Fostering Dogs 101: Part 1

Guest article by William Yang

If only there was a course out there on how to be a “good” foster parent to rescue dogs. Each dog and dog owner is different.  We can share what worked and what did not work – apply these learnings to our own environment & circumstances.  I had the pleasure of fostering 2 different dogs from Free Korean Dogs (FKD) ever since May 2018.

May 2018: Jin-Su
I have to admit I was nervous about fostering a bigger dog given my own dog, Woojoo is only 15 lbs plus living in a 550 sq. ft. apartment.  I made a to-do list prior to Jin-Su’s arrival.

I felt the onus was on me to set up the best possible environment and my “many rules” (as realistic as possible) to avoid as many “unwanted surprises” as possible. (I knew there was no guarantee but I had to try) I was especially tough on Woojoo during the foster period – in my mind, Woojoo and I needed to be good role models for Jin-Su.  Dogs are very intelligent, they do observe and they will learn based on positive reinforcement and practice by repeating the desired behaviour 10,000 times – it was a true test of my level of patience.  I started making notes regarding Jin-Su’s behaviour, his likes and dislikes, and the activities I did with him over the course of the foster period.  I gave the notes/info to FKD to pass on to the adopters so they can continue the progress and make adjustments as they see fit.

Read Fostering Dogs 101: Part 2