When I first wake up in the morning the other side of the bed is warm, so is the foot of the bed, the middle of the bed too. In fact the whole bed has the coarse/soft, smooth, furry, warmth of several dogs snuggled around. It’s nice when there is time to just give in to the soft snores of the dogs before the day begins. We have always had dogs, occasionally one at a time but mostly more. Rescue is our preferred breed and until 2013, we could only afford two maybe three dogs at a time. Then one day we discovered the beauty of fostering! We could have all the dogs we ever wanted and then some!
In 2012 we adopted our first boxer from the North Myrtle Beach Humane Society. Sampson was a beautiful mahogany boy that had been on the streets for quite a while. He was skinny and scarred by numerous bb shots. As I introduced our new family member on social media I began to get suggestions for boxer rescues. Carolina Boxer Rescue caught my eye. I read about the need for foster homes. I had never heard of a rescue that operated without a facility, relying on foster homes entirely. At this time we had an elderly Great Dane, Moses, and our new boy Sampson, his age was anyone’s guess. We were also empty nesters, going from a family of six to just two in one month’s time the previous year. Could fostering be for us?
Could we actually hand over a dog after fostering? Would our hearts break over and over again? Will our home dogs accept temporary pack mates? What will our family and friends say? Fair warning,this is the shortest paragraph. We threw caution to the wind and applied to be foster’s for Carolina Boxer Rescue. After a home visit and phone interview we were thrilled to be approved.
A short time later we welcomed Phoenix into our home. How this amazing white boxer boy(age about 3) wound up homeless is beyond me. He was THE PERFECT first foster. He had manners, he loved everyone, dogs, cats, kids, birds, bees, and banana peels! His only bad habit was fishing in the food waste can for banana peels, oh he also killed about fifty balls in the months that we had him. Phoenix stayed with us for a little over three months during the summer of 2013. He was adopted almost immediately by a lovely family in North Carolina. The family was in the process of moving to a new home and asked if we might keep Phoenix until their move was complete. As it turned out he was adopted by a friend of our daughter’s, quite a coincidence. We kept in touch with Phoenix’s family and they sent pictures to us frequently. He had a long and happy life, passing just last year, 2021.
Next up was a puppy named Chloe. She was the opposite of Phoenix and reminded us what a pain a puppy can be, the proof could be found in the bite marks on our heels. She attacked anything and everything that moved. She played hard and slept hard. Sampson took her under his wing and gently grumbled whenever she bit a little too hard. Overall Chloe was a delight and we loved watching her entertaining antics. About a month into fostering Chloe, my husband had a heart attack. Chloe had been adopted but her new family was not picking her up until the weekend after the hospitalization. A few phone calls to Carolina Boxer Rescue and the situation was handled. The rescue rallied around us and Chloe, getting her to her forever home.
We have lost count of the rescues we have had pass through our home. Quite a few stand out both the good and the bad. A potentially scary example was a boxer that came in as a bonded pair, his female partner was pregnant, they had special needs obviously and needed to be fostered separately for a while at least. I met the transporter in a parking lot about an hour from my home. She had to depart before I was able to load my guy in the car as her gal was in labor. My guy refused to get in the car, growling at me a few times. I opened my trunk to see if I had a bag of treats still in there. As soon as I got the trunk up, that dang dog jumped in the trunk and refused to get out. Fortunately my back seat folded down for trunk access. We drove home that way, surviving a police checkpoint in which I was sure the police would think I had a body in the trunk. Once home, we got him into a crate. He hated it and hated Sampson even more. Not to worry CBR for the win once again. As soon as I reported this troubled soul, CBR moved into action finding a single dog foster home for him. His story had a happy ending, he was eventually reunited with his dog wife in his new forever home. I believe the puppies were all spoken for even before they were weaned. While he didn’t work out for us, we were rewarded so much each time we read about his progress. Some dogs have special needs and that is what CBR is so very good at, they try their best to match the right doggy with the right forever home. And foster families play a big part in that role.
I must give honorable mention to two fosters that we loved and were so gratified when the perfect forever homes were found for them. Boomer and Hank, I smile just thinking of them. Boomer was just like his name, he was loud, boisterous, messy and loved life every day. His favorite thing was sitting on people, all 70lbs of him. He went to a great home with lots of yard to run in and a pack of 3 other doggies to burn energy with. It was a joy to see him happy. Hank was a little more gentle, kind of like a seasoned, mellow country singer. He went to a delightful couple who would shower him with love.
In the foster games there are going to be failures. Those are the dogs that steal your heart for whatever reason and soon you know this dog is destined to be your forever dog. In our years of fostering we have had three failures and one on purpose adoption. The first was Snow, many of you know her already, perhaps by her alias, Snow-tard,(please don’t be offended, she wasn’t). In 2014, we were called on to foster a deaf white girl about 3 or 4 years old. She had already been in several foster homes, she was not a team player. We had Sampson and Moses still and both being very mellow we thought we could make it work. She stole our hearts and very quickly we all knew that she was home. A dog we will never forget. We lost her just last year in 2021. We will never stop missing her.
Then there was Hardee. We never knew his back story. He was aged at about 6 years and x-rays revealed that he had a severely broken hind leg that had never been treated and had healed. He had a slight urine leakage and wore a belly band. A family wanted to adopt him, they returned him after a month. We got him back after a layover with another CBR volunteer. Another trip to the vet revealed kidney failure, he was given about 6 months to live. He was our forever boy for two more years. Leaving such sweet memories.
After a hiatus from fostering we decided to volunteer again a few months ago. We became the proud foster parents of Honey, formerly known as Maybelle. She was heartworm positive and had a cough. Fast forward through many trips to the vet, we discovered she has megaesophogus, (google it). She is also deaf. We knew we were going to foster fail before her diagnosis, she was just so sweet and she fit in perfectly with our three other doggies. But once we started going through all the motions of keeping her fed and watered, there was no way we were giving her up. Once again, CBR has provided superstar support. We are able to give this dog the life she deserves through the help and support of CBR.
Fostering is an up and down game. The more you foster, the more dogs that can be helped. It’s hard saying goodbye, but it is so rewarding knowing the dogs are going on to the good life. And once in a while you might be just the right home for a dog specially made for you. People call us crazy, and we wear that t-shirt proudly. There is very little in life that gives you the instant knowledge that you are making a difference. Fostering is one of the things that reveals a huge difference immediately. Not just for the dogs but the humans too. Our grandchildren love getting to know each of our dogs and have developed a heart for helping in all kinds of situations in life. Yes, you might shed a few tears, but I guarantee you will laugh a lot more. And there is nothing like the love found in those big round eyes and the feel of that soft fur under your hand. A crate is very useful, can be provided by CBR. Vetting provided by CBR. A king sized bed helps, not provided by CBR. Let the games begin!
Phoenix, fostered in 2013, found his forever home in North Carolina.
Chloe, the foster puppy taking instruction from the much wiser Sampson. Found her forever home in North Carolina in 2013.
Foster Boomer. Found his forever home in Virginia in 2015.
Foster Failure Snow. She enjoyed playing dominoes, camping and long walks on the beach.
Foster Failure Hardee enjoying his domain.
Honey(Maybelle), our most recent foster failure. 2021.
Oliver, the only CBR dog we ever adopted without fostering first. He stole our hearts in a story ghost written by a CBR volunteer. He became our forever big boy in 2019. Thanks to Marcus Wiliford for fostering this gentle giant.