koalathebear

Another former foster living with a cat. This is Baxter :) Usually we engage a friend who's a trainer to help us integrate a foster into a cat home, but they didn't have a cat when we adopted him out, the cat came later - but clearly it's all fine.

I help out with a few groups. It varies across groups and it is left to the discretion of the carers in most instances. I use this socialisation checklist for my foster dogs, and include it in the dog's CV/User Guide when it goes on trial adoption so the adopters know what the dog has/has not been exposed to. All my foster dogs are assessed against this training table and I won't adopt out before they have mandatory behaviours. Aggression is definitely tested. We have 3 resident dogs plus tonnes of friends with dogs and we take our fosters to obedience class so we are able to test the dogs with lots of different people and dogs. I only adopt dogs to families with small children if the dog is calm and bomb-proof - there have been a few in that category. As mentioned above, where the dog is being adopted to a home with a cat or with a resident dog who is cranky, I engage a behaviourist to help me transition the dog into the new home - I'm lucky to know some very pro-rescue behaviourists/trainers. I also put the new family in touch with the trainer. With our last few dogs, the applicants have come to obedience class and wrangled the dog before the dog goes on trial. With Jerry, we actually took 4 months to transition him into his new home before his formal trial started (lots of sleepovers, visits, taken for walks by applicant) and with Dyson, he had 3 weekend sleepovers and was taken on a few playdates and walks before his trial started. I am mega paranoid though.

I have. This was what I got when I resigned from the organisation. It was a very unpleasant end to what had mostly been pleasant except for interactions with certain individuals. These were emails sent to me directly. Someone made a collage of the inconsistent legal threats here i.e. sometimes your dog can be seized, sometimes it can't be. More here: here. My link I have three friends who adopted dogs and were threatened with having their dog seized back well after adoption: - 2 for disagreeing with him - one because he criticised the photos and petrescue profile and she said: "Please refer to original write up already supplied if you don't like my updated version." The sad thing is that most people are frightened into silence because they think that the legal threats are real ... one of them was even a tough bloke who has no installed security cameras and motion detection sensors It's really, really sad ... It as the first group I ever fostered for - it was SUCH a huge relief to me when I finally left and volunteered for other groups to find out that they're not the same and that there are some great groups out there.

Dogs are unpredictable. Things like this happen. It's how you handle things after they happen that really counts and the various rescue groups that I help out would have handled things differently. I don't know anyone who would threaten the adopter with legal action if she wanted to share threatening emails with her lawyers, who would threaten to notify child services ... There's even a post floating around by members of this very same organisation who say THEY would have handled things differently. I believe very passionately in rescue and the value of second chances. All of my dogs have gone to wonderful homes and I'm still in touch with the adopters - you can see my posts in the rescue subforum. I still help out with queries post-adoption because I care about both the dogs and the adopters. As far as I can see, the story here was not child vs dog. It was family/child & dog vs rescue group that wanted to wash its hands of the whole thing... Jane's a lovely person - she is not at fault here. She's a loving mum who thought she was doing the righ thing by adopting a dog from a high profile rescue organisation and probably thought that that gave her a measure of comfort/assurance. Also in the same way that most purebred dogs aren't necessarily given formal behavioural assessments prior to adoption, rescues don't either. My experience is that we keep dogs in care long enough to observe as much as possible. I only bring in a behaviourist if I think there is an issue that I need help addressing. For instance, we usually pay for a professional behaviourist to help with introductions to a resident cat or a resident cranky dog. Before going on trial, adopters usually are the handlers of my foster at obedience class under my supervision and they usually continue those classes at least through the trial adoption and I am always contactable and I also put them in contact with the trainer.

Heh heh here: http://koalathebear.dreamwidth.org/ Although Dyson's just gone on trial and we are taking a break until the new year!! Fingers crossed :D

Depends on the Kelpie. Jerry was not good with cats, but this is former foster True these days :) And this is former foster Cupcake :)

Dyson went on trial adoption last Friday. He's having a blast. Played with his cousin Jackson the JRT Chilled out Went for a walk around Lake Burley Griffin Chilled out again Played with Baxter the Beagle cross In other less happy news, I'm so relieved that there's finally some attentionscrutiny. This was the Today Tonight segment about Australian Working Dog Rescue. Low quality version unfortunately. This is what happened to poor Jane's son five year old son Matthew: The dogs I fostered when I was with this group were wonderful and I made some great friends, but I had to leave because I was appalled (and continue to be appalled) at the way this organisation behaves. It makes it hard for all rescues and rescue dogs ...

Former foster Baxter adopted in September 2012 is looking forward to Christmas. Former foster Smudge (and her two siblings Reggie and Dexter) came to visit. They had some pupsicles Smudge, Hoover and Dexter Smudge and Elbie Former foster Juniper and former foster Smudge Former foster Juniper

Relieved that there's finally some scrutiny. This was the Today Tonight segment. Low quality version unfortunately. This is what happened to poor Jane's son five year old son Matthew: As many people know, I am in rescue myself and very pro-rescue dogs and I volunteer for a few groups. I fostered for this group for a few years. The dogs I fostered were wonderful and I made some great friends, but I had to leave because I was appalled (and continue to be appalled) at the way this organisation behaves. It makes it hard for all rescues and rescue dogs ...

As for Jerry, he's doing awesome in his new home. His new dad bought him a Christmas Kong teddy :) This is what he did with his previous Kong teddy, his dad memed it .. Lots of pats in his new home Brand new dog door Walks to Mount Painter with his mate Ace Walks at the National Arboretum Chilling with his human

Heh heh. All our dogs have learned to get used to my brother's turtles although they still find them very bemusing. And thank you - we love that our adopters still keep in touch with us :) Thank you! We find the fostering experience really rewarding. Sometimes it's really hard and we do see a dark side of people sometimes, but we also see the best side of people. The people who have adopted our dogs have been just awesome :) Thank you! And it's funny you say that because for some reason I could have sworn that you had a red and tan Kelpie at one stage - whether your own or fostered??? I just remember that someone on DOL had a gorgeous red and tan Kelpie that made me decide I wanted one of my own and we adopted Hoover and then after that we got into fostering :laugh: Dyson and Dodge Dyson had a blast this weekend. It's not his formal trial adoption yet but we like to let the families and fosters get to know one another gradually so he had a playdate the other night and then this weekend he had a sleepover. He had fun in the puppy section of Yarralumla Dog Park Then he was a hipster and hung out at a cafe Then he was stuffed On Sunday, the family took him to the obedience classes he has been attending with me and were his handlers. After that he was taken on a shopping spree at Belco Pets

Hi, you've received lots of advice and it is up to you what you want to do next. If you decide to adopt, then feel free to PM me. I have fostered puppies that are six weeks. Not ideal and I was very worried at the time but to be honest it wasn't any different from how I would handle an 8 week old puppy and everything worked out fine. You should keep in mind though that for the reasons stated above, you are taking a degree of risk because it sounds like the breeder isn't particularly ethical and so you'll be taking a chance on how the pup will turn out. Same with any dog but it's a much higher risk when it's not from a responsible breeder... Anyway, good luck whatever you decide.

Former foster Smudge (adopted in August 2013) with siblings Dexter and Reggie Some photos of our current foster Dyson who is getting to know his applicant family before starting his trial adoption. Here he is hanging with Hoover His applicant family have been coming to dog school to wrangle him to get used to working with him. Dyson hanging out with turtles

Thanks. We love them - and yes, they are very accepting. They have all learned to pose for photographs, even the fosters do in time although many of them are scared of the camera when they first come into care :)

I couldn't agree more. We love them! The gang

There can be cranky, dog aggressive Kelpies out there for sure but our three are fine around all dogs they meet. They love going to the dog park, they've all been to obedience and they're used to the endless stream of fosters so accept new dogs in our house. We've been lucky that all our fosters have all been dog-friendly as well. Jerry our foster had some dog-dog issues in the beginning (although he got along with our dogs fine) but we did a lot of work with him and he's doing great right now and meeting new dogs all the time. I asked a lot of questions when they surrendered him to try to find out if he actually had any real problems/issues but it sounded like he was just a normal Kelpie puppy to be honest ... He's totally fine in our house though. Has an off-switch. He's naughty and cheeky - but you'd expect that of a Kelpie pup :) * Dyson at his first Halloween :) Little Dino-Kelpie :) The gang

Happy Halloween! :) Elbie a.k.a. Super Dog! Dodge as an ewok Hoover as a Toronto Blue Jays fan Even the foster dog, Dyson puppy got in on the action :)

Cute puppy At the polling booths on ACT Election Day At obedience class practising his stays His ears are on the rise Being cute in obedience class today

We jumped ship after Black Hawk went downhill. Meals for Mutts has been good for our dogs although we like the kangaroo one. The one with turkey gives them Giant Turds from Hell

The inn is full :)

Our gang with the current foster dog, Dyson the Kelpie puppy

Thanks guys. He gets even cuter. We were babysitting Jerry on the weekend while his owners were interstate for a wedding and so we had this :) Little bit cute He definitely has an offswitch. He was surrendered for being too crazy and energetic but we've found him fine - he totally chillaxes and copies our dogs. After 10 minutes of sit-drop-sitstay and leash/collar desensitisation he's stuffed and crates himself :) He also keeps himself entertained with the toys Sad that his owners didn't want to give him more of a go ...

Thanks all. Dyson's settling in nicely. He's very, very cute. Learning his offswitch while I make dinner Blurry photo but here he is at dinner. Jerry's with us for the long weekend while his owner's at a family wedding interstate

New foster dog arriving this afternoon. Dyson the Kelpie puppy. He's about 16 weeks. Surrendered by his owners because he is too energetic, herds the children, herds the cat and chickens and is very bored.

Former foster Maggie at the Australian Flyball Championships on 17 September 2016. She and her team broke the record again later from 16.949 down to 16.673. The team also broke it again on the Sunday with a 16.651 with a slightly different line up where Maggie was reserve. Former foster Rookie has been a very busy boy this year. He has done a term of Rally-O, is doing well at obedience, tracking and is now starting flyball. Former foster Baxter (updated in August 2012). He's still doing well and his family just had a baby :) Rescue dogs get a really bad rap sometimes and it can be so hard to overcome prejudice and the stigma associated with rescue - so it's really great to see rescue dogs doing rescue proud.