We are new to the fostering side. Moving country too often to be confident we can give the right long term home for the dog we want when we settle down..but we have the perfect short term (1-2 years) set-up to foster...
But we have found that the rescue we work with seems always to be increasing the ante..
The first time we agreed to take on a semi-feral puppy and then one hour before delivery it was 'Oh, actually we have a brother and sister. Can you take two?' We knew nothing (the last time I raised a dog I was a child) so we never read all that advice about not trying to raise two puppies at once. Turned out fine eventually and we got two beautifully behaved dogs adopted three months later..
Then it was time for a complete basket case that had been locked in a petshop cage for four years and was scared of everything. Twelve months of rehab but finally adopted..
Urgent call. A one year old mal with a broken leg that had been an outdoor guard dog in a factory. Incredibly smart but HA. Fine with me but scared the sh*t out of the family. Reminded us of the Leerburg video 'so you think you want a high drive puppy?' But almost full size and with a broken leg so we couldn't exercise him or do much to alleviate his frustration. Did get him housetrained in 24 hours and he never bit us..pretty much everyone else though. Once healed he moved back to the shelter.
Next call was for a starved very elderly Boxer with severe intestinal disease. Tick infested on arrival and basically the poor guy was dying as he couldn't keep any food or water down. After 72 hours of misery for everyone we had to tell the shelter his quality-of-life had deteriorated so much it was time...72 hours being just long enough for the family to bond a bit with him. Not a good long weekend.
So now the family has said 'Time Out!. We see a pattern here! The next one is going to have to be a cute fluffy puppy or we quit!'
Do i need to manage this a bit more? Is this how it works..keeping pushing the envelope until you find a limit. Maybe i am a bit naive but I would think the rescue should manage their resources a bit better...