My first foster

[Shawn & Bella]

So please give me all your advice for fostering please......We are very excited we pick up Bentley in Atlanta on Saturday.....So get ready guys for all my questions......We are so  blessed to be able to help this dood in need.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

He sure is cute. Good luck!

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

1) Get some sleep between now and then.
2) Be sure you have a crate
3) Don't expect Bella to automatically love him and want to share her toys with him
4) If they don't get along, It's Bella's house, therefore, Bella's rules.
5) Short of drawing blood, let them work it out! Bella will explain the rules
6) Have a plan to keep them separated if need be when you leave the house.
7) Have lots of paper towels and nature's miracle .... even if they are potty trained the first day or so can be very confusing for them.
8) Be prepared for guarding issues. Food, toys, and YOU!
9) Take 2 collars and 2 leashes with you and keep them on him when you are walking him as he might have a tendency to try and flee
10) Make sure you have ahold of him prior to opening the car doors.
11) Lots of patience
12) Lots of love
13) and last but least, try to relax and enjoy the doodles hugs and kisses!

Oh, and last "NEVER think of him as your dog, you are just his temporary home" or you will be a foster failure and be a 2 doodle home!

[Donna K & Quincy]

Thank you for sharing your home with Bentley, he is a lucky doodle to have found you. I just posted a blog, if you read it and keep these things in mind when things may get a little tough maybe it will help a little. The only advice I can give you is that if you find yourself becoming overwhelmed take a little time out for yourself to relax and regroup. Good Luck.

[The Berry Oaks Doodle Ranch]

AWwwwwwwwwww poor thing. Bentley is very lucky.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Lucy & Sophie's mom said it all. Thank you for opening your home and your heart to a doodle in need.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

One more thing to add:
Fosters should not be allowed on beds or furniture. It could set them up to possibly fail in their adoptive homes if they don't want their dogs on their furniture.
Have fun!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I've never been able to do this; no matter how good my intentions, having dogs on the furniture seems natural to me, and I don't have the heart to make a dog who just wants to cuddle get down.
An alternative, if you can't resist allowing your foster on the sofa or bed, is to make sure he gets adopted by someone who feels the same way you do!

[Suzann, Rosey & Bandit]

I am with you Karen! Bandit is my cuddle buddy and sleeps in the cruxt of my legs every night, by morning he is in my arms and snugglin' like a little teddy bear. DH can't believe it. He won't get up to go out or anything. We have very loose rules about furniture at our house but it's almost like because we have allowed them, they don't do it so much...
Gladwyn is my only foster experience but wherever he was before it seemed he was allowed on furniture. It seemed an instint to him to get up next to me. But I only allowed it for a short period of time. After all he had been thru that day I figured he deserved a little "cushion":)

[Adina P]

Boca was all over her foster home's furniture (from what I could tell of the video of her wrestling on an armchair) but she's never gotten up on our furniture...occasionally some paws up, but it has NOT been an issue. Which I was quite surprised about. I fully expected to have to put in a lot of work to teach her that the floor and dog beds is where dogs hang out in our heartless house ;-)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

She has Rosco to model proper Pearson household behavior. ;-)

[Adrianne Matzkin]

My trainer/ friend has told me that a dog on furniture makes them 'higher' in the pack - something she thinks is best to avoid especially with an insecure, anxious, fearful dog.

I am NOT saying that all fosters/adoptive dogs are like that but the best way to set boundaries is not to allow them on furniture.

[Adina P]

Might be true. I mostly just don't want my sofas to look like my floors. Blech!