To be honest, it is not all joy and fun fostering there are difficulties and as was touched on earlier sometimes destruction.

We recommend and try to adjust all foster dogs (and puppies especially) to crate training. This can prove interesting to say the least. Some puppies take to it readily, others will amaze you with their lung capacity and stamina! Some adults are also pretty good at expressing their dislike of this new arrangement. On a good note - 99% of all puppies and dogs do adjust to crate training within a few days. We recommend to new foster homes that they get their first foster dog on a Fri. so they have a few days to adjust without having to get up and go to work!

Destruction – I have been amazed at what some dogs/puppies target for destruction. Shoes and socks are definitely on the main list they smell like you and provide comfort to the dog / puppy. They don't mean to be mean it is more of a compliment! They miss you and like you, so they want something that smells like you! (Compliment/not, I realize only so many shoes can be lost to the teeth of a puppy/dog I've learned to put them on top of crates!) Wooden furniture - this is a real UGH!, especially if you have some really nice/antique furniture. There are ways to prevent damage, but for real precious pieces, not leaving the pup/dog alone for a second in a room with this piece of furniture is the best prevention. Possibly even moving the furniture to a room that can be closed off would be the safest thing to do. And of course, anything that a pup can put in their mouth, pillows (they are like stuffed toys!) and plastic objects, hard enough to be interesting, soft enough to break pieces off are always fun to be able to get a result from the chewing!

House-Breaking Accidents – puppies tend to have more accidents, plus often come into the organization with worms. Consistency in feeding and potty break schedules usually gets the housebreaking down within a week. Puppies under 10 weeks of age usually don't get it’ so if you want to foster pups at this age expect cleanup time!

Lack of House Manners – many dogs come into our rescue not realizing that standing up to check out what's on the counter/table is NOT proper behavior. Again, consistency and patience is needed in this area.

There are various ways to eliminate this behavior that we explain and review with a new foster home. Usually this does not take long to correct. Many dogs also jump up on people and are pushy about getting people food. All of these are examples of inappropriate behavior, and the foster home needs to correct the dog in these behaviors.

No Obedience Training– -- it is extremely rare that a dog comes in with any basic obedience training.

This is often a reason people get rid of a dog, no control/communication set up between them and the dog. We recommend that all foster homes begin basic obedience training. Sit is very important and the best/easiest command to start with. The others: down’ stay’ come are commands that the foster can build on, as they like. This basic training is really beneficial for a dog going off to his new home. And, it doesn't require any special knowledge or excess time. We can demonstrate and go over how to do basic obedience training - it really only takes a few minutes per day...and as always, some patience.

Other Serious Issues – we sometimes do get a dog that shows signs of other issues that are more serious and more difficult to handle. Food aggression, dog/other pet aggression, avoidance of men/women, severe general shyness, and separation anxiety are some issues that we may face.

If there is ANY issue with which a foster home is not comfortable, we remove the dog from the home ASAP, often within hours. The dog will either go to a more experienced foster home for evaluation and possible correction of the behavior, or temporarily to a kennel (if acceptable and no other foster home is available). We have a few experienced foster homes that can handle multiple dogs, so the majority of the time, the dogs is moved immediately into one of these homes. The trials may seem many, but usually you only have one/two minor issues that you need to work through with an adult dog. These issues may often be cute, but not wanted behaviors, like trying to crawl on your lap while you are sitting in a chair or expecting people food. With puppies, it's just dealing with typical puppy issues as usually they don't really have any bad behaviors just puppy behaviors. Most dogs are just so happy to have a warm safe place to sleep and hands to pet them that they are usually very eager to please.They learn what is proper behavior rather quickly and are very happy to just settle peacefully in the house.

Article By A New Leash On Life