I am a Terrible Foster

No, I don't beat or starve them or even make them sleep outside, but it's true, I am a terrible foster. A foster parent is defined as: a person who acts as parent and guardian for a child in place of the child's natural parents but without legally adopting the child. So replace child with dog and you get the picture. Now carefully read the last 5 words: "without legally adopting the child". This is why I am a terrible foster.

Our first endeavor into the foster world started with "The Twins". They were 2, 2 day old abandoned shep puppies. After 12 weeks of feeding them from baby bottles, letting them sleep with us, and falling madly in love with them, it was time for them to find forever families. The mere thought made me want to pack them up and run far far away. How could I ever trust anyone to take care of them like we do? What if they think I abandoned them?  What if I never get to see them again? I wanted to adopt both of them myself.

Eventually it came time for Monday (our little girl) to be picked up by her new family. The couple adopting her was perfect, better than I could have asked. However this didn't stop me from sobbing uncontrollably as I passed her from my arms to theirs, as they signed the contract, and finally as they placed her in their car. My emotional state was so bad that this wonderful family was APOLOGIZING for adopting her! I don't think you can be considered a successful foster when you make adopters feel bad for rescuing a dog.

Miss Monday

Well things were even worse with Scully. I won't go into the gory details but I selfishly kept him for another month, got even more attached, kept my husband up at night crying, and went into a state of depression when he went to his fantastic new home.

After moping around for a few days of being Scully-less I convinced Matt that we should foster a 10 week old Beligian Malinois with a broken femur. We got Kiku just before Halloween and were slated to keep her until her leg was healed, sometime around Christmas.. No big deal. If I could let Scully go, I could let any dog go. Wrong. Kiku found a great home . . . with us! Everyone fell head over heels for the pup with the busted leg we now know as Paisley, and we became "foster failures".

This brings me to Carmen, our current foster. She has been with us since January and I can't imagine life without her. She is a quintessential dog. She isn't prissy, or moody, or picky, or spoiled, she is everything a dog should be. Carmen is loyal, loves to swim and fetch, goes nuts for a ride in the car, and is working on getting her therapy dog certification.

And now I'm supposed to give her up for adoption? Someone needs to fire me.

Little Paisley May

Scully Man

Carmenita