Why We Rescue: Part 2

We named the new puppy Zip, and he really did help me heal.
(see Zippy's story here.)

But I continued to think about Fury often.

In the middle of it all I began to understand how important foster care is. Getting dogs out of shelters is imperative to saving lives. So I said "one day we'll foster."

One Friday in early October I stopped into the Humane Society. My Girl Scout troop was doing a service project with HSU and I needed to talk to the volunteer coordinator. While I was there I looked at the dogs and asked the innocent question,
"where are all the puppies?"
"they're in foster care!" I was told
"ah." I said, "foster care. I've thought about fostering. One day I'd like to do that."
Almost before I knew it the Humane Society was pushing a scared, timid black lab puppy into my arms and telling me how much he needed a foster. I played the husband card, saying I'd need him to okay it before I just brought a strange dog home.
But I forgot. Matt's a sucker. And he's an even bigger sucker for a black lab. He happened to be only about 20 minutes away from the Humane Society and said he would meet me there to take a look. I left to run a quick errand up the street and when I got back I found Matt holding the puppy in his lap.

We took him home and named him Odin.

Odie was scared to death. Of everything. He was hard to foster at first, and I called in Fury's trainer (Robyn) to help me out. She provided valuable insights and gave me tips that made everything much easier.
Over the next two weeks he went from hiding under the table to sleeping on the couch, comfortable around people and dogs, not so terrified of his own shadow.
Odin was adopted after two weeks and we decided to try fostering with Rescue Rovers - the group Robyn worked with.

It's been a ride. We're just short of a year with Rescue Rovers - almost exactly a year since Odie - and we've fostered some really amazing dogs. We've considered keeping ALL of them. We've loved them, fed them, trained them and prepared them to live in a home with a family - some for the first time in their life! We've learned so much from them. About dogs and people and life in general. And even though fostering dogs has clearly turned off some of our friends and family, it's been worth it. We SAVED them. These dogs who had so much to offer and were going to be put down...we kept that from happening. It's powerful. It matters. That's why we rescue. And we have no plans to stop.

(Why We Rescue: Part 1)
(Why We Rescue: Part 3)