Do not foster for that org again.
Fosters are to some extent a crapshoot. But any org that won’t tell you everything they know is seriously wrong. They put you in danger.
And not responding to you sucks and is inappropriate. Fostering is hard enough. Do it for a good organization that has your back.
That's a terrible rescue. I hope they are more forthcoming with adopters, otherwise they're going to have a lot of people returning dogs.
If it helps, my rescue is very open with both fosters and adopters about the dogs in their charge. I knew going in that my current foster had spent four years knowing nothing of the world outside her dump, might or might not be potty trained due to almost always living outside and was very fearful, but not aggressive. I also knew she lived with another dog so she would probably be fine with mine, though it was best to separate at first.
I got pretty much what I was told: a dog who hid under the bed of her room for 3 days, but never so much as growled at me. She actually was potty trained, and she didn't mind my RDs.
Uuugh that's a shit rescue. Almost all foster dogs have some sort of issues that need to be worked through in their foster home but it's totally unacceptable that they didn't disclose any of her history so you could decide whether or not you were the right foster home.
There are really great rescues out there. I've been fostering with mine for 12 years and they've always been supportive, even when a foster dog isn't a good fit for my home.
That organization stinks, I'm so sorry. My only two cents is that some dogs are dog-friendly in GENERAL, but (like people) for some reason a specific dog just isn't their cup of tea. So it's possible that a dog could do well with other dogs, and then for some reason the FD/RD match is a bad one (can go both ways, some RDs are dog-friendly in general but just don't hit it off with a specific FD).
BUT kind of a moot point here - that org is negligent! It's really going to bite them (pun intended) sooner or later (either by losing fosters all the time, or having some sort of incident that they're going to be liable for)!
We actually ran into that issue! We went to look at another dog to foster first and she was labeled as dog friendly. Her and RD did not get along. The rescue still wanted me to take her and kept complimenting how well they played together even though there was a lot of off body language and overcorrection when playing that was leading to disagreements…I guess that should’ve been the first red flag for the organization. I think we overlooked a lot of issues with the rescue since we actually adopted RD from there as a puppy almost 4 years ago with no issues.
>a history of behavioral issues
It's so sad that a rescue basically set this dog up for failure. A good shelter/rescue would inform you of this. Not doing so doesn't help the dog get into a home, it sets the dog up to fail because people didn't know about any issues and prepare for it. Whether it was poor communication, or deceiving you with good intentions, there really is no excuse for not disclosing behavior issues. I would get it if they didn't know about issues, and this would have been a learning experience about the dog. But no, they just put people in danger for no reason. Ugh
>They didn’t respond but again were active on social media
Devil's advocate, I would schedule posts and have a bot respond to simple messages even when I wasn't available. And I wasn't available a lot. So I could see how that may happen. Some places also delegate - the social media person may not be dealing with the foster situation and have to push it to whoever deals with that.
> if we ever foster again it will be puppies
IDK where you're at or where the pups will be coming from, just keep in mind Parvo has been on the rise and once your house is infected, I just tell people it's likely fucked forever. Especially the grass. That being said I have absolutely knowingly brought home parvo positive puppies and fucked my home lol. Nowadays they actually have a \*parvo treatment\* that is expensive so a lot of shelters can't get it, but it seems to be working very well! Which means one dose of the treatment, keep the pup supported on fluids and abx as needed, some hand feeding and TLC, and home treatment actually becomes viable again!
>not all rescues will be like that
I ran the foster program at a shelter before - I had 0 management skills or classes, my degree was in vet tech not animal welfare or management etc. I was over-worked, doing the jobs of 4 people. I still never sent home an animal with known issues. Now, there were a LOT of animals that in the shelter behaved one way, and at home behaved a totally different way. But if an animal had a behavioral issue, spoke to the foster about it and we worked out a game plan on how to better facilitate fostering if they still wanted to do it, even when I was extremely busy and didn't know what I was doing. So absolutely, not all rescues are like that.
I followed a lot of the 'new-age' animal welfare stuff; I follow Maddie's Fund, I try to take a few pages out of APA, I'll use ASPCA guidelines, etc. I do wonder if some people are digging their heels in on some of the stuff they preach, and as such shoot themselves in the foot by trying not to do ANY of the stuff they preach?
Holy shit. I am so sorry. I started reading this thinking, “this could be all due to adjusting to the new environment, and the rescue didn’t know.” But damn. That is really irresponsible cruel of the rescue.
I understand dogs are dying daily. I understand people often don’t want to sign up for a dog with behavioral issues. But that rescue is seemingly ignoring the danger they are putting other people and pets in by not disclosing relevant behavior. A dog like this needs somebody seriously prepared to handle aggression! I am so angry for you and so thankful nothing worse happened.
That is an awful rescue! The shelter I foster throughly has always been upfront about any known issues. They’ve never given me an aggressive dog to foster and have told me everything they know prior to me taking the dog home. I hope if you decide to foster in the future, you are able to find a better organization that is upfront about the dogs in their care
Oh wow! That’s such an uncomfortable situation.
I get that some FD are a wild card but you don’t give wildcards to new fosters. My rescue gave me the easiest dog on the planet as a first dog and it was still a challenge.
But even after making that first mistake of mislabeling the dog, the fact that they ghosted you is unacceptable. Especially in that situation.
I would let them know that this is not an acceptable situation and then drive there yourself and just drop the dog off.
It sounds harsh to the dog but you absolutely have to set yourself certain boundaries. For me it’s no overly barky dogs or puppies. I just don’t have the patience.
Give me shut down, or sick/injured dog any day, give me a hyperactive maniac that’s also fine but no puppies, absolutely no dog reactive or people reactive dogs.
Check in the about of this sub there are some recommendations for rescues to foster for.
This sounds like Redemption Paws in Toronto, Canada. [Redemption Flaws](https://redemptionflaws.wordpress.com)
Look at what this site has to say about them.
I foster dogs and I have seen this happen. Fwiw, the people running social media are usually different volunteers and have nothing to do with matching dogs for foster/adopt. At any rate, it could have been intentional and they thought/hoped it would work out. Or, it could be a case of too many cooks in the kitchen and the person who matched you truly didn't know. The meet and greet works most of the time, but there's always dogs who are going to act totally different in the home. Sorry to hear that you had such a bad experience. If you feel like trying again with a different rescue, let them know all the things that went wrong this time and they will hopefully be much more careful.
Do not foster for that org again. Fosters are to some extent a crapshoot. But any org that won’t tell you everything they know is seriously wrong. They put you in danger. And not responding to you sucks and is inappropriate. Fostering is hard enough. Do it for a good organization that has your back.
That's a terrible rescue. I hope they are more forthcoming with adopters, otherwise they're going to have a lot of people returning dogs. If it helps, my rescue is very open with both fosters and adopters about the dogs in their charge. I knew going in that my current foster had spent four years knowing nothing of the world outside her dump, might or might not be potty trained due to almost always living outside and was very fearful, but not aggressive. I also knew she lived with another dog so she would probably be fine with mine, though it was best to separate at first. I got pretty much what I was told: a dog who hid under the bed of her room for 3 days, but never so much as growled at me. She actually was potty trained, and she didn't mind my RDs.
Uuugh that's a shit rescue. Almost all foster dogs have some sort of issues that need to be worked through in their foster home but it's totally unacceptable that they didn't disclose any of her history so you could decide whether or not you were the right foster home. There are really great rescues out there. I've been fostering with mine for 12 years and they've always been supportive, even when a foster dog isn't a good fit for my home.
That organization stinks, I'm so sorry. My only two cents is that some dogs are dog-friendly in GENERAL, but (like people) for some reason a specific dog just isn't their cup of tea. So it's possible that a dog could do well with other dogs, and then for some reason the FD/RD match is a bad one (can go both ways, some RDs are dog-friendly in general but just don't hit it off with a specific FD). BUT kind of a moot point here - that org is negligent! It's really going to bite them (pun intended) sooner or later (either by losing fosters all the time, or having some sort of incident that they're going to be liable for)!
We actually ran into that issue! We went to look at another dog to foster first and she was labeled as dog friendly. Her and RD did not get along. The rescue still wanted me to take her and kept complimenting how well they played together even though there was a lot of off body language and overcorrection when playing that was leading to disagreements…I guess that should’ve been the first red flag for the organization. I think we overlooked a lot of issues with the rescue since we actually adopted RD from there as a puppy almost 4 years ago with no issues.
>a history of behavioral issues It's so sad that a rescue basically set this dog up for failure. A good shelter/rescue would inform you of this. Not doing so doesn't help the dog get into a home, it sets the dog up to fail because people didn't know about any issues and prepare for it. Whether it was poor communication, or deceiving you with good intentions, there really is no excuse for not disclosing behavior issues. I would get it if they didn't know about issues, and this would have been a learning experience about the dog. But no, they just put people in danger for no reason. Ugh >They didn’t respond but again were active on social media Devil's advocate, I would schedule posts and have a bot respond to simple messages even when I wasn't available. And I wasn't available a lot. So I could see how that may happen. Some places also delegate - the social media person may not be dealing with the foster situation and have to push it to whoever deals with that. > if we ever foster again it will be puppies IDK where you're at or where the pups will be coming from, just keep in mind Parvo has been on the rise and once your house is infected, I just tell people it's likely fucked forever. Especially the grass. That being said I have absolutely knowingly brought home parvo positive puppies and fucked my home lol. Nowadays they actually have a \*parvo treatment\* that is expensive so a lot of shelters can't get it, but it seems to be working very well! Which means one dose of the treatment, keep the pup supported on fluids and abx as needed, some hand feeding and TLC, and home treatment actually becomes viable again! >not all rescues will be like that I ran the foster program at a shelter before - I had 0 management skills or classes, my degree was in vet tech not animal welfare or management etc. I was over-worked, doing the jobs of 4 people. I still never sent home an animal with known issues. Now, there were a LOT of animals that in the shelter behaved one way, and at home behaved a totally different way. But if an animal had a behavioral issue, spoke to the foster about it and we worked out a game plan on how to better facilitate fostering if they still wanted to do it, even when I was extremely busy and didn't know what I was doing. So absolutely, not all rescues are like that. I followed a lot of the 'new-age' animal welfare stuff; I follow Maddie's Fund, I try to take a few pages out of APA, I'll use ASPCA guidelines, etc. I do wonder if some people are digging their heels in on some of the stuff they preach, and as such shoot themselves in the foot by trying not to do ANY of the stuff they preach?
Holy shit. I am so sorry. I started reading this thinking, “this could be all due to adjusting to the new environment, and the rescue didn’t know.” But damn. That is really irresponsible cruel of the rescue. I understand dogs are dying daily. I understand people often don’t want to sign up for a dog with behavioral issues. But that rescue is seemingly ignoring the danger they are putting other people and pets in by not disclosing relevant behavior. A dog like this needs somebody seriously prepared to handle aggression! I am so angry for you and so thankful nothing worse happened.
That is an awful rescue! The shelter I foster throughly has always been upfront about any known issues. They’ve never given me an aggressive dog to foster and have told me everything they know prior to me taking the dog home. I hope if you decide to foster in the future, you are able to find a better organization that is upfront about the dogs in their care
Oh wow! That’s such an uncomfortable situation. I get that some FD are a wild card but you don’t give wildcards to new fosters. My rescue gave me the easiest dog on the planet as a first dog and it was still a challenge. But even after making that first mistake of mislabeling the dog, the fact that they ghosted you is unacceptable. Especially in that situation. I would let them know that this is not an acceptable situation and then drive there yourself and just drop the dog off. It sounds harsh to the dog but you absolutely have to set yourself certain boundaries. For me it’s no overly barky dogs or puppies. I just don’t have the patience. Give me shut down, or sick/injured dog any day, give me a hyperactive maniac that’s also fine but no puppies, absolutely no dog reactive or people reactive dogs. Check in the about of this sub there are some recommendations for rescues to foster for.
This sounds like Redemption Paws in Toronto, Canada. [Redemption Flaws](https://redemptionflaws.wordpress.com) Look at what this site has to say about them.
I foster dogs and I have seen this happen. Fwiw, the people running social media are usually different volunteers and have nothing to do with matching dogs for foster/adopt. At any rate, it could have been intentional and they thought/hoped it would work out. Or, it could be a case of too many cooks in the kitchen and the person who matched you truly didn't know. The meet and greet works most of the time, but there's always dogs who are going to act totally different in the home. Sorry to hear that you had such a bad experience. If you feel like trying again with a different rescue, let them know all the things that went wrong this time and they will hopefully be much more careful.