Taylor and I have had the very same rewarding experiences.  It does our hearts good to see the true weiminess appear in our fosters as they overcome poor health and begin to trust humans once again.  We like this volunteer opportunity and for the first 2+ years we thought of fostering as a great thing to do for the homeless weims who needed loving families. 

One day we suddenly realized that we had been providing volunteer service for humans too - those who needed loving companions for themselves and for their family members!  Why it took us so long to figure that out, I'll never know.  We continue to hear from those who have adopted our fosters, receiving photos of the happy weims and their humans, and hearing about how much love the weims have brought to their lives. 

Just look at the new 2011 calendar and you'll see 13 testimonies to the importance of fostering.  So, we add our encouragement to that from Kathy - please give fostering a try.  It will be one of the most important things you'll do for others.

Happy Tails to You,
Cathy and Taylor

I am asking everybody that has never fostered to PLEASE just try it. It is the most rewarding part of rescue. If I only had to choose one part of rescue it would be fostering.

Today I'm corresponding with an adopter that adopted one of my fosters a year ago and also another adopter that just adopted Niko from me last week. It is so great to know how much they love their adopted dog and how spoiled that dog is.

I know that I really made a difference in the lives of those dogs.

It's not an easy job but it's well worth it. Letting them go does get a little easier each time because I know that there is always another dog that will need me. I also know that I have made sure that they are going to a new home that is the right fit for them.

Please make it your New Year's resolution to foster a dog. No excuses!!!!

-Kathy I

My foster stories have been about the same.  It has been a pleasure and a very rewarding experience with some heart ache along the way.  I have come home sometimes to absolute chaos cause I left the dogs where they could get at all those tasty couch pillows. I still have a pair of flip flops that have the mark of sweet Gracie - but every time I wear them I think about her, and I don't think I'll every throw them away for that reason:) Then you get an email from a proud parent with pictures of one of those dogs that have come through your life and it makes your entire day! 

-- Laurie W

View from a foster home.

Gail and I became involved in fostering for WRNT in Oct. of 07. Since that time we have taken care of about 18 dogs - I said I would remember each one of them but that is hard to do.

We have had them for as short as two days to as long as 2 months. We have had two who were going through heartworm treatment, two puppies that had no manners whatsoever, one that bloated the night he arrived at our house. There have been fights, furniture chewed on and slices of pizza stolen off the counter top. We have  both learned that all dogs coming from Town Lake Animal Shelter in Austin will have kennel cough.....all of them. We sometimes feel we are just short of becoming vet techs. They have strained our relationship and kept us up nights. We have had to send dogs to other homes when things did not work. We have taken dogs from other fosters when there were issues. WRNT always supports us and does what is best for everyone involved.

BUT, the best part is seeing all of those dogs go to homes that really love them. We get Christmas cards from people we never met thanking us to taking care of their dog for a while, for giving those dogs the extra time in life for them to find each other. Gail falls in love with everyone, she hates to see them go. I fall in love with the families that are able to find that special dog to share their live with.

We do fall in love with our fosters and it is bittersweet when they go but knowing that you saved a dog and he's happy and now you can save another one makes it so worthwhile. Foster homes are needed desperately.  Take a chance and foster.  You will not be sorry.

--Wesley & Gail K.

Our family started fostering last September.  I include my children because they are a big part of our fostering.  They help care for the dogs, love on them, brag about them at school, advertise for the rescue whenever they can in public and best of all, my girls are learning the invaluable lesson of giving back. 

When we started, I have to admit, my reasons for wanting to foster were a little selfish.  I wanted all the benefits of having another weim in our home without the long term responsibility and I wanted my girls to have experience (even if it was through their parents) of volunteering.  Since then, I've gotten SO much more out of this.  I've gained a 2nd dog, our foster-failure Miley (formerly Smiley).  I've really felt like we are actually making a difference in a, too often, gloomy world.  I've always had a heart for strays, Lord knows my parents got tired of me bringing home every cat and dog I found in our neighborhood, but fostering really opens up a whole other world. 

I brought our first gray boy, Max, home and we all fell in love.  That boy had the worst gas, but he was just a big goofy boy at heart.  I cried when he left.  But, like others have said, I got a Christmas card from his forever family and he looks like just 'fits' with them.  There have been 8 weims that have come through our home...8 completely different personalities.  We nursed Vince back from a 48 pound walking skeleton to one of the most handsome 70 pound weims I've seen.  We've had 2 puppies, one mild-mannered and laid-back, and one crazy as a loon.  We had Wyatt (Cajun Bubba) for only 3 days and lost him to heartworms and maltreatment by his previous owners.  That was the hardest day for me.  I wasn't sure I could foster again because I thought all of them could be saved once we got them.  But we did, and later got to see Wyatt's puppy at the 'family reunion', Weim Fest.  Ranger has Wyatt's looks and long legs.  It was a tearful moment until you realize that something good always comes out of something bad.  We've been through bloat with Gus, which was scary enough, but God was watching that boy because if he had bloated just 10 minutes later, we would have been gone to a school function for 3 hours.  Obviously, Gus wouldn't have survived.  We nursed him back to health, went back and forth about whether to keep him (he was the big blue boy I had SO been wanting), watched him eat a live squirrel and finally let him go when the perfect family situation came along.  We had to decide whether we wanted to keep him or keep fostering as 3 full time dogs would be too much. 

I can't see not having a foster.  It's kind of like getting a present...it could be the one thing you've always wanted or it could be socks.  They are all different and they all need help.  We have to fill in the holes where others don't fulfill their responsibilities as a pet owner.  We will never rid the world of all the people who 'shouldn't' have gotten a weim, but we can help the ones that didn't ask to be put in that situation.

As for volunteering, I think fostering is really a no-brainer.  Like I said, you get all the benefits of getting to know and enjoy a weim without any long term responsibility.  Our neighbors are all interested in who the 'new' dog is at our house.  When the Milberts came to see Gus, they walked him around the neighborhood and people who were out said 'hi' to Gus!  The Milberts loved that.  Addison and Sydney are proud of how they help 'Miley dogs'.  In fact, Gus left about 2 weeks ago and they are asking when we are getting another dog!  We are out of town next week, so they will have to wait a little longer. 

I guess I should be discuss the cons I've encountered...  I've cleaned up vomit / puppy piddle / dead birds in the back yard / trash in the kitchen from the garbage can being knocked over.  Some nights, there isn't enough room in our bed with David, me, our 2 weims, occasionally a child and foster weim, but that's what couches are for.  Our leather ottoman has a hole in one of the cornes from chewing.  There is a constant trail of water on the wood floors.  I clean up alot of dog poop in the back yard.  But that's all nothing when you feel the pride of seeing a happy, healthy weim leave your home with a new family...one that came to you skinny, possibly sick and scared of human contact. 

- Kelly & David W.

P.S. - Kelly and David opened their home to Gracie, a severly hurt, emaciated, and blind Weim who needed a new life.  Visit Gracie's blog at http://weimrescuetexas.blogspot.com/