Foster Playbook
You = Hero.
(Cape Optional, Treats Required).
Thank you for being a temporary soft landing for a rescue dog in need. This guide is designed to make your foster journey as smooth and fun as possible.
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Here Is The Game Plan:
Decompression Zone: Helping your guest settle in.
How to Dog: Nutrition, care and behavior.
Puparazzi Mode: Writing biographies and taking photos that stop the scroll and find homes.
Happy Tears: Finding that perfect forever family.
Intros And Socialization
The Golden Rule: Slow is fast. How to avoid rushing introductions.
Dog Food And Nutrition
Start potty training by setting up a regular schedule for taking your dog outside, especially after they eat. When they go potty in the right spot, give them some treats and praise—it’s like throwing a mini celebration! Just be patient; with a bit of time and practice, your pup figure out that the grass is the place to go!
Crate
Training
Crate training your dog is a great way to give a cozy and safe spot to chill out, making them feel right home. It also helps with housebreaking since dogs don’t want to mess up their sleeping area. Plus, it’s super handy for car trips and keeping pup calm when you have friends over!
Intros And Socialization
Let’s talk food post (and 💩)
So it’s becoming more prevalent that fosters are super worried about swapping food around on the fosters. That was never an intention when we talk about keeping puppies on similar proteins.
On puppy side we do a chart mostly because who wants to do transitions on 15-20 puppies or have the risk of a transition causing widespread diarrhea (that has to be cleaned often times before volunteers head to work)
Chrissy keeps big dog side mostly on same kibble for same reasons it’s easier to identify parasites or stress in a large group setting if diet isn’t a factor.
This is NOT to say transitions can’t be made! In foster homes it is entirely possible to swap around not just between brands but also proteins.
Wise ways to do this:
1 - grab new bucket before you run out and do 3 days of mixing new food in increasing amount of new food each day
2- add probiotics to the new food or a spoonful of pumpkin to help with the transition
3- cook up a little chicken and rice and keep it in freezer if a new food isn’t tolerated immediately do a day or two of bland and reintroduce it
We can NOT have everyone grabbing the center dog food to keep it easier at home. We have amazing quality food donations specifically for the fosters please please use those buckets! If you’re super insistent on the same protein and the same brand there are some fosters that just buy and “donate” for tax write off their own food. Otherwise it must be a take what you can get and do the best with it.
If you need help you can always post here with questions and we can help you out.
We always have probiotics- pumpkin- pumpkin latte- and goats milk all excellent for food swaps!
Dog Food And Nutrition
Let’s talk food post (and 💩)
So it’s becoming more prevalent that fosters are super worried about swapping food around on the fosters. That was never an intention when we talk about keeping puppies on similar proteins.
On puppy side we do a chart mostly because who wants to do transitions on 15-20 puppies or have the risk of a transition causing widespread diarrhea (that has to be cleaned often times before volunteers head to work)
Chrissy keeps big dog side mostly on same kibble for same reasons it’s easier to identify parasites or stress in a large group setting if diet isn’t a factor.
This is NOT to say transitions can’t be made! In foster homes it is entirely possible to swap around not just between brands but also proteins.
Wise ways to do this:
1 - grab new bucket before you run out and do 3 days of mixing new food in increasing amount of new food each day
2- add probiotics to the new food or a spoonful of pumpkin to help with the transition
3- cook up a little chicken and rice and keep it in freezer if a new food isn’t tolerated immediately do a day or two of bland and reintroduce it
We can NOT have everyone grabbing the center dog food to keep it easier at home. We have amazing quality food donations specifically for the fosters please please use those buckets! If you’re super insistent on the same protein and the same brand there are some fosters that just buy and “donate” for tax write off their own food. Otherwise it must be a take what you can get and do the best with it.
If you need help you can always post here with questions and we can help you out.
We always have probiotics- pumpkin- pumpkin latte- and goats milk all excellent for food swaps!