Fosters

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know that I have fostered dogs several times.  Typically, we work with the Southeastern German Shorthair Pointer Rescue.  I love GSPs and they are quickly becoming a popular breed, which is both good and bad for rescue.  On the one hand, people are eager to adopt them, but on the other hand, people are often buying these dogs without realizing the exercise requirements of the breed and many are ending up in shelters.  I realized the other day that I never shared that our last foster, Sam, was adopted.   Another volunteer with the rescue was interested in adopting him and they happened to live in Montgomery, which is conveniently on our way to Auburn.  When we went up to Auburn for the Mississippi State game, we dropped him off for a trial weekend and he never came home!  I am always sad when a foster gets adopted, but so excited for his new life at the same time!

You can read about our previous fosters, Hank here and here, and Dean here and here.  We had to make the difficult decision to stop fostering because all 3 of the GSPs we have fostered have chased our cat, Lulu.  She's been caught twice, but thankfully, walked away without major injuries.  I just feel like my first priority is to the pets I have.  However, I am still a volunteer with the rescue and offered to help pull dogs from shelter, transport, etc.  This Friday, I had my first opportunity to do just that.  I pulled a male German Shorthair from the Baldwin County Animal Shelter and kept him overnight before handing him over to a volunteer to drive him to his foster home in Hoover, AL.  He is so sweet!  If you are interested, watch the website for Cooper's bio!

Little did I know that Cameron would be bringing home another foster Saturday afternoon.  And this one isn't even a GSP!

Cameron found this sweet little girl while out for a run in our neighborhood.  He was near a friend of a friend's house, who he knew regularly fosters dogs and thought it might be one of hers.  Turns out it wasn't, but she offered to take her and find her owners.  Unfortunately, the owners have not turned up.  Since she already has her hands full with other fosters, and Cameron felt he had dumped the dog on her, he went back to get her.  We are continuing to look for her owners, but in the meantime, I'll be spaying her and vaccinating her to get ready for her to go into one of the local rescues groups.  We still haven't come up with a name for her.  Any suggestions?


I would encourage everyone interested in getting a dog to really look at rescues and shelters.  I'll admit that both of our dogs were purchased from breeders, because at the time I thought that was what I had to do to get the breed I wanted.  These days, there are so many organized breed-specific rescues out there, that if a pure-bred (or close to it) is what you want, you can find and adopt a dog that would have otherwise been euthanized.  And if a pure-bred isn't your thing, and to be honest, some of the cutest dogs I see are mixed breeds, the shelters and rescues are full!  You won't regret adopting your new best friend!