Foster Info

Thank You For Considering Fostering.   Having fantastic, reliable, and dedicated fosters is what makes NDLB a success.  Without fosters, we wouldn't be able to take in these wonderful furbabies.  Fosters do have a lot of responsibilities, and it's not always easy.  

 

What Fostering Really Is.   Being a foster is extremely important.  By becoming a foster, you are giving your foster dog a temporary home before they find their forever home.  Keeping these dogs in foster homes helps them to stay balanced and not forget what it's like to have a home!  You're job as a foster is quite simple, love your foster dog as if it's your own adopted dog.  A lot of the dogs we have at NDLB have very sad backgrounds.  

As a foster, you may be the first caring person they've ever known. These dogs come to us from different situations.  Many of the dogs we get are not potty-trained, have special needs, or have trust issues.  They will need fosters who are very patient with them and won't give up on them.  

 

What We Expect From Our Fosters.   We expect our fosters stay committed to their foster dogs.  This includes bringing their foster dog(s) to their vet appointments, adoption days, and meet and greets.  When an application does come in for your dog, the foster is responsible for completing the home visit (for long distance home visits, a volunteer in that area can be found).  

As the foster parent, you will know more about this dog than anyone else in the rescue.  That is why you complete the home visit.  You will know if the potential adopters are the right fit for the dog better than anyone.  We also expect our fosters to make sure the information we're displaying about the dog is accurate. If you see something on the dog's profile that isn't accurate, we expect our fosters to notify us as soon as possible to get it corrected.  

NDLB fosters are expected to provide their foster dog(s) with proper care.  This includes anything from feeding them on schedule, to making sure they're getting their medications on time and in correct doses (if they have medication).   

 

Benefits Of Fostering.   Fostering can be a challenge at times, but we promise you, it will be an incredibly rewarding experience for you.  You are saving this dog from possible euthanasia.  Because of wonderful people like you who open their homes and their hearts to these dogs, NDLB is able to save dogs from almost certain death.

Another benefit of being an NDLB foster, is that you get free puppy love!  NDLB covers all vetting charges, supplies, and food!  The only thing you have to supply is your home and a lot of love!  

 

Things To Consider Before Fostering

Becoming A Foster.   Becoming a foster for rescue animals can be an extremely rewarding experience. Shelter dogs are animals that have been abandoned, mistreated, and thrown away. They all have their own story and have been treated differently, so they require special care and patience. Some have been ignored, some have been physically abused, and some have never been around people in general. This may bring up items you may want to think about before filling out an application to foster with us. This is not to discourage you from fostering with us; this is just a list of things to ask yourself to make sure you are ready for a rewarding experience!

  • Am I ready for the commitment?
    • Some foster situations can only last days while others can last months. We do our best to find our animal’s new home as quickly as possible, but some dogs just take longer.
       
  • Is my entire family ready to be part of the foster family?
    • The animals that are rescued need to be in a home where the entire family can give love and support. Being a foster family can be trying at times and take a lot of patience. Is everyone in your family on board to provide the animal what he/she may need?
       
  • Am I able to bring my foster pet to adoption days?
    • We have adoption days roughly once a month. Can you make the commitment to bring your foster dog to these events? Adoption days are essential in helping find these animals their forever homes. Seeing and touching has a much larger impact versus pictures and videos.
       
  • Am I able to work with a dog and their housebreaking habits?
    • Dogs in the shelter environment often are not able to get outdoors when they need to, so even if they were trained in their last home, they may have lost that behavior prior to coming to your home. Your house may also have odors of other animals that can lead to marking as your foster dog gets used to its new environment. Dogs need some time to get used to your home, so carefully watch them in the first days to prevent accidents and learn their elimination cues.
       
  • Do I have the ability to help teach my foster dog basic socialization and training habits?
    • Although we do not expect our foster families to completely train our dogs, we do have animals that need to learn basic skills to make them more adoptable. Are you able to train you foster animal to not run for the door if he/she is an escape artist? Are you able to teach your foster dog that growling at other dogs over a rawhide bone is not acceptable behavior? These are the basic things that we ask our foster families to help us with so that we set our animals up for success.
       
  • Am I able to retain the animal for the 7 days necessary to find a new foster if the situation is not right for my family?
    • We try to have every possible foster placed with a dog at all times. A dog that is in foster care is another dog that is not euthanized. When we have a situation that is not working well for you and your foster dog we ask for a full 7 days to find another foster that is able to take over for you. This requires an adoption or us finding another foster volunteer.  We need this required amount of time to process the new application or get the next foster ready for the new animal.
       
  • Am I able to bring my foster animal to one of the specified veterinarians that NDLB uses?
    • NDLB has many veterinarians where we are able to get our vetting done. Below are their locations and names. We ask that you are able to travel to bring your animal to at least one of these vet offices:
      • MNSNAP
      • Kindest Cuts
      • Douglas Animal Hospital – Osseo, MN
      • Ark Pet Hospital-New Brighton 
      • Kivisto Vet Clinic – Princeton, MN
      • Value Care- Chaska 
      • Scott Lake Veterinaty Center- Prior Lake 
      • Monticello Pet Hospital-Monticello 
      • Barrington Oaks- Elk River 
         
  • Am I ok with letting potential adoption families into my home to meet my foster dog in their comfortable environment?
    • When we have an approved adopter, we really want them to meet their potential new dog in the environment they are accustomed to. Our adopters understand that when they bring them to their new home there will be an adjustment period, but they really need to see how they act in the home they are comfortable in. We require all of our adopters to have a full criminal and civil background check. We also do full vet and reference checks. We do our due diligence to make sure that the homes that the animals are going into are safe, and the people coming to your home are safe. 

Click HERE to fill out a foster application.

 

Foster Flyer No #s