When you decide to foster you are helping save a life, giving a second chance, and a new beginning.
Wendal’s Way provides all medical care, food and anything else needed for the health and well-being of the dog. We make every effort to match you with a dog according to your lifestyle, and experience with any special needs.
Fostering is not always easy. Rescue dogs come from many different situations, but you have the power to help transform a life!
Sometimes dogs come into care who, for one reason or another, are not adoptable. This could be due to chronic or terminal illness or behavioural reasons. Part of what we do at Wendal’s Way is to provide those dogs a safe haven for the rest of their lives. We have a group of very special foster homes who specialize in looking after these little souls, providing them a loving home for the rest of their lives no matter how long or short that will be. These permanent foster families provide palliative care for dogs with chronic issues, and hospice care when end of life is imminent.
Palliative Care is about relieving or soothing the symptoms of a disease at any stage of illness. Direct medical care is given to address the illness. This care can last months to years.
Palliative care can mean many different things. Small things such as raising bowls to elbow height which can minimize back pain, soft and easily cleaned bedding, or ramps to help them to their favorite places.
Palliative care involves controlling pain and symptoms, maintaining mobility and living life to the fullest. Wendal is a perfect example of palliative care at its best.
Read Wendal’s story here.
When a dog is approaching the end of their life and the care they have received as a palliative foster is no longer effective, the dog moves to the hospice stage of care. Medications are now used to provide comfort and minimize symptoms, not to treat or cure. It is about transitioning from treating the disease, to making their remaining life as comfortable as possible.
Hospice care is usually of short duration and focuses on the immediate – providing day-to-day happiness, comfort and quality of life. It takes the focus away from trying to cure when it is no longer an option and shifts it towards focusing on enjoying the time remaining.
Life in Hospice or Palliative Care is not about “lasts”. It is about “firsts” and making their lives as positive and comfortable as possible, for as long as we can. And when that is no longer possible, it is about being able to send them on their way, to let them go, surrounded by peace and love.
Above, all, it is a commitment not just to the rescue, but to the dog itself. You can take in a dog, at what is usually the lowest point in its life, when it’s at its sickest, most scared and confused, often grieving its former family. You see the worst behaviours, and bodies wracked with pain. The first days can be so difficult. Yet because you are the person you are, you become the soft place for it to land, and give it the space to heal in body and mind. And then, just when it has moved through all this, and has become the best dog it can be, whether it takes a week, a month, or sometimes a year, you let it move on to its forever home. Fostering is not for the faint of heart; it takes a very special person to become, essentially, a rehabilitator. But it is absolutely, the most rewarding thing you can do as a WWDR volunteer.
They are here for a variety of reasons: the victims of abuse or poor training leading to behavioural issues, hoarding cases or puppy mill rejects, health issues bigger than their owners can cope with, people whose life circumstances are changing and don’t include their dog, or perhaps the death or relocation of their senior owner. These dogs need our help to become well, or properly socialized, house trained and ready for their forever homes. Each one is its own little story with its own little requirements. WWDR does its very best to match a foster dog with a foster family that is equipped to meet the specific needs of the dog. While we try to find out as much as possible about the dogs surrendered to us, sometimes it isn’t possible. So, part of a Foster’s job is also to assess the dog when it first arrives at WWDR, as it moves through the rehabilitation process, and then to help with the selection of the perfect forever home. This means taking it to vet appointments and providing the medical care required, or perhaps working with a trainer or animal behaviourist to work through challenges. Just as you’d do with your own dog. And of course, all of this is paid for by WWDR.
To get started, please fill out the attached Foster application form. This form outlines your current living situation, family members (including pets) and the types of challenges you are willing to take on with a foster dog. We want you to be honest with what you are and are not willing or able to deal with. We need the fit to be as good as possible for both you and the dog so that you both have the best possible rehab experience. If a dog with a bite history, or who needs extensive nursing care, isn’t a good candidate for you, that’s fine. There will always be others coming into care that are a better fit. We’ll also need vet and personal references, and as a final step, an WWDR volunteer will do a home visit to meet you, your family and current pets.
Then, once approved, you can begin what is probably the most important job in rescue!
