My journey of fostering a dog

I've been fostering animals for the past few months, and it gave me the most rewarding moments of my life. I'm not going to lie: it was not easy at all, I laughed, cried and felt emotions I've never felt before. This is my story of how I met Roxy.

Roxy's story

When I first saw Roxy, I was scared. I've had failed attempts of fostering, which made me terrified of the possibilities. What if Roxy got sick? What if she can't cope with the loss of her mother? The workers told me she was found on the street with her siblings, the mother nowhere to be seen. Roxy was the smallest puppy in the litter, she was being bullied a lot by her siblings; they were nipping on her or pushing her. That's when I told myself: "I'm going to make sure she's going to have the best month of her life" When we took her in the box, she was moving around a lot and ended up feeling tired after so she fell asleep for most of the ride.

We weren't very prepared, especially since its hard to go out ever since lockdown. So we made do with what we had. We made a tiny bed for Roxy out of a box and blankets, and added some stuff toys as well. Roxy was a very loud sleeper and snored a lot despite her small size, she would also need someone to be holding her or to be beside her while she sleeps.

Because I live in an apartment, I had to ensure the balcony was always closed and all the grill doors had a net over it, this was to make sure Roxy was safe at all times. There were times where she would get curious to see what's near the balcony, but she understood that we kept it closed for a reason.

Roxy was an extremely hyperactive dog, and would get anxious at times. We would often put calming sleeping music meant for dogs which would knock her out instantly. If it fails, we try to distract her with toys, or let her watch videos which were mainly just videos of other animals. She was somehow still very fascinated by it.

I would say the hardest thing about fostering a dog would be letting go. Me and my mom grew attached to her, which was really hard for us to accept that we would have to let her back to the shelter. But in the end, we knew it was for the best and that someone would adopt her for good. As someone who can't adopt an animal permanently, fostering is a great alternative and it has allowed to me to help more strays through this experience.