Those who wish to foster puppies have to be carefully screened.
The greater Houston area offers a variety of options regarding foster care, but they generally adhere to the same guidelines. Potential foster parents must be the age of majority and be able to demonstrate that they can provide a foster puppy with a stable, loving home for anywhere from a few days to several weeks. If you are fostering a puppy, it may be because the shelter is full, the puppy is too young to be adopted or the puppy needs training and medical attention.
Houston SPCA
The fostering process at the SPCA begins with an application that can be completed online or in person at the office. Be sure to specify that you want to foster puppies by filling in the appropriate form, as the Houston SPCA also helps foster cats, gerbils, guinea pigs and farm animals. You will be required to attend a two-hour orientation regarding the fostering program. The Houston SPCA will also assist you with the costs associated with fostering by donating food, bedding and medications if required.
Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care
Many foster puppies are infirm and will require extensive care.
BARC offers fostering programs for both dogs and cats. This organization works with a variety of other shelters and charities, including Help the Animals, which provide medicine and food to foster parents. BARC is specific about the types of people who can foster puppies and provides details about the problems foster puppies have and the time commitments involved. Puppies with social or training issues require two to four hours of care a day, while orphaned puppies need eight hours of care a day.
Adopt a Friend
The greater Houston area hosts rescue groups for virtually every breed of dog. If you are interested in fostering a puppy of a specific breed, you can probably find a rescue group for that breed. Adopt a Friend (people.consolidated.net/window/pure.htm) is a public website that hosts contact information for these groups and advocates fostering as a way to discover an animal's character to ease the process of adoption. As it is difficult for Adopt a Friend to evaluate each entry, they ask for public feedback about these rescue groups.
Professional Puppies
Dogs with jobs often need foster care.
Fostered puppies are not always intended to be pets in a private home. Some puppies are raised and trained to sniff for bombs or drugs. Local police departments usually have a canine unit, and the puppies that will one day work in that unit will need to be fostered in loving, stable homes. The TSA has a similar program to house puppies donated to be trained as bomb sniffing dogs.
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