Unexpectedly fostering young dog with no doggie experience whatsoever

April 13, 2015 8:10 AM

Can you help me plan the adoption of a foundling dog, and also give me tips on fostering her when I have no experience with dogs whatsoever?

So a colleague (D.) found this dog (I think she might still be a puppy) in the street. I took her in because D. could not, and the SPCA was closed (Friday evening).

D. posted an ad on craigslist, and I have received about 20 replies to the ad. Some from people who were (I think) pretending to be her parents, since I asked them for pictures and they never wrote back or even insisted explaining why they did not have any pictures. Other replies are from people telling me they are interested if nobody claims her. I have a feeling she might be an expensive breed, which makes her more vulnerable in a way.

I am still hoping the real parents will contact me, although at this point it looks quite unlikely. So my husband and I are starting to consider giving her to another family. The problem is I have done research and I have read that people get free dogs on craigslist and do unthinkable things to them (bait in dog fights, general cruelty, sell them to labs). My husband and I want to make 100% sure she will be safe and happy. She is an innocent little darling and she is so sweet and trusting. She's super playful, which is why we think she is a puppy still, but we're not sure.

I am reluctant about taking her to the SPCA because even though it's a no-kill place, I feel like she will be terrified. When I met her she was shaking in fear. Should I take her there or should I keep her with me and try to find her a home?

Also, I have never had a dog. A friend told me to put her in our little bathroom at night so she doesn't poop. I made her bed there (with blankets and her toys), but she cries and yelps before falling asleep and I am not sure if we are being unnecessarily cruel to her.

She is 16 pounds. How much should we feed her (kibble), how often should we give her treats, and how much water should she drink a day? Should we keep her bowl full of food, or feed her at specific times only?

How often should we take her out to poop and pee? What if we take her out and she doesn't poop? How long should we wait for her to get inspiration? Sometimes she is outside and she just plays and then we take her in and she pees on the carpet right after she came back!

Also, I am trying to teach her some doggy skills to make her more appealing to prospective parents. My SO and I want to definitely potty train her (how?), and we are teaching her "off" when she starts biting too hard. We are also teaching her how to fetch. What else can we do?

Do you have any guidance on bathing her? Should we brush her teeth? for real we know nothing about dogs. We want her to be healthy and at her best so a loving family can accept her.

I am 85% sure we can't keep her because we are really tight with money, and our cat is not happy at all. How much does it cost on average to keep a dog on budget food? We would have to spay her and take her to the vet, too. I doubt she has any shots. She looked like she had been in the street a while because she had fleas, a cold and tummy issues (a little diarrhea, which makes me think she was eating garbage). D. gave us flea medicine, my boss from work bought dog food and treats for her because we are really broke! However, we might be able to keep her if I find some resources to get her spayed and vaccinated at low cost, and my husband is interviewing for jobs, so we might not be so tight in the near future.

Any general advice or comments will be appreciated. I am totally lost and this puppy needs us!

posted by Tarumba to Pets & Animals (19 answers total)

Best answer: I am reluctant about taking her to the SPCA because even though it's a no-kill place, I feel like she will be terrified.

Please take this dog to the SPCA or some other no-kill shelter. It's not the best place for a dog, that's true, but they will have much better resources than you do to make sure she gets to the vet (this dog needs to see a vet ASAP), get spayed, get her shots, and track down her owners or find her a loving home. Not that you aren't necessarily capable of providing one, but it doesn't sound like you're at all equipped to take care of this dog how it needs to be taken care of right now.

Plus, if she's a popular breed, she probably won't be at the shelter for very long.
posted by griphus at 8:15 AM on April 13, 2015 [6 favorites]

Best answer: +1 to taking her to a no-kill shelter. Small-to-medium sized, young, female dogs are usually the most in-demand and she will no doubt find a home quickly. Chances are she won't be lingering in a kennel for long.

In addition to the points griphus made about how a shelter has the capacity to care for and adopt out a dog much more efficiently than a private individual - shelters these days do temperament testing and assessment and so are more easily able to match dogs with the right adoptive families - a small, docile dog for the elderly retired lady in a condo, a more energetic young dog for the family with kids, etc.

Don't feel bad about taking your foundling to the no-kill shelter. They will take good care of her, and either track down her original owners or find her a good new home.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 8:21 AM on April 13, 2015 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: Wow, first reply and I am convinced! We will take her to the SPCA today.

a few craigslist people want us to contact them without taking her to the SPCA, but it seems the SPCA are the official channel, right?

Thank you, Griphus and Rosie!
posted by Tarumba at 8:21 AM on April 13, 2015 [3 favorites]

Best answer: What Griphus said. If your SPCA is full, come back and we'll help because sometimes, shelters are full. (The long and short of it would be: do not adopt out an unspayed female dog, ever. This is 7000x as true for pedigree bitches. Never ever adopt out a dog for free via Craislist, or via anything.)
posted by DarlingBri at 8:23 AM on April 13, 2015 [5 favorites]

Best answer: Not only that, but the SPCA (presumably) has resources in place to vet (no pun intended) potential adopters (ours does).
posted by supercres at 8:23 AM on April 13, 2015

Best answer: a few craigslist people want us to contact them without taking her to the SPCA, but it seems they are the official channel, right?

It's less that they're the official channel and more that the dog absolutely needs medical attention right now and there's no way to guarantee that if you just give it to some person on CL. That and the shelter will also screen potential adopters to make sure they're capable of taking care of the dog and that she's not going to a hoarder or backyard breeder or someone worse.
posted by griphus at 8:25 AM on April 13, 2015 [2 favorites]

Good on you taking the dog to the SPCA, it could well have a microchip and worried owners looking desperately for it. Even good owners can have a dog run away. They also have the facilities to reference check new homes. A few weeks of worry in a kennel is so much better than what can happen going to a stranger off of Craigslist. Most people picking up free dogs off of there, resell them for profit, breed them for puppies to sell or worse.
posted by wwax at 8:48 AM on April 13, 2015 [2 favorites]

Another thing - it's possible the dog has a microchip, so even if she has no collar, she still has ID. The shelter will scan her to see if she's chipped, and, if she is, they'll call her owners to come pick her up. Reuniting microchipped animals with their owners is easy (as long as the owners have kept an updated address on file).
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 8:48 AM on April 13, 2015 [2 favorites]

I once brought a really nice homeless dog to my local SPCA, and it was an awesome experience. They had her spayed, got her up to date on all of her shots AND followed up with me after she got adopted. They were able to do way more for her than I could have.

It is worth getting in contact with your SPCA in general because that is likely where the original dog owners would look if this is a dog that belongs to someone but got lost. My local SPCA lets people pay a little bit of money to be the "last call" and be contacted before the animal would get put down if the shelter was full, which sounds like something that might put your mind at ease.
posted by mjcon at 8:51 AM on April 13, 2015

Response by poster: So we have the one no-kill shelter (SPCA) but they only accept surrenders, no foundlings :(

We do have another Animal Shelter but it says nowhere that they are no-kill.

I have talked to my husband and we are thinking about taking her to the 2nd second place and leaving our phone numbers. Then I will tell everyone interested to go there if they want to adopt her. If nobody does and she does not get adopted by the shelter's deadline, they can call us and we will bring her to our home and pay her adoption fees.

We think this way they will take care of medical care, vaccines, spaying, etc., but we will make sure she is not put to sleep.

I will use the time to get some dog101 knowledge in case we have to bring her home, and we will visit her at the shelter so she doesn't forget us.

Unless you guys can think of a better plan?
posted by Tarumba at 9:18 AM on April 13, 2015

Yes, please take this dog to your regional shelter! They are often the official point of contact for people seeking lost pets. They will also be able to scan for a microchip. If this dog has been lost since last week, it may have very worried owners.
posted by amber_dale at 9:35 AM on April 13, 2015 [1 favorite]

Just keep in mind, if the shelter is not no-kill, you may not have a say in whether or not they put her to sleep. It does sound like she's very adoptable so that's good, but I know that at a lot of shelters, once you hand over the dog, you forfeit any claim to it, and they won't give you any info or respond to your inquiries. It's entirely possible that things will be different at this place, but I would just mentally prepare yourself for the fact that you might never know what happens to her.

(I believe one of the reasons for this is because some people will take their own dog to a shelter to get medical attention, and then adopt them back. Or at least, that's the explanation I've heard. I don't know whether that's actually a thing people do.)

Anyway, in your position, I would call the second shelter and ask them what their policies are about kill/no kill, whether you'll have a right to adopt her if no one else does, whether you can get updates, etc. Then you can be in a better position to make your decision, and if you're still not sure, feel free to update us.
posted by litera scripta manet at 9:47 AM on April 13, 2015

One really good possibility is to contact a local animal rescue/fostering organization, and get their help in fostering the dog. They can help you know what to do, and might even offer financial help with vet bills, etc.

(Also -- there's a chance the cat could calm down after a little while, depending on the dog's personality. Definitely talk to the rescue organization about the possibilities, if you're at all open to the idea of keeping her. It sounds like you've become fond of her and would make good dog keepers if you decided you could.)

If an Internet search for rescue/fostering groups doesn't help that much, you could call the ASPCA and ask if they recommend a group. They might have the inside scoop, actually, so it might be a good idea to ask them (or the other shelter) for advice in any case.

We have a good fostering group in this area that actually provides obedience classes for adopters -- several fostering groups, actually -- and they might be able to set you up with what you need.

This humane society might be near you and offers fostering; I'm not sure whether their program will work with your particular situation, though, and they are probably not no-kill -- you could at least call them and see if they have a recommendation, especially if you are interested in fostering.

Bear in mind: If you do foster the dog, and then decide to adopt it, you'll probably have to pay an adoption fee. This actually works out well, since you'd probably end up paying less than if you'd had to pay for veterinary services etc. yourself, and it will support other dogs being fostered in the future.
posted by amtho at 9:50 AM on April 13, 2015 [1 favorite]

Oh, and I agree about avoiding Craigslist if possible, but one suggestion I've seen elsewhere on askmefi is to request a donation to the the local SPCA or thw ASPCA at a certain amount (say $25 to $50). You can do this in a two step thing. Have them meet the dog, see if you approve of them and if they want the dog, and then have them do the donation, give you proof of it, and then you'll let them have the dog.

But I do think finding a rescue organization is the safer bet.

If money weren't as much of an issue, then I would say that never owning a dog before isn't necessarily a deal breaker, but since you already have a cat, and given the fact that you're probably looking at a couple hundred dollars (at least) just to get her vaccinated, spayed, etc, I think that may not be your best option.
posted by litera scripta manet at 9:52 AM on April 13, 2015

Response by poster: We checked and the animal shelter is not no-kill, but they give you the option of letting you know if the pet you took to them has not been adopted, so we are giving them our names and phone numbers and will adopt her if no one does.

Thank you all.
posted by Tarumba at 11:07 AM on April 13, 2015 [2 favorites]

This really depends on where you live - but in many areas, healthy, adoptable young dogs surrendered to "kill" shelters are still very unlikely to get put to sleep. There is now a shortage of adoptable small-to-medium sized dogs in some areas - so much that transporting dogs from high-kill areas or even overseas to the more affluent low-kill areas is a big thing.

I live in an affluent and animal-loving area of California, and there are a couple of big-time no-kills that pull dogs from overcrowded kill shelters in the Central Valley to bring them here for adoption. "Smallish," "young," and "female" are magic words that equal high adoptability for a dog unless she has serious behavior problems. And even the county shelter (which isn't no kill) has the funds to spay/neuter and vaccinate its animals before the non-profit no-kills get to them.

Unless you live in an area overrun with dogs, your new friend has a good chance of finding a home even at the regular shelter - and they screen out the bad news adopters so you don't have to worry. And the fact that you can adopt her if no-one else does is great. The dog will do fine, I'm sure!
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 11:16 AM on April 13, 2015

The Richmond SPCA and Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA are large, reputable no-kill shelters. They may take homeless pets from outside of their region, or provide you with more rescues that do. The Richmond SPCA also has a rehoming service so you could post the dog on their website instead of Craigslist. Best of luck!
posted by Katie8709 at 11:43 AM on April 13, 2015

If you know what breed this puppy is, there may well be a rescue for that breed in your area.
posted by Dolley at 12:13 PM on April 13, 2015

You may want to search Petfinder as a way to reverse look-up shelters near you. There are some "shelters" that are really more of a coordinated foster network rather than a physical building. These groups are still very good at finding homes and assessing adopters as well as making sure animals in their care get necessary veterinary treatment. They may not be easily findable through traditional searching.
posted by gladly at 1:27 PM on April 13, 2015