Sharon Gesser
Mar 14, 2020
Today's Guest Blogger is Marissa Craddock (age 13 ), daughter Lyn and Lonnie Craddock. This amazing family has fostered more than 400 dogs! Talk about making a difference...
I love fostering dogs, especially when we get a pregnant momma dog. They come to our house chubby and ready to burst. Almost every time, a few days or sometimes hours of being in our care the momma dog feels safe, comfortable and relaxed, then gives birth to her puppies! Its the best when the momma dog trusts you and likes you because then she lets you pick up her puppies and love on them.
I love going to the Peak Lab events at local bars and wineries there are so many dogs and you can bring your own dogs to socialize or to just have fun. Usually there are mostly fosters but sometimes we bring our dog Rocco and he loves the attention. The best part about the adoption events is being a part of Peak Labs foster family.
I love Peak Lab because they help so many dogs from ones in a bad situation at their home to ones who have been abandoned on the side of a road they take anything that remotely looks like or has lab in it. Sometimes we have dogs that are aggressive and we need to put them in their place by telling them No and teaching them that everything is okay, usually they are aggressive because their previous homes or out of stress. We have lots of shy dogs that are scared of literally everything but if they start to trust a person they come out of their shell. To get them out of their shell we get them used to noises like the TV or vacuum.
I like when we get older shy dogs because they come out of their shell a bit easier they get used to people and all they really do is play a bit, eat, poop, and sleep! It's great to have a dog that will get up on the couch or bed with you and snuggle, especially if you had a bad day.
When you foster dogs you can have dogs of your own but they have to be used to other dogs and like other dogs. If you fall in love with a foster and you adopt it you can’t foster for quite some time. When we adopted Rocco from Peak Lab Rescue we did not foster for about 8 months and our other dog Raven who we adopted out of a OBX shelter, she gets lonely if there are no fosters to play with. It’s good to have other (gentle) dogs in your house so your foster gets acclimated with other dogs so when someone adopts them they are all ready to go if they have another dog at home.
Whelp, Fostering is definitely PAWTASTIC!