News

BTN 500

 

 

We are stronger together than we are alone!

  • Register

DustyACK 2524"I was a feral dog living in the field and then under a grandstand at a school. "  "My owner died and the family just turned me loose to starve." " We just got bored and dug out from under a fence." " My owner starved me, kept me in a cage. " " I was a puppy mill mom." and so many more......

Why do we rescue Boston Terriers and then step up to provide them a temporary home? Oh sure there is that " We love dogs."  Why do we foster dogs? Because it’s a win-win situation for everyone. 

First I want to tell you not every dog that is rescued have something medically wrong with them, nor that there is a behavior problem that needs to be overcome.. But many of us go out of our way to reach out and take in those that have a problem because we know they will be harder to find fosters or adopters for them, until these issues have been resolved.  So if your considering fostering for a rescue and are not experienced in working with medical issues or behavior challenges, do not worry there are thousands of dogs out there that are normal healthy dogs that need you.. 

Some of us only take in one dog at a time, others are set up to handle two or more at a time.  Some of us get a little too passionate and take in only the sick, healing, special needs, or seniors. Why? Good question with many answers... Mine where selfish... I could not bare the fact that there was a sick, healing, special needs, or too old and with unknown days left, sitting unloved in a boarding site, only because although rescued, and under medical care, had no place to go.... So by the third year of doing rescue, those were the ones I took in: fostering them until they were well, or their behavior had been addressed, and a new foster was found.  Or even better a forever home...  For some they allowed me the honor of walking beside them until it was time for them to cross the rainbow. Yes there were many tears. But That was balanced by much more joy. And the lessons of life those Bostons taught me, well the value, I can not even begin to explain... Oh and a nother note.  some fosters are with you a very short time (overnight, one or two weeks), other might be harder to place and be with you several months.. There have been some perfectly lovely balanced dogs that did not find the perfect forever home for almost a year.... You never know and you must not rush this process, or the dog will land up back in foster for the strangest of reasons..  And that my friends defeats our goals of finding the Right forever home. The Boston wil tell you, I do not know how to explain this but  You will know when the new family is the right one if you trust your organization to do the per-screening, and then trust you reactions to how the dog responds the moment they are introduced to the prospective new family/person. 

 

Do any of these experiences below remind you of some of your experiences with rescued dogs that you have fostered?

"I fostered an obese and anxious Boston Terrier  a couple years ago; she had been surrendered by an older man who had gone into long-term care (without hope of recovery). She had never spent more than an hour without him in her three-year-old life. She liked people, and was very jolly and friendly with me, and seemed perfectly content to hang out with me, but her constant panting and tense ears told me she was not really happy. Her tension was confirmed the first time I un-clipped her leash and let her out the back door of my house, unbeknownst to her, into a very securely fenced backyard; she ran like a demon was chasing her. Only when she discovered there was no way out, noadoptday 4 open gate, no low or rickety fence, did she turn back toward me, smiling as if that little escape effort hadn’t happened."

 

Why do dogs do this?  “Why can’t she see that we love her and want to provide everything for her?  If she’s was an abused, why can’t she see what a nice home this will be for her?” So many questions we have ask ourselves each time we take in a new foster.

One of the hardest things for us humans to do, is to not look at these behaviors from our point of view, but instead keep in mind how it is from a dog's point of view. Something that I admit is very hard to do!
We except them to know how great their new life is going to be instead: All they know is that they have been taken away by strangers once again, and even if the strangers are very nice, this isn’t home. The instinct for the dog to find something familiar (even if what was familiar for the dog was not so nice) is VERY STRONG.


brkyrdbreeders2I have been advised several times that I need to TRY to see it from a dog's perspective. Their point of view is not what we have, these dogs haven’t been anticipating and visualizing their new lives with a new family. You have to keep the dog long enough to bond to you before you can trust him not to bolt at the earliest opportunity. Some dogs will always try to escape even when they are happy with a new family or home. Just ask some of those who to this day, can not understand why their dog just took off, only to be captured several days later or months.

 


"I have fostered a Boston who would "pancakes" when I reach for her. Usually pancaking (flattening themselves to the floor) is a sign the dog was abused. I already knew that, but when I pick her up she's trembling. Which leads me to believe someone picked her up and hurt her. Threw her? Beat her? I'll never know what happened to this tiny dog before she came into my house as a foster at age nine, but in the almost two years she's been here, this pancaking behavior is still there when I reach for her. She was 9 when rescued from a life of neglect in a hoarding situation. Skinny, shaking, scared."


"Our first rescue (but our third dog) has been with us for a year and we think he is about 15 months old. He had an awful beginning in life and we will never know what all he went through. He has many quirks (afraid of water, metal bowls, stairs, etc.) and runs away every chance he gets. He has slipped out of a harness and once he just went through a screen door. We have lost him 3 times and just had to keep following him until he was too exhausted to run any more. We have a fenced yard and just keep hoping he won't figure out how to jump over it. Now, we never let him off a leash or tether unless we are out in the yard with him. We love him anyway and he seems to love us, but it makes us sad that he can't have more freedom. We are determined to just keep working with him, but it has been hard and quite a learning experience for us and him. I don't think getting a rescue dog is for everyone, especially the inexperienced."
"I once had a Boston mix named Shadow, an Irish Setter named Coach and a unknown mixed rescued we named Brownie. I had a 6 foot fence around my backyard and a dog door they could go in an out of whenever they wanted to. when Someone was home.  But I still had a problem. They use to dig under the fence and run around the neighborhood if we did not pay attention . One night when I got home, Brownie who was about 6 months old was missing. I rode around the neighborhood for 3 hours looking for her. When I got home, the phone rang and it was a neighbor about 1/2 mile away - she had Brownie and brought her home."

 

licking1

"My last escape was with Sassy and Maydea  - never did figure out how they managed to get out. I dug around the whole fence which was about 80 feet by 120 feet and put cement blocks around the whole fence and then covered them with dirt. Well, that didn't work either. They got the dirt off and the Sassy managed to move the block and off they went. I finally got an electric wire that went around the whole fence. The Sassy got zapped and all was well. I shut the fence off and they never tried to get out again. Now, I use leads to put my dogs outside and they have the run of the whole yard while I sit on the porch. Whenever I get up to head for the door, they come running. They won't stay out alone. "

 

Those are just some of the real life challenges that foster families have so why would anyone want to foster dogs?
BECAUSE WE LOVE DOGS!  BECAUSE WE BELIEVE THERE IS NOT A BAD DOG, JUST BAD ENVIRONMENTS, BAD PEOPLE AND PEOPLE WHO SHOULD NEVER OWN A DOG BUT DO.  BECAUSE WE BELIEVE EVERY DOG DESERVES A CHANCE FOR A BETTER LIFE. BECAUSE WE BELIEVE THERE IS A FAMILY OR PERSON THAT NEEDS THIS DOG AS MUCH AS THE DOG NEEDS THEM.
Our task is to help them find each other. When they do, it is truly a magical moment in time, that makes everything we go through and every possible challenge, worthwhile. That is only a few of the reasons.
Our dogs get to meet new dogs. They have to adapt and be patient. They learn how to share toys, treats and our love and affection. The foster dog learns the same things. In addition, the foster dog learns house manners and interactive dog skills. Our dogs are great communicators. Foster dogs begin learning from our dogs the minute they walk in the door.


A story from an adopter:

"It’s been a few months since we adopted Tadd and things couldn’t be better. Tadd was our first adoption and he’s definitely won our hearts. He’s even inspired our family and friends to look into adoption in the future. Seriously, everyone loves him. What got us instantly was his little under-bite and his quirky personality. He gets awkwardly excited to meet new people and loves to play. He loves every toy he has (dozens of them!) and enjoys “burying” his bones in our laundry and bed. He gets along with every dog he meets, kids and his BFF at our house is a kitten named Bill. If he could, he would be held in your lap 24/7. Tadd has been the perfect addition to our family. We can’t thank you guys enough for what help us find Tadd!"

 

And then there are these stories from our guest writers explains why we keep on bringing in those rescued dogs to foster.....

 The Power of a Dog's Unconditional Love

Grieving our pets part 1

Grieving our pets part 2

UNKNBT2014

teddyaug

bullysmile

BTfemalenursing1 bkyrdbreed17