THINKING OF FOSTERING?

Foster families are the true lifeline of our rescue.  We do not have a central location to board dogs so the more available foster homes that we have, the more dogs we can save from the gas chamber.  

As a foster parent, you will provide temporary housing, food, love, training and care for one or a few dog(s) while they await their forever home with a new family.

If you're interested in helping us save lives, please review our Foster Guidelines and our Foster Contract in the documents below and then fill out a foster application and we will get back to you asap. 

When applying, please keep in mind that we have no control over the fate of these animals until they are physically in our care.  If you apply to foster a specific dog, there is a chance that when we send a volunteer to the shelter to rescue him/her, the dog may be unavailable due to being adopted locally, saved by another rescue or (sadly) the dog may have already been gassed to death....this typically is not the case but on occassion it does happen so your patience is greatly appreciated. 

Before applying, please keep in mind that we operate out of Harleysville, PA so as a foster parent you must be comfortable bringing your foster dog to vet visits, showing him/her at meet and greets, picking the dog up from transport, bringing the dog to training classes, etc -- all of which take place in the Harleysville area. (The exception to this is someone who lives in the City of Philadephia and does not drive - we have many volunteers within the city who can help you with transporting your foster dog to vet visits and meet and greets, etc so please do not be afraid to foster if you live in the city and/or don't have access to a car.)

PLEASE NOTE:  FOSTERING A DOG IS NOT LIKE PET SITTING FOR YOUR NEIGHBOR.  IT IS A BIG RESPONSIBILITY AND REQUIRES WORK -- HOUSEBREAKING, TRAINING, VISITS TO VET APPOINTMENTS, BATHS, ETC.  WE REQUIRE YOU TO TREAT YOUR FOSTER DOG LIKE AN ADOPTIVE DOG -- YOU SHOULDN'T CALL US TO RELINQUISH THE ANIMAL AT THE FIRST SIGN OF SOMETHING YOU DISLIKE.  IF YOU CONTACT US TO PULL A DOG, YOU WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DOG UNTIL THE DOG IS ADOPTED - OUR ORGANIZATION IS STAFFED BY VOLUNTEERS WHO EACH HAVE THEIR OWN DOGS AND THEIR OWN FOSTERS IN THEIR HOMES - IN ORDER TO SAVE AS MANY DOGS AS POSSIBLE, WE DO NOT HAVE ANY EXTRA SPACE IN OUR NETWORK SO WE CANNOT TAKE A DOG BACK INTO OUR CARE BECAUSE YOU THINK THEY ARE TOO HYPER OR BECAUSE THEY ARE CHEWING OR BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT HOUSEBROKEN OR BECAUSE YOU THINK THEY BARK TOO MUCH - YOU WILL HAVE TO EXERCISE THE DOG MORE, TEACH IT TO ELIMINATE OUTSIDE, GIVE IT CHEW TOYS AND/OR KEEP THE ANIMAL SEPARATE FROM YOUR KIDS/DOGS.  WE ARE WILLING TO WORK WITH YOU ON RESOLVING ANY ISSUES YOUR FOSTER DOG MAY HAVE AND IF NECESSARY WE WILL HIRE A PROFESSIONAL TO ASSIST YOU BUT WE DO NOT HAVE A KENNEL OR CENTRAL LOCATION SO WE CANNOT TAKE A DOG BACK IF YOU ARE SIMPLY NOT HAPPY WITH HIS/HER PERSONALITY.  PLEASE CONSIDER THAT BEFORE COMMITTING.

All dogs will be up to date on vaccinations and heartworm tested before you pick them up.  Sometimes dogs will be spayed/neutered before coming to you but sometimes a vet appointment isn't available ahead of time - in that case, it will be the foster parent's responsibility to bring the dog to a vet in the Harleysville area for the surgery (we pay for it) and to pick him/her up the following day.   PLEASE NOTE that we temperament test dogs to ensure they are not aggressive but we do not have a lot of further information about Urgent Dogs other than what is listed since they are not yet in our care.  When we ask someone to foster, we are asking them to be a rescuer for the dog - fostering is about the dog you are saving - it's not about getting a fuzzy puppy for your kids to play with or a playmate for your current dog.  Foster parents should commit to helping a dog and understand that it is very fun but sometimes there are bumps in the road - a foster parent takes a dog in and learns about their personality, quirks, skills, etc so that the adoptive family will know these things in advance before providing a forever home. It is a challenging but VERY rewarding experience.  To learn more about how rewarding the experience can be, please read the story entitled “My Foster Dog” by clicking here.

Below we have attached the Foster Care Application in both a Microsoft Word and PDF format--both documents are identical.  If you are not operating with the most recent version of Microsoft Office, the formatting on the Word file may appear strange--if that's the case, we suggest printing the PDF file, filling it out by hand and then scanning it and emailing it back to us. If you cannot access the application just email us and we will send you an email where you can fill in the blanks.  Thank you!

IMPORTANT: Please review the above Foster Contract and be sure that you can comply with all terms and conditions of the contract before committing to foster a dog - we require all foster parents to sign a copy of the contract before we place a dog in their care.