# Fostering advice needed, LONG post



## goodgirl (Jan 14, 2013)

Situation: at the local city shelter where I volunteer I also take in fosters from time to time. There is male pit bull type who has been there for 5-6 weeks. Animal control brought him in, he was living on a chain and was starving. His teeth are ground down badly and some are missing. He has open sores on his face and is scratching at them. He is still malnourished. He might have mange. His tail is bleeding from wagging against the kennel walls. They guessed his age to be 4, but hard to tell because of his teeth. An employee there tested him with her calm big dog and says he did fine until her dog came up to her. Then he went after her dog. He's getting close to the top of the euthanasia list.

So, I've walked him a couple times a week since he came out of isolation and messed around with him in the kennel, petting, face washes, give him extra food. Yesterday I asked about fostering him long enough to build him up physically and find him a good home. Then I learned about his "other dog testing" (I have 2 of my own). They said only to a home without other dogs. 

Now I've handled him enough to know he's not dog reactive on leash. This guy only wants to wash YOUR face, squirm into your lap and be fed. He loves his kongs! So yesterday I pushed the boundary a bit and walked him parallel to a younger female, within 20 ft. no problem. Then later in the day another younger female, 10 feet no problem. He took to LAT quickly and he gave me auto-watching almost immediately, for other dogs, people, bikes, and a couple noises, a siren. He loose leash walks beautifully.

This morning an employee helped by taking a 3 yr old small male out to see how he did. 3ft away he did fine, turned his back to the other dog, did his sit, good eye contact, played LAT, just wiggled and wagged and ate his treats. Plus there were 3 other on leash dogs going here and there, photos being taken, all within 10 - 20 feet of us for a couple minutes. Thought I saw the tiniest bit of tension in his face momentarily at that point. Other volunteers and staff agree he has always been a sweetie.

So I went and talked to the shelter manager, told her I'd like to try to foster this guy before he gets euthanized. Offered to "sponsor" him monetarily until my current fosters get adopted (any day now, one puppy is already gone). And if she could give me 2 weeks to get the dog run buttoned up better; he can have that, with a heated bed, altho not a heated dog house. It still can get down to 20s degree at night here. Once he eased in to me and my dogs he could start coming in the house into his own little room, you know slowly ease into it, lots of desensitization and counterconditioning if that's what it takes. Told her I can afford to spend up to $1000 toward vet bills and a few sessions with a behaviorist who has helped me in the past. At least find out how old he might be. Maybe ask the behaviorist come to the shelter first to check him out, take him to my vet for a physical as some first steps. This little guy touches me. I'm retired and have a little saved, not a lot.

The response I got was a somewhat guarded, I'll talk it over with other staff. No to the sponsoring him for a couple weeks: we don't do that. Tons of empty kennels right now by the way. No to the keeping him outside, too cold. Seemed to think I was a little nuts to offer to spend money on him, well we don't know how old he is, euthanasia is sometimes kindest (I agreed to that part). So I'm at a loss here.

Any ideas as to what's going on here? Or what I can do? I don't really want more dogs of my own; I like doing the fosters and I have limited space. I've had good luck with them except one that went for my dogs' throats, she had to go back the next morning. Otherwise maybe I could adopt him myself. I don't mind if it takes a few months until he's better physically, fat and pretty; he looks pretty rough right now. Get him better socialized and trained...then find him the right home.


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## Canyx (Jul 1, 2011)

I think shelters feel the need to stick strictly to their guidelines or else they would have to redraw the line for every exception, regardless of how good the intentions might be. 
So they won't let you foster or adopt him because you have dogs... Other than finding someone with 'ideal' living situations, who you would trust to adopt or foster the dog, I don't see what else you can personally do. It's a shame to see good dogs put down.


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

Tough call. I wouldn't be surprised if he turned out to be fairly young. Malnutrition and mange and such can prematurely age a dog but are fairly simple to treat usually. 
Your description of his reactions to other dogs while on leash seems really good for a dog that likely has minimal socialization. Much better reactions then several of my fosters and they even managed good progress. His going after the one dog could have been a form of protecting or resource guarding, especially if she was the first human to really treat him nicely. 

Do you have the space to crate him inside? 

Is there a local rescue group that could pull him and hold him for 2 weeks till the dog run is fixed up or your other foster(s) get adopted? Especially with a little financial help. I know that the rescue I foster with has sometimes pulled a dog and boarded them for a few days or even a couple weeks if they knew they had a reliable guaranteed foster coming available soon. 

If you pull him and then he later shows aggression towards one of your dogs, do you have the time and space to manage him until adoption?


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## goodgirl (Jan 14, 2013)

Thank you for the replies - yes, there seems to be quite a bit bureaucratic slowdown that happen around there. Wish there was more focus on the individual animals. They are swamped at times, so it's somewhat understandable; but lots of room at this time.

You know, I hadn't considered crating, I will have to mull that over. I do know it could be a disaster for him if I had to return him. And at least as of a couple weeks ago, I was told the pit rescues were full; probably time to revisit that, maybe they would let me sponsor him in some way. The lady who tested him did feel like it was a protection thing when he went for her dog. She was glad he doesn't have many teeth!

To compound matters I'm fostering a little mama dog who had 4 pups. They just became available for adoption and one puppy is already gone, dropped him off for his neuter this morning. So they need to go first anyway. Someone is interested in the mama and one other pup already, so just need a little time. They COULD go back to the shelter; I hate to do it, but they are much more adoptable than the guy who is so high on the list.

Thanks a ton for the ideas!!!


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## Greater Swiss (Jun 7, 2011)

The only other option I see (though I've stayed away from the deep workings of the shelter beaureaucracy) is adopting him and rehoming yourself. I mean as the absolute final life/death option here, and only if you have a heap of faith in this dog. At that point though, your safety net will pretty much be gone unless you are willing to actually take him to the shelter again. I'll tell you though, the informal foster is a tough way to go for a ton of reasons, but if it comes down to him being PTS vs him having a chance (so long as you believe there really IS a chance for him), it is something you could consider.


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## goodgirl (Jan 14, 2013)

Thank you for the reply Greater Swiss - I don't know if they would let me actually adopt him since I have 2 dogs of my own. Plus a foster and her 2 pups (another one adopted yesterday, yay!). The more I think about it, to be safe with all dogs concerned and to set up things for success, I would have to have him outdoors to begin with. I'm afraid it would be too much to ask of him to come into my small house with me and even just my 2 dogs. He has probably spent most of his life outdoors alone a lot of the time; it would be a huge adjustment for him. I just don't have the physical facilities available to space them far enough apart inside. Suppose I could kick my 2 cats outside, but just can't see doing that to them. 

We're going to check with pit rescues tomorrow, hopefully something comes up! And I'm waiting for another estimate for work on the dog run now. Just in case the shelter decides keeping him outside is an option.


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## Greater Swiss (Jun 7, 2011)

I don't blame you for not wanting to go that route goodgirl, and chances are they might not let you. The "informal foster" is what both of ours have been....the "if you don't take him he's going to the shelter" situation, and one of our fosters would have been a guaranteed euth, he needed some work. It really sucks not having that safety net, and the process of adopting out is very stressful....it sounds like if you had that safety net you'd be able to at least give it a shot for short term, but it also sounds like it would be a pain in the butt to a degree it would be tough on the dog (not to mention your own pets!) too, which kind of defeats the purpose. 

I really hope you have some luck with the pit rescues, he sounds like a great dog that just needs the right chance with the right owners. Good luck!!


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