, puppies and kittens we can save.
Fostering Saves Lives
Across the country, shelters are full or over-capacity, and are now in their fourth year of having too many animals and not enough adoptions—especially for dogs and puppies. Fostering is a vital way to volunteer, whether you’re helping alleviate overcrowding in a shelter, supporting a rescue without a physical facility, or even bottle feeding kittens or puppies…Fostering saves lives.
Because Lucky Dog does not have a physical location to support our adoption program in the Washington, DC metro area, the only way we can save lives is by placing animals in temporary foster homes. Dogs, cats, kittens and puppies arrive weekly from overcrowded and under-resourced shelters, and they need a foster home to land in while they wait to be adopted. . Since 2009, Lucky Dog Animal Rescue fosters have made it possible to save more than 28,900 lives. We are always looking for fosters in the Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia.
With the opening of our Rescue Campus in Florence County, South Carolina, we have new ways for fosters to support our lifesaving work! As wonderful as it is, our Campus is no place for nursing moms or bottle babies. Fosters allow these special needs animals a safe and stress-free place to prepare for transport and adoption. Fosters are also critical to help make sure we can say yes to animals in need even if our kennels are full.
Benefits for Foster Pets
A shelter can be a noisy and stressful place, especially for animals who are frightened or shy. By providing a quiet, more peaceful home environment for pets to learn and grow, you’re improving their chances of adoption. And for newborns, moms with new litters and pets with medical or behavioral challenges, a foster home can offer them healing and a future they might not otherwise have had.
Dogs and cats rescued from shelters and placed in foster homes get to play, unwind and relax, while getting lots of love, individual attention, socialization and often training, toys and treats.
You’re also preparing your foster pet for life as part of a family, and getting to know all about them so you can share that information with potential adopters.
Foster feedback on a pet is invaluable in helping to find a good adoption match. Fosters learn the pets’ personalities in the real world; how they interact with new people, how they react to other animals, their likes, dislikes, and fears, and their favorite toys and activities. Using this information to create an accurate and engaging online profile increases an animal’s chances of adoption and helps find a family that’s a good fit. Recent research funded by Maddie’s Fund found that foster stays increased dogs’ likelihood of adoption by more than 14 times!
And, of course, marketing a foster pet to your own network of friends, family, and coworkers gives them even more chances at finding a forever home.
Benefits for Fosters
Fostering can be fun, enjoyable and rewarding, and offers the companionship and mental and physical health benefits of having pets present without the long term responsibility.
For people passionate about helping pets who are not ready to make the commitment to adopt, fostering is a wonderful way to help, as it offers animals a break from the shelter environment, and lightens the load for overburdened shelter staff, even temporarily.
Foster families with children can include the kids in this important volunteer activity, offering valuable lessons in compassion and care, even for children not old enough to volunteer in a shelter. Plus, children can earn SSL or community service hours often required for school.
Sometimes people worry that it’s too difficult to say goodbye when it’s time for foster pets to be adopted, but each time a pet in your care goes on to loving home, the foster spot in your home can be quickly filled with another animal in need. And, you can stay in touch with adopters and get regular adoption updates, seeing in real time how you have impacted another family’s life!
What’s provided?
Lucky Dog Animal Rescue provides all the supplies and support you need to make your foster experience successful!
- We provide routine, preventative and emergency medical care at one of our vet partners at no cost to you.
- We provide essential supplies, including collars, leashes, crates and identification tags.
- We have trainers/behaviorists who can help work through any issues you may have with your Lucky Dog foster dog or cat.
- We let the world know that your Lucky Dog or Cat is looking for a permanent home by posting him or her on multiple websites.
- We hold adoption events every week, a great way to find loving homes for your foster dogs and cats.
- Our network of volunteers are here to answer questions, interview potential adopters, help transport your dog or cat when you are unable, and do anything we can to make fostering a great experience.
There Are Many Ways to Foster with Varying Time Commitments
There are many advantages to fostering, but one is that it’s a valuable volunteer role that’s flexible and performed in the comfort of your own home. You can decide how long and how often you’re able to foster, and Lucky Dog even has a backup plan, with temporary fosters to take over for longer-term fosters to accommodate travel and busy schedules. So whether you’d like to try fostering for a night, a few days, or for weeks or longer, fostering for any length of time is a literal lifesaver. And you can also choose a type of pet that fits your schedule, space and lifestyle, from an independent cat or mellow older dog, to a higher-needs puppy or kitten. There’s a foster pet to fit nearly every home environment.
Overnight and Weekend Fosters
Overnight and weekend fosters provide short-term care for a dog from Friday or Saturday night until Sunday. These fosters take in dogs off transport, give them a bath and basic medication (provided by Lucky Dog), and then bring them to our Adoption Event on Sunday. It's a small commitment that makes a big difference.
Full Time Fosters
Full Time Fosters take in a dog or cat off transport or from another foster and provide temporary housing until they find their forever home. This commitment can range from just a few days to several weeks. Our full time fosters dedicate themselves to caring for their foster pet until they are adopted, offering stability and love during this transitional period.
Puppy or Kitten Fosters
Puppy or Kitten Fosters care for litters of puppies or kittens that aren't yet fully vaccinated and need extra attention. These fosters provide the essential care needed for the youngest arrivals until they are adopted. While training and housebreaking aren't required, having a flexible schedule and lots of patience is crucial.
Temporary Fosters
Temporary fosters provide short term fostering while a dog or cat’s full time foster is out of town or unable to care for their fosters. Temporary fosters may be needed for a night, a few days, or a few weeks. They are a critical part of our foster team, ensuring our animals always have a safe place to sleep and a full belly of food.
How to Get Involved
All we ask of our fosters is that you provide daily care, love and affection for your Lucky Dog or Lucky Cat foster pet, share photos and videos of your foster that we use to help them find a home, and that you are open to meeting adopters at your home when it’s time for them to be picked up by their adopters. And, most importantly, you let us know if you need help.
To get started, visit our website to fill out a foster questionnaire. If you’re excited about fostering but don’t live nearby, please reach out to your local shelters and rescue groups, and there’ll certainly be grateful to have you as a foster!
Other ways to support animal welfare in your area:
- Volunteer at Lucky Dog or your local shelter.
- Foster a pet for Lucky Dog or a local shelter or rescue.
- Donate resources or funds.
- Spread awareness about the benefits of adopting, fostering, spaying/neutering, volunteering and donating.
Thank you for your interest in becoming a foster for Lucky Dog Animal Rescue, or for a shelter or rescue in your area. Fostering creates space in overburdened shelters, helps make pets more adoptable, offers fulfillment and companionship to fosters and enables the important life saving work of Lucky Dog.