This is a great question and we understand that it’s confusing.
In many cases, dogs and fosters are a perfect match, and have a routine and boundaries that make sure everyone is happy and thriving. This is most often the case with experienced dog owners, and dogs who have been in the rescue more than 2 weeks.
In other cases, the dog is new to rescue, and the foster is the person helping us get to know more about the new dog, and helping us learn what their long term needs may be.
If we determine that a dog’s LONG TERM needs are different than what the foster can provide we may not approve that adoption. It doesn’t mean the foster is a bad home, it doesn’t mean the foster would be denied for all dogs across the board. We place dogs in homes on a CASE BY CASE basis, evaluating their individual needs and striving to ensure a dog that will be happy in that home for its entire life.
Let’s say we get a dog from the shelter who is noted as aggressive toward other dogs — we will likely place that dog in a foster home WITHOUT other dogs.
A week or so later, after the dog has decompressed, we find that it was just the stress of the shelter causing them to act out, and in fact they LOVE other dogs and would be HAPPIEST in a home with a playmate. Well, we have a dilemma because we don’t want to move the dog to a new foster home if we don’t have to, but we also think the dog would do best in a home with another dog LONG TERM. This foster would not be an ideal candidate to adopt this particular dog.
We believe that people can be incredible short term guardians for a dog but not necessarily be equipped to give THAT dog its best life.
Our MISSION is to match dogs to their perfect home, not just any home.
