Read how our existing ‘girl’ trained the newbie in how to welcome “mum” when mum was mobile etc
Years went by and our 23 year ‘girl’ passed away, leaving our other ‘girl’ who mourned terribly – which was when we asked for advice from a local Rescue Centre.
It’s always worth checking the Foster Policy first as Rescue Centre’s may differ, in our case, after a home check, we were sent a sweet elderly little dog on Long Term Foster (due to her age and the fact she had been returned to the Centre twice before) as a doggy companion. She made herself at home as soon as she walked in and became a real friend for our existing ‘girl’. Our existing ‘girl’ trained the newbie in how to ask to go out to the loo (a great bonus ), how to sit quietly in the mornings and ignore “mum”, how to welcome “mum” when mum was mobile etc., Sadly, in due course, our remaining ‘old girl’ went to doggy heaven just short of her 14th birthday.
A few weeks later we decided to take an extra bag of food to the Rescue Centre, and as my husband opened the car door to remove the bag, a large elderly Retriever jumped into the car – having just returned from a walk with a volunteer walker. Amidst a lot of chuckling from the Rescue Centre, my husband re-loaded the bag of dog food that we had intended to donate, back into our car and with a wry smile of acceptance from my husband, off we drove!
Our ‘latest’ foster dog has a long-term health condition and is an elderly lovely old boy. The two foster dogs get along beautifully. The Rescue Centre kindly pay all the Vet’s fees; my husband chooses to buy their food, but I believe it’s possible to obtain food for fostered dogs from some Rescue Centres free of charge.
It’s also worth checking which Vet the Rescue Centre has nominated; the Vet nominated by the Rescue Centre we foster for is quite a distance and would be impossible without transportation. Recently one of the dogs was very ill (fine now ) and thankfully the Rescue Centre paid all the Vets bills including an overnight stay in a Veterinary hospital. My husband covered all the travel costs (quite a substantial amount) as we were back and forth for quite a distance several times; I found the travelling exhausting. I learned a lesson – to check which Vet a Rescue uses and the travelling distance.
In our experience, Rescue Centres try to foster out elderly dogs or dogs with a health condition – however, we have had a couple of short term ‘visitors’ one little dog in particular I think is an example of ‘temporary care’ – he had a long standing cough which seemed intractable to treatment – until someone at the Rescue Centre had the idea the cough may be linked with wearing a collar – it was policy at Centre that all dogs should have two collars and leads in the event of an emergency evacuation. The little dog was sent to us, where he could go collarless and when necessary wear a harness. The improvement was dramatic – apparently even the lightest touch to his throat brought on a coughing fit – the harness solved the problem and he is now living happily with his new adoptive parents
Next time:
Austerity and Bedroom Tax has sadly affected many companion dogs as well as people.