I have fostered dogs for years but I don't think I can do it anymore because of one of my resident dogs. I'm not looking for advice. I just want to get this off my chest to help process the grief I'm feeling.

I have two resident dogs and keep space for one foster. My eldest resident dog has been through about 5 fosters in our household, but she's had issues with the last and current foster. With the prior foster, my eldest would fight with her. I couldn't even identify the trigger when it would happen, so I ended up just always having to keep them separated. I had to get urgent care twice because of bites from stopping a fight. That foster took a little over a year to get adopted. I was so relieved when that dog got adopted.

A few months later I came across another dog in the street that needed my help. I took in the dog and enrolled it with a rescue with myself as the foster. My eldest and the foster were tense with each other but would respect their space. However, my eldest started attacking my youngest dog out of nowhere, and that would cause the foster to jump into the fight. After going to vet to rule out any medical issues as to why my eldest would attack the younger one, I hired a behaviorist for my eldest. The behaviorist concluded that the foster is causing my eldest to redirect and attack the youngest since the youngest is an easier target than the foster.

Today my eldest attacked my youngest out of where (they were outside in the back yard while I was indoors), which caused the foster to jump in the fight, and I jumped in to separate the chaos. I got bit so deep during the fight that urgent care had to send me to the ER. It wasn't a violent bite - whichever dog did it did a single bite and let go immediately likely realizing I was not the target. I'm okay but I'm so disappointed at the whole situation.

Now I'm just waiting for the foster to get adopted. It's been over a year and only one interested person. Once this foster dog gets adopted, I'm never taking in another foster until my eldest passes.

I'm just so sad. I've found purpose in myself by fostering, but I have an obligation to make sure my resident dogs are safe. It just kills me that I could help another dog in the future, but I have to step back. I could always donate more money to the rescues, which I'm sure helps a lot, but I also know being a foster is also what these rescues need.

I am feeling so hopeless right now. A week ago, my seemingly healthy foster suddenly started having difficulty walking. After some false starts, he was eventually diagnosed with IVDD. That was a shock, and I've been frankly overwhelmed trying to educate myself on how to care for him and help him heal.

The worst part is he had a wonderful adoptive family lined up. We informed them of his diagnosis this week (we waited a bit to see how he would respond to treatment - very well, so far) and they just let me and the rescue coordinator know that they no longer plan to adopt. I'm so, so sad for my foster. He is a wonderfully sweet dog who has had a really rough start to life. Now I'm wondering if he's ever going to find a home.

I signed up to foster him thinking it would just be for a few weeks. He is small, adorable, and fairly young (2-4, best guess), and once I got him housetrained we all thought he'd be immediately adopted. And he was! And then they returned him less than a week later, because they decided they weren't ready for a dog after all.

Now he has IVDD and I'm worried he's never going to find a home. IVDD is such a devastating condition - honestly, as his foster I'm constantly debating asking the rescue to find another placement for him. It's stressful and overwhelming. What stops me is that I know he has nowhere else to go. And he's been living with us for 4 months! I love him deeply and I can still barely handle caring for him. I can't imagine someone taking this on willingly, having never met him, when there are so many other dogs looking for homes.

I am fostering a small crusty dog and her babies. She has likely been bred multiple times in the past and has awful teeth and had come into the shelter with clear neglect and terrible matting (and trojan puppies, there was some sort of backup on spays). It's very sad.

She's also a total velcro dog. Wants nothing more than to sit with people. Very sweet. But she absolutely can not tolerate being left alone for even a few minutes. If I have to be out of the house for a few hours, I inevitably come back to a huge mess in the pen she shares with the puppies, with the pen walls all folded up. She'll track through the puppy pad (not for her, she goes out right before I need to leave) and get whatever is on it smeared everywhere; on herself, on the towels, on any toys, on the puppies even. She'll spill any food or water I've left with her. She's started to rub parts of her face on the pen to the point of irritation. We tried to let her have free run of the room when the puppies still couldn't get out of the pen, and she left deep scratches on the door if we left her at all. I think she's even trying to bite the bars because she'll have a little bit of bleeding from her mouth, but it's hard to say since her teeth are so rotten. She's always in a terrible state when I get back, panting and eyes wild, it's awful to see.

She's also really annoying about food. If we don't move her to another room when the puppies are eating she will pace and pant and try to get their food and eat it out of their mouths. It's really making the weaning process difficult. She is getting plenty to eat (and usually some of my cats' food too!)

She freaks out at 5 AM on the dot every morning. She will usually have a few periods of freaking out before that, but will settle herself. The 5 AM one is the one she doesn't settle from. Even if we take her out to do her business at midnight, she'll always need to go out at 5 am. She won't go back to sleep once we bring her in (and will bark and rattle the crate and hurt herself), unless we bring her to our bed. I'm not a fan of this because she is so smelly but there's not an alternative if we want to get any more sleep.

I take her on walks several times a day, and give her feeder puzzles. I've even started to work on some basic obedience with her (she was completely untrained) to get her brain working/tired. But if anything this behavior is getting worse as we are hitting the 3 week mark. I really don't know what to do. She can't get anti-anxiety meds until puppies are weaned and I'm worried about how the recovery for her dental work and spay are going to go even when she can have anti-anxiety meds.

I usually foster older puppies (4-8 months) and I'm excited to foster these younger pups (who have generally been great). I love training and socializing. But their mom is such a challenge. I know she has been through a lot and I'm trying to have some grace but I am frankly so sick of this nasty smelly anxious dog. I feel awful like I'm failing her and not doing enough for her, but I'm also so frustrated with her behavior. I'd probably feel better about it if I was less sleep deprived.

This is my first time fostering, I've had him for a month now. He is being adopted in 3 days, and while I'm happy for him, I'm so sad and going to miss him so much. He has really high separation anxiety and he follows me around everywhere and always wants to be ON me. We've really bonded, I would keep him but it's actually against the rules of the rescue org (you have to foster 3 times before you can keep them - dumb rule honestly.)

I know he's going to freak out when his new family takes him away. I was gone overnight this past weekend and my kids said he stayed by the back door and/or slept most of the day while I was gone. 😭 I'm just having a hard time about it all. We had a rough couple days when I first got him and now he's just so comfortable in my house and with my family and I just love him so much. Any advice is appreciated.

Hello!

I’m 4 weeks into my first time fostering. He meets potential adopters this week. Any advice or tips, other than a fresh bath?

He’s 8 years old, super hyper (I’ll phrase it as lively for the people meeting him), and just the sweetest boy.

Overall, he’s been so active that the shelter provided trazodone. Issue is, he’s not completely himself on it. His personality shines more sober. Would you drug him for the visit, or let him go full throttle and be himself?

It’s a 30 minute drive to meet them. I could plan to get there 30 minutes early for a long walk to tire his brain?

Thank you!
CT

This beautiful girl is 2 years old and rescued from an abuse ring where she was SA'd☹️ We're her first foster home, and she's starting to settle in finally. Any tips on how to get her adopted?

Just wanting to vent/hear other experiences with this as this is our first return and I'm very emotional about it.

Three days ago we picked up a 12 week old puppy who had to be separated from the siblings she was being fostered with as the fosters said she was showing aggression and dominant behavior towards them. We had her overnight and then she had a meet the next day, they decided to adopt her and picked her up later that day. We then got a call to say that it wasn't working, they were bringing her back. They said she had separation anxiety and was just incredibly upset and unsettled (experienced dog owners so I trust their judgement that it's more than settling in). We hadn't noticed this behavior in the 24 hours we had her but one of us was always around, plus our resident dog and/or cats in the room with us. When she got back she was SUPER excited, she ran straight at me and gave me big kisses and then whined to go inside, did the same with my husband and our resident dog, and even somewhat calmly gave our kitten some gentle kisses, she was so happy being back and she was so comfortable being back in the house just taking a toy and relaxing on the dog bed, trying to steal our big boy's crate at bedtime. It made me so sad that after only being here for one day, she was that excited to be back. It also makes me worried for someone else to adopt her in case she gets that upset again. We did notice the separation anxiety last night (my husband left the room for a minute when she was in her crate and she cried and cried even though I was right there still) so we will work on that, but I don't know if that's what the issue was with the failed adoption or if it was something more than that we haven't had time to figure out yet.

Hi! I'm fostering a husky&german shepherd mix puppy(3months) next week because her current home was too full (4 dogs!) and they were going to send her to the shelter if not. Her current home consists of her mom, dad & brother who she plays with alot and has been with her whole life. She doesn't seem particularly attached to any of them but she does love to play with her brother.

This is going to be probably the biggest change in her life so far & I'm worried she will be scared and miss the other dogs & be lonely. I don't have any friends who have a dog nearby. Are there any tips you guys have to make her feel more welcome or less lonely? I plan to take her on 2 or 3 walks a day as she's a very active dog but there aren't any dog parks nearby. Am I just going to have to hope she acclimates?

I don't know how long I'll keep her because I have to find her a home and nobody has wanted her so far. Any advice on how I should deal with this situation is appreciated!!

Just picked up my 14th foster! He was found abandoned in hazardous conditions and brought to the shelter by Animal Control. He has an upper respiratory infection and ear infections. He’s underweight. Still has a friendly, wagging tail, even though he’s gotta be feeling awful. Looking forward to getting him well!

Hi y’all! I’ll be picking up my first foster in a few days (7 years old, and I’ve taken her out on a Doggy Day Out recently, so I know that she does everything a bit on the slower side of course, and she interacted with other dogs and strangers well), and have plenty of questions despite scouring what feels like the entire internet!

-From what I’ve seen, first step is of course decompression, usually in a crate. I don’t have a spare room to keep her in, and I live in a studio. Will picking a more “open” part of the apartment with a covered crate work? Or would more of a corner be better?

-Should I place food/water in the crate already? Or have a puppy pen as well and place the crate inside that with food and water available outside the crate?

-Would white noise/calming music be ok, or should that be avoided? I obviously will have headphones if I watch TV, etc. while she relaxes, but there’s going to be some apartment noise (luckily my floor as a whole is pretty quiet though).

ETA: She’s the only animal in my apartment, other than dogs in the building itself.

Any advice is appreciated, especially from people who have fostered in apartments! :)

Hihi! I’m considering fostering a dog (or a few) for the first time, and have a few questions for yall as more seasoned fosters.

• what tips do you have on ensuring I’m working with an ethically run rescue or shelter?

• how difficult is it to successfully get a purebred placed with you through a breed rescue vs standard placement? Does having connections help? Predictability in temperament appeals when it comes to my cats safety.

• I work 7.5hr shifts on Saturday and Sunday. I am likely able to get someone to let the pups out at least once while I’m working on these days, and may be moving to a closer position where I can drop by on lunch. is this sustainable, and are rescues willing to work with this?

• I currently have 2 cats, one of which is VERY small. Would it be reasonable to have breeds that I avoid? Would rescues consider this a red flag if I expressly avoid common breeds due to risk? (Eg, bully, large
terrier, husky, GSD, hound content visible in mix).

• I have a room in my house with about 70 species of small exotic animals, including 22 old world tarantulas. This room remains locked, and free roaming pets are never allowed access even under supervision. Gaps in the door are sealed, and a secondary external latch is being installed. I have 7 years experience maintaining this setup with 0 incidents. Would this lower my chance of placement significantly?

Edit- adding one more!!!

• What level of experience is preferred for placing mothers and neonatal litters? I understand my weekend situation isn’t neccesarily compatible with this, but may be making major changes if needed.
I have mentored in whelping, and assisted in raising a Dutch shepherd litter up to 14wk alongside a local breeder. This included ENS, aviculture, navigating spontaneous health concerns, going through the breed health testing process, monitoring mamas mastitis as she went through it and early socialization of the litter. Is this enough, or would shelters prefer 24/7 in-home experience?

I’ve been fostering him for a little over a month. He is a terrier mix about 4 years old and was taken from the local animal control. I don’t know his story before that.
He is a super sweet boy that opens up more quickly with dogs than humans. He cannot seem to stop peeing everywhere all day. He was fixed 3 weeks ago and it hasn’t changed. He cries all night in his crate now that I moved it downstairs. He’s pooped in his crate several times and often pees in his diaper. My husband and I are beginning to hate him because we constantly have to clean up after him and he cries when we aren’t around. My foster group is not very supportive and he’s had no apps. I just want him out of my house but I try to be nice because he is cute and plays so well with my own two dogs. I have not even been fostering for a full year and I already want to quit after this one. Please any advice would be appreciated!!

Thank you!

I am fostering a litter and one pup is thin enough that I can see her ribs. I am feeding them the higher end of the chart on the bag of food we buy. This one thin puppy is also very active so that could be part of it. We also don't know the father of the litter so maybe they are actually going to be bigger dogs than we expected/needing to go up on the feeding chart? We have a vet appointment booked but my anxiety cant wait that long.

I’m pissed.
I have seen this lady with her big dog probably 5 times on the local college campus. Always off leash, always FAR from the owner, who is usually sitting in her car while the dog runs loose.
Campus police have talked to her. She goes away for a while and then shows up again to let her dog run loose around sunset, after campus police are gone.

To be fair, her dog doesn’t seem aggressive (I don’t think.) BUT, it has followed me and pursued me (I didn’t have a foster dog with me the first few times this happened.)

I hadn’t seen her for about 4 months so I hoped she had moved on. Took my current foster dog for a walk.
As we were crossing a big, wide parking lot, I saw the dog. Tried to turn my foster around and hopefully find cover behind a building before the dog could see us, but I was too late. I turned around and it was coming toward us.
I yelled, « NO! Go home! » and the lady appeared, far behind it. I tried to put more space between her dog and us, but every time I turned around, it was closing in.

She yelled, « He won’t hurt you! »

I. DON’T. CARE.

I yelled back across the parking lot, « Well, mine WILL! GET YOUR DOG! »

Absolutely no urgency from her. I tried to get more distance but her dog kept closing the gap, so I pulled out my compressed air and air horn.

I sprayed the compressed air, and the dog momentarily paused and then kept coming. I was so angry.

She started screaming at me, calling me names, but I couldn’t hear everything. She STILL made no strong effort to secure her dog, just lamely calling its name while standing in the same place.

I sprayed again. She threatened to order her dog to bite me.
I was SO grateful that my foster, who usually acts like a jerk toward other dogs, wasn’t freaking out, but my foster dog has fight scars on his face, and I really felt there was a strong chance of a bad fight if her dog got close enough to make contact. I wouldn’t be able to break it up alone, which is why I carry the compressed air and an air horn.

After the third spray, her dog finally turned around and went back to her.

I get home and see that she has posted me on the local social media pages, constructing a narrative that paints me as the unreasonable aggressor. Saying I « pepper sprayed » her dog (uh…no. It was just AIR.) Of course she doesn’t mention that her dog was off leash, or that police have already told her to STOP letting her dog run loose on campus.

I didn’t reply because I don’t want to breathe life into a public forum where I can’t prove my side of the story and a bunch of locals have already formed opinions based on her version.

But I’m pissed.

I need advice!

First, I've already contacted the lost/found pet service on her tags, and her owners have been contacted, so that's not an issue. I'm just waiting on her owners to contact me to arrange pickup.

On to the issue: I found a dog running around my neighborhood, and I was able to catch her and bring her back to my house. I have her safely separated from the other animals in my home.

I've never rescued a dog off the street, and I want to make sure she feels safe until her owners can come get her.

What can I do to make her feel safe?

Supplies I have and can use: pee pads, kennels, blankets, dog food and water, proper sized leash and harness.

I'm open to any and all suggestions!

UPDATE Owner has been found, and this dog has been reunited with them! Thank you again for your advice and comfort!

Please share any wins, frustrations, or stories of your foster dogs from this past week. You can also ask advice, or simply let us know if you are doing ok. We are here to support you!

Today will be the end of my 6th fostering experience, but the first after a 3 year gap. This is the first time with this rescue who pulls from local shelters- my last rescue would have local fosters pull from out of state shelters and then transport to my home.

We’ve only had this pup for a week but he has severe separation anxiety where he breaks out of crates and can’t be left home alone longer than 10 minutes before having a panic attack. When left out, it’s the same situation; panic attack - breaks out of dog safe room and explores the kitchen including jumping up on the stove. We work in an office and he’d have to be left 2x a week with our resident dog while we are out. We would of course have had a dog walker come in as needed to help with the transition.

None of this was known to the rescue as he was sitting in a city shelter. Our previous rescue had out of state fosters so you would have some idea of what was going on prior to agreeing to take them in.

We asked the rescue to find another foster that has people home almost all the time to work on the training without having to throw him into being left right away. We would have kept him as long as possible and figured out a temporary fix in the interim. someone applied to adopt him with that exact profile + lives near the rescue’s trainer + has breed experience. He will be a foster to adopt situation with them and will have the trainer coming to their house. This person applied because they saw my Facebook posts and photos of him.

I feel a lot of ways and wanted to see if people can relate:

Bad for not making it through the decompression period with him, but I have previous foster experience and know the best situation is the one he’s going into especially because it will possibly lead to a forever home. I didn’t want to have to leave him where he would be forced to panic.

I feel like I didn’t do enough for him since I didn’t foster him fully until adoption or long term, but also know that his possible forever was found because of me and I advocated for him to receive training (and possibly medication) to help him not be a rebound dog.

That I’m not in a good place to foster again because I can’t be home all the time and my spouse and I have to leave for work. We used to avoid fostering younger dogs and that’s probably why this experience was more difficult. He also wasn’t neutered so we had to crate and rotate from our resident dog all week.

He’s a great dog who we would have absolutely struggled to not foster fail if our home was the correct one for him.

Good evening, long time foster parent but i’ve acquired a new one who spins a lot. As in he chases his tail in a circle and will not stop when you call him and it seems to be for no apparent reason other than habit. He does it while he’s alone, with other dogs, with you in the room. I’ve attempted to tire him out with a walk, training, playing, etc. The training is seeming to be useful in pulling him out of the spin but once he really gets going he doesn’t stop without you putting your body in his way and putting a leash on him.

I’m taking him to get a neuro check done beginning of the week. I was just curious if any of you had experience with this before or any tips or tricks for me to try?

He’s 6 years old which seems too young for CCD but I guess things could happen. Thank you for any help 🫶🏼

IG: its_adopt_a_dog_summer

This is my first reddit post ever so bare with me...I have no idea how these things work ha.

I guess I should give background first...I'm a 33 F and I live with my mom and sister. My sister has cerebral palsy and I am her full-time care giver along with my mom. I myself have 2 cats and a dog, my sister has a cat, and my mom has a dog. My mom doesn't like animals but for some reason got a dog...theres a lot of back story to the dynamics but I'm trying to keep it short.

In February 2026 I saw a YouTube post about a dog who needed urgent fostering. She was going to be put down due to shelter deterioration. As someone who has CPTSD and is often to anxious to go out to "do good" (volunteering) I always thought fostering may be my way of helping. Animals love me almost as much as I love them, and this dog looked so...there was just something there ya know?

Again I wont bore everyone with the family dynamics but as a 33 year old in life long therapy I'm trying to make my own decisions. My mom was on board to foster but then wasn't (long story) so I applied to be a foster and was approved.

Day one of getting Summer (7 year old female pit) my mom messed up and let her dog Marnie out (6 year old female lab retriever) and Marnie charged Summer and bit her, which led to Summer defending herself, and led to me outside crying on the phone to the foster agency saying "my mom says we can keep her" and them saying "well there's literally no where for her to go so..."

Marnie and Summer have gotten into it a few other times. We keep them completely separate but mistakes happen. Marnie is the aggressor, Summer is afraid of other dogs so she is "reactive" when she sees other dogs. Unfortunately my mom once got in between them when they were fighting (through a banister) and Summer bit my mom. My mom is ok, but the bit was scary and I did take her to the ER. She's all healed now and she and Summer have their issues but they both like each other well enough.

The point is...it's been 6 months. If I could keep Summer I would. She is so amazing, so so soooo amazing. Her former owners clearly loved her a lot. They lost their housing and that's why they gave her up. She's well behaved, well mannered, well trained. She likes kids and cats, it's a couch potato, enjoys walks, and is just an all around joy to have. If her and Marnie got along I'd keep her, but I cant (I also cant financially but whatever).

How do I help her find a family? We go out every weekend and go into stores (people think she's a service animal because she's so well behaved. If anyone told us to leave though I totally would. I'm not trying to pass her off as a service animal I swear), we take walks, I have an "adopt me adopt me adopt me" bright pink leash, a colorful "adopt me!" bandana, she has an instagram I post on even though I haaaaate social media. I've paid for posters and cards to hand out to people. She gets a lot of attention IRL, so many people saying "oh I'm going to contact you I need this dog!" and then nothing. She had one person apply who is in NYC and in a dog heavy apartment which just wouldn't be a good fit so we had to say no. Another person applied then ghosted. One man we met IRL was so into her and he was the perfect fit, 2 weekends later we met a woman who was in love with her but said "my dad would love this dog". Surprise! Her dad was the guy from before! We exchanged numbers (she asked to) and I reached out to her twice to see if he was still interested and I never got a message back. That was months ago.

I'm at a loss. I know everyone thinks their fosters are the best but...like Summer makes me embarrassed of my dogs because she is soooo well behaved. She's truly a gem and I can't figure out how so many people could meet her and love all over her and then just...like why say you want to adopt her if you really dont? I'm also anti sales man. I don't like pushing people or making them uncomfortable. I tell them a little about her and say "if you'd like a card (they mostly ask me first for cards) here you go but no pressure".

Long story short I have to find a hotel for Summer and I (and my disabled sister) for Thanksgiving so the family can come over. I haven't seen my niece and nephew 6+ months because my older sister is uncomfortable with pits (she had an incident with a family put and her oldest kid). I love Summer and I want her to be here forever but it can't happen. The foster agency isn't much help because they are handling a lot of dogs. We're currently having MAJOR house renovations and its affecting Summer more then I ever thought it would. She has to take extra Traz to calm down but it usually makes her more anxious at first.

She's amazing. Truly amazing. And I know once she's in a home where she's the only dog she's going to decompress even more and be happier then ever. But what else can I do? Are there any sites people can suggest posting on? I don't take her to high dog areas because of her reactivity but I do my best to get her out there. Are my instagram posts maybe scaring people away? I just need to find this sweet baby a home.

Has anyone else ever been through this. I fostered a puppy from weeks old until they were around 6 months. They ruled there was not enough evidence and puppy had to be returned with others dogs back to original owner. I’m really struggling to accept the life she’s about to have. Dogs were signed over and there were clear signs of neglect and abuse. I’m heartbroken and feel like I’m grieving. I feel like I’ve let her down

Hi everyone. I have always wanted to help rescue dogs by fostering one day. Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to our dog recently. She was a very sweet, low energy dog especially in her later years due to her mobility issues (she was a special needs dog). She was great with our toddler (didn’t mind being bothered!) and she was always affectionate towards us all. I think for our next dog we would want one that is also easy going, good/gentle with young kids, and likes to play fetch in our back yard, and can join us to the park, farmers markets, camping trips, etc.

I’ve been torn on if my next step should be to foster, while thinking if one dog really works perfectly with our family we could foster fail and adopt. But at the same time, I’m not really sure what to expect and wanted to ask the seasoned fosters here if this sounds too soon given we have a toddler in the home. If that’s the case, that’s totally fine and I think we’ll focus on finding the right dog for us and fostering later in a few years - the time will come and I don’t want to rush it.

I had a “foster fail” for 6.5 years up until last month. She was truly the love of my life.
I am almost one week into a new foster of an 11 month old puppy. We love him so much but idk that it’s the right fit. I struggle more with him thinking we didn’t want him or something like that since he was given up at the shelter.
He’s so sweet and I wouldn’t mind keeping him either but I just want to help more dogs