My Bugg!
The other day Jango and I did our second trick class together, and he did so well! He is learning a lot of tricks like weave and bow. I’ve been spending more time with him and less time worrying about fostering other dogs and spending all day at adoption booths and I can tell he’s happier. (I say worrying about fostering other dogs because I worry I’m not doing enough to help animals in need, and I worry I’m letting them down) .
I’ve realized that fostering was stressful for him (And Missy and Pancho, too). So the other day I took all three dogs to the park. We walked the trails and they all did very well. No pinch collars needed, they all respected me and behaved. They met other dogs and they did good, they played in puddles and jumped in leave piles! One guy on the trail looked at me like I was nuts to be walking three dogs, but they behaved. Its things like this that make me open my eyes to how amazing they are, and I attribute that to fostering. Although it is stressful of them, its made them better. They’ve all had to deal with dogs that are shy, submissive, dominant, hyper, calm, special needs, food aggressive, resource guarders, and dogs that have never been socialized. Every single time we’ve fostered our dogs have put up with our fosters “issues” and “quirks”. And these issues are just normal “a dogs never been socialized or lived inside before”, nothing that can’t be worked on. Our dogs have helped dogs with their issues, and never once have any of our dogs misbehaved, scared or tried to act out with our fosters. I mean, as stressed as I see our dogs when we have fosters, they’ve never once acted out. I’m impressed with them, especially Jango.
My Bugg and I have been through a lot, when I got him he was submissive, then after he was attacked multiple times at the dog park as a pup he became scared of other dogs, then we went through a confidence building stage and then he became dominant. Then came the stage where I couldn’t let him play at the dog park, then came daycare. Daycare was his saving grace, he enjoys it, and he did well there. Mostly because there were no intact male dogs (which is why we couldn’t go to the dog park anymore), but the other part of daycare was the employees, and the wide variety of dogs he met. Then we started fostering again. Now that he is 3 and we’ve had lots of fosters, I think I can say he’s the dog I’ve always pictured him turning into.
I mean- I call him Bugg because when he was a pup he used to BUG me when I would be doing my online school work, he would throw toys on my laptop, paw at my shoulder, whine at me, get the loudest toy possible and continually squeak it until I play with him!
But now, he’s amazing. He is this great dog who listens to me (most of the time), sleeps all day, gets along with other dogs, enjoys daycare, and bonds quickly to people he likes. He has his CGC, his therapy certificate and he’s fun.
At no point in this post did I mean to scare anyone out of fostering, all foster dogs have some area that needs improving, whether its socialization, potty training, learning how to love or trust people, and learning what its like to live inside. Every foster dog I’ve ever met has worked through some sort of issue, and they work through it because someone cared enough to foster them, and because of that they went to their forever homes. Too many people are scared of fostering because their worried it will effect their own dogs, and it does. But most of the time it impacts your personal dog in a good way, they might be stressed but it teaches them to deal with different dogs, their personalities and it can make your bond stronger. Fostering isn’t for everyone, and some dogs may not bond with your foster, but thats ok. Do what you can, when you can. You can donate to rescues in many ways, like ordering from Last Hope Rescue‘s Amazon List, click HERE to view! Or donating to help Voices of Chance Animal League build fenced enclosures for dogs on chains, you can donate HERE . If you aren’t in the Tallahassee Area you can donate to your local rescue, or offer to volunteer. You don’t have to foster to help animals, offering to bring dogs from boarding out to adoption events, or even just coming to the events to help walk dogs and give foster parents an event off can really help. If you want to foster but you aren’t sure about it think about doing a “trial run” or co-fostering. One of the local groups: Tallahassee Pets Alive has a co-foster program, you can foster overnight, the whole weekend, during the week. It works around your schedule and what you want to do! It saves the rescue money, because the dogs are in boarding and co-fostering lets them out for a day or two. It also helps these dogs adjust to living in a home, with people and other dogs! This really helps these animals, and Eric and I are co-foster when we can so we can still make a difference for these dogs!!! IF you are in the Tallahassee Area and want to learn more about co-fostering please email Diana at dianak.care@gmail.com!
And think of fostering how I am now; Its helped improve my relationship with Jango. And its really helped improve his attitude when he deals with other dogs. He will always be my bugg, but now he’s a better bugg…..
Beyond the Leash 