Foster an abandoned animal?

Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Barbara L. Salisbury⁄The Gazette Dianne Thompson is fostering Maisie, who had been found abandoned in a roadside ditch where she was nursing puppies. The goal of Montgomery County-based Best DAWG Rescue is to foster pets until the volunteers find them homes.

In our region, thousands of companion animals are abandoned each year, most due to no fault of their own. Rescue groups and shelters can save only a fraction — but the more people willing to foster on a temporary basis, the more animals will have a chance at life.

When Moira Gingery began volunteering with animal welfare groups, she hadn’t planned to foster. Then in 2000, the Rockville resident met Cyrus, an emaciated Doberman who could hardly stand on his own. She brought him home to stay in her finished, walkout basement. ‘‘Everything was level, so he eventually got his footing,” she recalls. As Cyrus grew stronger, he started eyeing the steps ... then decided to check out the upstairs family room.

‘‘Just about everyone can foster an animal, provided it is the right animal for their lifestyle,” Gingery insists. She helped found Montgomery County-based Best DAWG Rescue in 2003. For people whose travel schedule or lifestyle prevents a lifetime commitment to a pet, fostering is an ideal way to enjoy animal companionship. In any case, Gingery admits, ‘‘It’s true that an attachment forms, but it is a joy to find a home that the animal deserves.”

When Laurel resident Dianne Thompson met Maisie, the malnourished black lab was recovering from a skin condition and displaying fear aggressive behavior, both reflective of past neglect. Thompson, ‘mom’ to two adopted dogs of her own, felt driven to help the homeless canine.

‘‘While she is extremely sweet to people of all ages, she displays a completely different side if a dog comes too close,” Thompson explains. She transported Maisie to DAWG adoption shows from a boarding kennel for many months before fostering Maisie in her home. Maisie had been found abandoned in a roadside ditch, where she was nursing puppies. Thompson surmises that Maisie had to protect herself and her pups, giving rise to the defensive behavior.

How did Thompson and her husband help Maisie adjust to her own dogs? ‘‘After some desensitization training, we started walking her with my easy-going Collie-Shepherd mix, Gizmo, with no incident,” she explains. Eventually, they added their lab-chow mix, Gina, to the walking group.

‘‘Thanks to daily contact, Maisie is learning to feel more secure around Gina and Gizmo. She displays no fear aggression toward them,” Thompson says.

‘‘Because Maisie lives with us, we have time to play with her and teach her commands, which she learns quickly,” Thompson notes, praising her foster dog’s intelligence and sweet demeanor. ‘‘She really likes her regular routine, her walks, snuggle bed and crate.”

Foster caregiver responsibilities typically involve sheltering, feeding and socializing the animal — helping him or her learn appropriate behavior, a first-time opportunity for many pets whose original owners didn’t spend much time or effort on the animal. Caregivers have a major say in placement decisions, and sometimes adopters become friends. Indeed, fostering can mean the difference between life in a caring home and death by euthanasia.

Groups such as DAWG cover costs for medical care and supplies, arrange temporary boarding if the caregiver must go out of town, provide training advice and seek animal adopters via Web pages and local adoption shows.

‘‘Most dogs have blended well in my home,” Gingery notes. ‘‘As for dogs who were tougher than I anticipated, I made it clear that the dog would be considered part of the family, but that I expected total deference in return. It may be the first time a dog has had to deal with kind but firm rules, and it works 99 percent of the time.” Her own dogs also help show new dogs the way.

When it comes to the less appealing realities, which range from urine marking to anxiety barking to shyness, rescue volunteers encourage people to approach fostering with an open mind, open eyes and some effective pet-specific cleaning solutions. And the realization that with proper care, such problems can be resolved fairly quickly.

‘‘A dog needs routine, structure, guidance and daily exercise to develop socially and to become adoptable,” Gingery explains. ‘‘Kennel life can’t compare to the benefits of a foster home in providing these necessities.”

Occasionally, foster parents will adopt a foster. It’s important to realize you may feel tempted to keep a foster animal, but that you can’t — and don’t have to — adopt them all. Foster folks provide a priceless service of preparing a homeless animal for his forever home. Once a good match is found, you feel at peace in letting go.

‘‘No challenge was insurmountable for Cyrus, although he never was steady on his feet,” Gingery says of her first foster dog. ‘‘He taught me more than I helped him. He reinforced that it’s better to try, and that sometimes it’s up to you rather than some nonexistent ‘someone else’ to do what has to be done.” The rewards of fostering far outweigh the challenges.

The ultimate reason to try fostering, Gingery notes, ‘‘is the simple fact that saving a [living being] is worth the emotional risk. Each fostered animal is an animal saved because someone took the plunge.”

To check out Maisie, see www.dawg-rescue.org.