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Austin
German Shepherd Dog Rescue is an all volunteer rescue group and without volunteers,
the many German Shepherd Dogs you see on our Forever Homes and Available for
Adoption pages
would be euthanized every year all over Texas.
YOU can add to those
lists by fostering...one of those pictures can be a dog YOU helped save!
So,
if you would like to join the ranks of volunteers that prove everyday you can
"save just one"
please submit your
application for fostering.
If you love
German Shepherds, there is nothing more satisfying than knowing you are a part
of something so rewarding.
You love, feed, care for, and work to earn their trust. You help mend the
scars left by those they trusted at one time.
You make a connection--you look in their faces and see, day by day, the loyalty
and admiration being earned back.
You look into their eyes and see that they now know--finally someone cares!
And that someone is YOU.
What Do I Have to
Do?
Who Pays For What?
Is My Home in an Area
Where You Accept Fosters?
What If I Need Help?
I'm Not Quite Ready...What
Can I Do to Help Me Decide?
What
If I Want to Adopt My Foster?
Common Reasons for Not
Fostering...and Our Responses!
Want to Hear Why Other
Fosters Do It? Read Here!
What Do I Have to Do?
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Provide Day to Day Care
for Your Foster - Daily care, attention, and love are
what these dogs need most. It is amazing how far regular food, water, and
attention will go to improve your foster dog's well-being.
Some need housetraining.
Some need to be taught manners (in the house and walking on a leash). It's
important that you work on these items. It will also make your foster dog
much more marketable with regards to finding it's permanent home.
Many will also need obedience training.
While it's nice if you can get this in, it is not required.
-
Provide
a Home Until the Dog Is Adopted - When you agree to take a foster dog in,
it's "for the duration." These dogs have already had upheaval in their
lives, and it won't end with you...they will get adopted and have to make a
change yet again. It's important that we don't move the dogs around as
much as possible. Also, AGSDR generally runs at full capacity and does not
have open foster homes waiting to take in foster dogs if a foster home changes
their minds.
For these reasons, it is
important that you can commit for the entire time the dog is in foster care.
This can range from mere days to several months depending on the dog's health
and training, our current adoption applications, etc.
So what happens if you need to
"give up a foster dog"? AGSDR does not have a kennel, a boarding
facility, or any other means of rehoming your foster dog. We only accept a
dog into our program if a foster family commits to fostering the dog until it is
adopted, whether that is 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months, or more. Thoroughly evaluate your REAL preparedness,
commitment, and ability to foster a German Shepherd Dog before you commit. The
dog’s life may depend on your evaluation of yourself, your willingness to be
inconvenienced, your home, and your tolerances. Please, DO NOT volunteer to be a foster
for a German Shepherd if you are not certain that you can MAKE it work out.
[Under some circumstances, we can move a dog into a different foster home, but
this takes time...sometimes a few weeks even, to arrange. Until then, you
will need to keep the dog controlled in a way that minimizes the problem--for
example, kenneled when your other dogs or cats are free.]
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Let Us Know When You Need a
Break - Most fosters enjoy the experience despite any problems that may
arise, and take a new foster as soon as their current one is adopted. Some
even foster multiple dogs at once. However, your commitment is for ONE DOG
AT A TIME! If you need a break, simply let us know that when your foster
is adopted. And once you are ready again, we will have a dog just waiting
to get out of puppy prison and into your home!
Who Provides What?
-
Medical Care -
AGSDR
will pay for ALL MEDICAL CARE EXPENSES and provide monthly
heartworm preventative. Should the
dog need other veterinary treatment, we will send you to one of our vets. All
pre-approved expenses are 100% reimbursed to you...but we have billing already in
place at many vets in the Central Texas Area, so in MOST CASES, no
reimbursement to you is necessary.
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Food and
Treats - You will need to provide these. At times, we do get donations
for them and we share that info on the AGSDR Yahoo Group.
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Crate/Kennel - If you have one you can use, that is great! If not,
AGSDR can provide one for you. We are always low on them, so please remind
us and turn it in once you no longer have a foster.
-
Collars,
Leashes, Bedding, etc. - In general, the foster home provides these.
At times, we purchase pinch collars or these items are donated to us. If
you do not have any, you can ask and we'll loan one to you if we have it
available.
Potential Tax
Deduction. The
food you provide and any other expense you incur (mileage for trips to the vet,
bedding, etc.) for the reasonable upkeep of the foster dog are tax deductible to
the extent allowed by law, and a tax receipt is available (upon request) at the end of each
year.
Is My Home in an Area Where You Accept Fosters?
Currently, we
have volunteers or foster homes in many areas of Texas, including Austin, San
Antonio, Houston.
What If I Need Help?
You will receive full support from all of the AGSDR volunteers. Someone is
always there to give advice or help with any problem that may come up.
Once you are
approved, you will be invited to join our Yahoo Group where most of our members
are VERY supportive and are at your disposal 24/7. You will also be given
a password to the restricted area of our site with much more information about
questions you may run into.
I'm Not Quite Ready...What Can I Do to Help Me Decide?
If you are interested but still a
little undecided, go ahead and apply and let us know you'd like to be a temp
foster. These are people who will step up when our foster homes need a
break for vacation, unexpected trips out of town, etc. You will get a set
timeframe (a couple of days to a couple of weeks, generally) with a foster dog
to get your feet wet. We're betting afterwards you will be ready to take a
foster on "for the duration" and save your very own dog!
What If I Want to Adopt My
Foster?
This is not unusual. MANY
of us have adopted one of our fosters, and most continue to foster afterwards.
In fact, we believe it's an exceptional way to find your very own lifelong
companion. After all, you get to meet the dog, have it live in your home,
and see EXACTLY how you, your family, your pets, and this dog will get along!
What better way to "test drive" a dog? We DO have rules about how to go
about adopting your foster, so please let us know as soon as you decide, or read
our members only section of the web site for more info on this (once you are
approved you will be given access).
Common "Reasons" For Not
Fostering...and Our Responses!
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I work full time...I won't
have time for them. MOST AGSDR volunteers work full time.
It just becomes part of your daily life, the same as your own dogs or children
are...you MAKE time because you want to!
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My family will think I'm nuts!
Many of us thought the same thing. But you'll be amazed how quickly
they see the good work you are doing and want to do their part to help a dog in
need. And what a wonderful lesson to teach your children!
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I don't want a dog eating my
cat! Some of us have cats, too. We can often find cat friendly
fosters...or ones that need some training but are no real threat. Still,
we often can't know for sure how they react to cats. We will be happy to
discuss this with you ahead of time and work with you to find an appropriate
foster!
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I already have too many dogs.
Most of our volunteers have multiple dogs. Some foster more than one
at a time, even. Adding one more dog to your household is much less impact
than you think! Especially after the first couple of days of settling in!
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I don't know anything about
dogs, especially German Shepherds! Well if you have ever been
interested, here's a "free trial period" for you! And as a foster, you
will have our people to help educate, guide, and support you in learning about
the breed and dogs in general. If you would like, ask for a mentor.
We have a mentoring program where new fosters are paired with experienced ones
to help answer questions and concerns.
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I don't live in Austin.
Many of our fosters don't! We have people in San Antonio, Houston,
Killeen, Waco, Dallas, etc.
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What if my dog and this one do
not get along? We have confidence that you know and understand your
own dog. We will be happy to talk with you about what guidelines (such as
age, sex, cat-friendly, child-friendly, etc.) you should have regarding fosters.
We let you decide what you are able to handle. We ask that you be willing
to try some training to overcome most problems (some, of course, are not
correctable by training...in those cases we only ask that you are willing to
work with us and give us time to make adjustments if things do not work out (for
example, you made it clear you wanted cat friendly and the foster turns out to
be anything but cat friendly!).
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I don't want my own dogs to be
exposed to diseases from the shelter. All dogs we take in are fully
immunized. Nevertheless, dogs can become ill after leaving the shelter if
they were sick before but did not show symptoms. It is rare that this
would be passed on to your own dogs. We have never had foster homes'
personal dogs become seriously ill due to a foster dog bringing an illness from
the shelter.
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