Dogs in rescue are cared for in 3 ways.  They may be able to stay with their original family, but normally they live in kennels, or in a foster home.  There are pros and cons to each of these.

Kennels - if a dog has been picked up as a stray it may well be grateful for the warmth and security of a kennel, but how did it get to be a stray?  Possibly like "hand-over" dogs it has lived its life in a home environment, surrounded by people and used to a certain regime.  It could get stressed in kennels, scared and wondering what is going on.  The staff spend as much time as they can with the dogs, but only see them in the kennel environment or out on a walk.  Having said that sometimes kennelling is a better option than living in a home as it helps the dog adjust to a new regime.

Fostering - there are 2 types of foster.  Animals with a family long term for various reasons (normally age or health related) and these dogs will be with that family until the end of their lives (or they may be in temporary foster for respite).  The other type of fosters are animals who live in a house until they find a permanent home of their own.  This means that the animal can be observed in a lot of different situations, and gets a lot more time interacting with people.  The downside of course is that if the dog is there for a considerable time it will bond with the family, and when the time comes for it to move to a permanent home it may become unhappy for a while (not always, we have known dogs who are perfectly happy to live with one lot of people, then move to the next lot and show no signs of worry at all).  The people can become attached to the dog - there is an unofficial Failed Foster Club where members have been unable to let a certain dog go and have adopted it themselves.  On the whole though it is very rewarding to be able to settle an animal, help it become confident and then watch it move on to a new happy life.

Would you be able to foster?  It is very difficult to say how long it would take for a dog to find a new home, some may be with you a very short time but others could be with you for the long run.  A lot of the time people treat the foster as their own dog, taking them away with them etc, but we do realise this is not always possible.  If you foster a dog we pay for the veterinary side of things and we can provide food but obviously it does help us if you can do this. 

There is a very useful website which would give you more information Foster Dogs UK - if you think you may be able to help please read their site which covers a lot of points, and then contact us.