Here at Good Shepherd Humane Society, we offer several different ways to become a foster! From a day trip to a long-term stay, we have the perfect opportunity for you to host a furry friend.
Fostering not only allows us to provide life-saving benefits to more animals in our community, it also provides a safer, cleaner, and less stressful environment for our cats and dogs to thrive in before finding their forever home and getting adopted. They learn how to behave in the home, and go into an adoption situation better suited for success, thus lowering returns and rehoming due to behavioral problems.
We offer many ways to get started fostering for Good Shepherd!
– Field Trip Foster Program – Our field trip program for dogs is a great way to get your canine fix one adventure at a time! A field trip allows our dogs a break from the shelter environment, get some exercise, practice (or learn!) good leash skills, exposes them to attention and possible interested adopters, and gives us more information on their behaviors so that we can place them in a home easier. Some great field trip ideas are going hiking, for a walk downtown, or just hanging out at home with the family!
– Fostering Nursing Mothers and Litters – Every year we get a number of mother cats who are either already very pregnant or have just had kittens. Finding fosters for these nursing families is crucial to their comfort and survival as kittens are prone to diseases and germs. Litters that enjoy foster life tend to do better both in terms of their socialization and long term health, so we do everything possible to place them in a home as fast as we can.
– Long Term Fostering – A dog or cat is placed into long term foster care where they will remain until an adoptive family has been found. Foster families agree to allow potential adopters to meet with the animal in their care and to help facilitate the adoption with the Good Shepherd Humane Society Staff.
– Pawjama Program/Weekend Fostering – A program for dogs in which someone who would like to spend some time with a dog, but isn’t ready for the longer term commitment of adopting or long term fostering, can invite one of our pups to spend the night or a few nights in their home. This gives the dogs a welcome break from the shelter environment. The Pawjama Program can happen at any time, not just on the weekends. Popcorn and movies not included!
– Emergency/Medical Fostering – Once in a great while we get in a dog or cat with medical issues or other traumas that make it difficult or impossible to keep in the shelter. Those animals need more focused care than they can receive here at the shelter and a call will go out asking for willing volunteers to take them into their homes while they heal, or maybe even provide end of life hospice care. These rare cases will vary and more information will be provided as the need arises. Other emergency foster needs arise during natural disasters, animal rescue ventures (as in removing animals from hoarding cases), or in the event of the death of a caretaker with a larger than usual number of dogs or cats. These situations are always well broadcasted, via our social media pages, and in local news outlets, and details on how you can help or if fosters are needed will be provided.
As a foster, all supplies (litter, leashes, food, medicine, etc.) will be provided for you. You just have to do the fun part – love and care for the animal!
To participate in any of these programs or to sign up as a willing potential foster for long term & emergency care, please fill out the Foster Application below.
Foster Application
For those wanting to participate in our foster programs for dogs and cats