Transitioning a Foster Dog

Over the last five years, we have fostered nearly 20 dogs. Some stay with us a few days, some a few months. No matter their length of time with us, we've learned a few things about proper transition into our home and proper introduction to our existing dogs.

The two dogs we have in our house are very good with others. In fact, they prefer to have other dogs around, so they are pretty easy to introduce. However, a new foster dog may not be, so we're always cautious of doing things too fast.

Most of the time, we bring a foster in and kennel them for the first 24-48 hours. This allows the dog to calm down, get to know the sights, sounds and smells of it's new place and to read the energy of our house. This is a very important step in adjusting a foster dog to your house.

The kennel is in our dining room at the moment, close enough to all the action, but far enough away if space is needed. It's covered with an old sheet (completely) so that the dog can have it's own quiet, dark, safe space.

The foster is let out to eat, to meet, and to eliminate during the first 24-48 hours. After that, we start slow integration with our pack. At first, leaving the dog out of the kennel, supervised, for 20-30 minutes at a time (or less) and we work up to hours as time passes. As we understand that the foster dog feel comfortable with the new surroundings, we move up to the next phase of transitioning. Sometimes, dogs adjust quickly (within the 24-48 hours) and sometimes they need weeks. Sometimes, they never really integrate at all.

All of that is OK. It's our job as fosters to make sure each dog has a safe experience now that it's off death row.