Could you open your home and your heart to provide short term care for a dog or puppies? Fostering dogs or puppies is hard work but is also extremely rewarding. You’ll need to have lots of energy and patience. In most cases you will need a spare room to house the dog or puppies in.There are many reasons why we need to put dogs or puppies into foster homes. These different groups have different care requirements. If you think you can help, please read on to see what we are looking for in a foster home and give us a call to discuss how you might be able to help.

You will need:
• To own your own home or have your landlords permission to foster a dog or puppies
• A fenced area connected to the house where, if they are allowed outside, your foster dog or puppies can exercise and go to the toilet
• A spare room or laundry where you foster dog or puppies can have their own quiet space to sleep in
• To dog/puppy proof your home so electrical cords and valuables can’t get chewed
• Your own transport to bring the dog our puppies to Wellington SPCA for regular vet checks and in case they need emergency veterinary care late at night

Wellington SPCA will provide bedding, food, bowls, a crate or playpen (if needed) toys and veterinary care for the dog our puppies you foster. For medical emergencies between 7pm and 7am we ask you to take the dog our puppy to the After Hours Vet Clinic in Ngauranga Gorge where we will cover the cost of treatment.

Children and fostering. Parents need to think carefully before bringing a foster dog or puppy into the home. Children and dogs should never be left unsupervised so if you have children this will require vigilance on your part. Many people with children contact us wanting to foster so their children can experience living with a dog. Often, when the reality of bringing a foster dog, which may require more work that an adopted dog, sets in the dog is quickly returned to us. This is not good for the dog and can be upsetting to the children. We ask that parents think carefully about their reasons for wanting to foster and how they intend to juggle life with kids and, what can often be, a high needs dog.

Bottle Feeding Fosterers
Wellington SPCA from time to time has litters of puppies that need to be bottle fed. These pups are under four weeks old and will need caring for until they are about 8 to 10 weeks old. It is hugely rewarding watching these little ones grow, but also extremely hard work.

Bottle fed puppies require feeding day and night. New born puppies need feeding two-hourly which means setting an alarm clock to make sure you don’t miss a feed during the night. Once puppies are a couple of weeks old you’ll only need to get up once or twice a night to feed and toilet them, and by the time they are about four weeks old you won’t usually need to get up at all.

When they are very young, puppies also need ‘toileting’ – you’ll need to gently rub their bottoms with a warm damp swab to simulate the mother dog licking them and stimulate them into going to the toilet. We will give you full training in bottle feeding and toileting puppies.

Once puppies can go to the toilet themselves you’ll need to be prepared to do a lot of cleaning! We can provide you with a play pen and plenty of newspaper to keep them contained after feeding when most toileting occurs. Young puppies tend to wet the bed a lot, so we will give you plenty of blankets to use, but you will find you’ll need to do lots of washing.

We are looking for nurturing, patient people who can offer a quiet, stable environment for these orphans until they are old enough to be put up for adoption. You’ll need to be home a lot, especially during the first few weeks so this is no suitable for people working full time. People who don’t work, or work from home are idea fosterers for bottle fed puppies. We will give you the name and phone number of a fostering buddy who has cared for newborn puppies before and can offer you help and advice if you need it.

Under 8 weeks of age puppies
These puppies are old enough to eat by themselves and don’t need help to go to the toilet. We usually foster these pups out in groups of about 4 puppies. You’ll need a warm spare room or laundry to keep them in and plenty of room for them to play. These puppies aren’t fully vaccinated yet so they can’t go outside or be taken to meet other dogs or puppies.

Puppies under 8 weeks need lots of socialisation and handling. You’ll need to be able to spend plenty of time cuddling them and playing with them. We will show you how to start them on toilet and basic obedience training. You will need to make sure you have set up your home so the puppies can’t chew things they shouldn’t and where toileting accidents may occur.

Fostering puppies of this age isn’t suitable for people working full time as they need lots of attention. People who work from home or don’t work are ideal carers for puppies of this age.

Training Fosterers
From time to time we have teenage puppies or dogs that need a break from the animal centre environment and would benefit from living in a home environment. These dogs need a foster home where they will be given lots of love, training and get to experience what a home environment is like. Training fosterers take one dog and concentrate on teaching it good manners for between a month and six months.

Training fosterers will need a good sized area with fences at least 1.5m high. This area should be connected to the house. You’ll need a separate room or space for a crate for the dog to sleep in. An internal access garage may be suitable to house the dog at night. An outside kennel, shed or external garage is not suitable to house these dogs in as they need to spend plenty of time with you, learning to be calm in a home environment.

You’ll also need to be prepared to take your foster dog to training classes and practice positive reinforcement training with them. We’ll need you to be prepared to stick to agreed ‘house rules’ for your foster dog, for example not feeding them off your plate, and not allowing them to sleep in your bed, as this may cause problems for the dog when they are eventually adopted into a permanent home. You’ll need to be able to spend plenty of time with your foster dog so they don’t develop separation anxiety, give them plenty of exercise and opportunities to socialise with other dogs.

Due to most of the dogs in this programme being teenage dogs, we are looking for training fosterers who will only leave the dogs alone for up to 4 hours at a time. For most people working full time this will not be possible, but you may have a solution to this that we can discuss.

Mums with a litter of puppies
Wellington SPCA also needs people with no children or other dogs to care for mums with a litter of puppies. You will need a separate room for them to stay in and be able to give the mum dog gentle exercise and some time away from her pups as they get older. You’ll need a fenced area on your property ideally connected to the house. Fences should be at least 1.5m high. People experienced with dogs or who have cared for a mum with a litter before are ideal for this fostering. You’ll need to be able to let the mum dog out at least every 4 hours during the day.

Medical rehabilitation fostering
Dogs who arrive at Wellington SPCA with an injury or illness may need to be fostered while they recover. Often this may be a dog with a broken leg or similar injury where they need plenty of cage rest and an increasing amount of exercise as prescribed by Wellington SPCA’s vets. You’ll need to follow our vet’s instructions carefully to ensure the dog in your care does not over-do things to ensure the best recovery. You’ll need a fenced area and ideally not have any children which may over stimulate a recovering dog.

Want to know more?
If you think you can offer the right sort of environment and have the time to foster a dog our puppies, please complete our fostering application form and send it in to us. If you have any further questions, please telephone Rochelle on 389 8044 x 221.