Thinking About Fostering?
When you become a foster parent, that opens up a spot in boarding for another dog, which means that we can rescue a new dog from a shelter. Your taking a foster dog into your home can save another dog's life! Fostering a dog is very rewarding for a foster parent because you become part of your foster dog's journey from shelter to permanent home. It's rewarding for us too, because when a dog enters a foster home, we learn valuable information about how the dog acts in a home (which is not always the same as in boarding). This information helps us to get to know the dog better and do a better job matching the dog to the right adopter. We are so grateful for our foster homes and are always looking for new ones.
We really appreciate anyone who has a desire to help in animal rescue by fostering a dog, however there are a few requirements we ask of our fosters:
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Our fosters must live within an hour of the general Los Angeles or San Francisco Area
This is so that they are within driving range of one of our trusted vets should the need ever arise
Our fosters must be available to foster a minimum of 6 months.
The move from rescue to various owners can be very confusing and even traumatic to some dogs, we aim to minimize the stress level of the dogs by limiting how much they have to relocate if necessary
Our fosters must be prepared to release the dog upon adoption.
We understand that it is very easy, and even expected, to become very attached to an animal that you are fostering. It doesn’t take long for many animals to integrate and become an important part of the family. We know that it is heart-wrenching to see them go. But remember that we vet our adopters quite extensively and will only place them in a home we feel they would be very happy in! Every dog that we re-home, found their home because you were able to foster multiple dogs for us!
Here are some thoughts from one of our experienced foster parents:
As Forrest Gump says, "life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get". That is how I feel about fostering. Fostering is not for everybody and that's OK.
~Expect to be inconvenienced. Your dog relies on you for everything and this requires effort on your part.
~They are not self-reliant and they do not come knowing all the rules of your household.
~Expect to house train.
~Expect to put in some work with obedience training.
~Manage the environment so your dog will succeed. Your dog does not know he is not supposed to drink your soda that you set down on a coffee table and he does not know the difference between his toys and your Prada shoes. If he makes a mistake, it's your fault for not managing the environment and not properly supervising until your dog is reliable.
~You will get back tenfold what you give.
Foster Application
Welcome to the Camp Cocker Rescue adoption/foster application!
Our foster application is the same as our adoption application. This is because many of our fosters become attached to their foster dogs and decide to adopt them. Please answer the questions on the application as you would for a dog that you were adopting (for example, Camp Cocker pays for medical care for foster dogs, but when we ask about your approach to medical care, we want to know how you would care for your own dog).
We thank you for taking the time to fill out the following application. We understand it is quite extensive, and you will see as you move through the application that we are aiming to truly "match up" the dog to the adopter. You can work your way through the application and save it and come back to it later if you'd like.
Please take your time in filling out the application (it can take an average of thirty minutes to complete). If you need to take a break and come back to it later, just remember not to close your browser window so that you won't lose the questions you've already answered.
We assume that everyone who fills out this application has a lot of love to give to a dog and is really ready to make a life long commitment to a dog! We hope that we can find you a dog that will be a great match for you, but if we don't have a dog that is exactly right for you, we will try our best to guide you in the right direction.
Thank you so very much for your time, your effort and your love of animals! We appreciate you!