This one hurts. We've been fostering a dog named Ginger for the past two weeks. I've always been reluctant to foster dogs because I love dogs so much that it hurts. I love dogs for all the reasons anyone loves dogs, except I'm just a big dope and love them a little extra. Jenna has always wanted to do this and I've always resisted because I knew that I'd get too attached to having an extra dog in the house.
We've done kittens, which is a lot of fun, and I've never had quite that feeling. With kittens, there are always multiples so it always feels like a bit too much to handle in the long-term. Also, they're just babies so they haven't gotten used to any kind of life (only partially true, I realize) and I know that once they go to their adoptive homes, they'll be there for a long time.
But then there's Ginger.
We thought about fostering a dog because our dog, Hachi, gets kind of lonely and he loves cold weather. However, we humans love cold weather a little less than he does, so it seemed like it would be nice for him to have a playmate for a few weeks in the winter. The Cleveland Animal Protective League (APL) had a few dogs on their foster list, including someone named Rufus. Rufus was described as a big, lovable, moose of a dog. 100+ pounds, not very smart, extra loving, doesn't realize how big he is, and every other descriptor of a beautiful big dog. He had also been tied outside at his pervious owner's house and had an embedded collar, which is just really upsetting. I decided I wanted Rufus, if we were going to foster. I knew that there would be about a 10% chance that I'd be willing to give up Rufus after fostering, but I was willing to take that risk.
Not surprisingly, Rufus got snatched up for fostering within about 30 minutes of being available and we were instead offered a weird little dog named Ginger. She was moderately cute and described as generally aloof. Not much else was given about her.
We debated for a day or so, unsure if we really wanted to spend two weeks with a dog that we didn't want to begin with, but we ultimately decided that if she would otherwise be sitting in a cage, let's do a good deed and take care of her.
Turns out, Ginger is awesome.
She spent the whole ride home from the APL on Jenna's lap, whining a little but mostly just snuggling. She proceeded to spend the past 13 days demanding hugs (by half-jumping and putting her front paws on our hips, then leaning into our bodies), playfully nibbling at us, snuggling beside the couch, snuggling on the couch, gently trying to steal chapstick off of the coffee table, pouncing at our feet when she wants to play, open-mouth toothing Hachi when she wants to play with him, not wanting to walk when it's below 25 degrees, and peeing 6 feet from the backdoor then immediately coming back inside so we don't wait in the cold.
She's so cool. She's also incredibly thin, has jacked up legs (her two front legs are about 2 inches apart at her chest, but stand about 6 inches apart at the floor, and her back-right leg seems to have been broken at one point and healed incorrectly. Doesn't appear to bother her, just looks very strange when she walks), and has probably been through some rough times. I want her to be done with rough times.
I want to keep her, but I really don't want another dog. I want to keep her because she (very easily) wormed her way into my heart. I want to keep her because she deserves to be happy somewhere after her last family dropped her off at the shelter when their landlord said "you can only have 1 dog" and they'd had their other dog longer than Ginger. I want to keep her because she's low-maintenance and fits in wonderfully in our little household. I want to keep her because when I come downstairs in the morning and see her standing at the bottom of the steps with her head cocked to one side, it makes me smile. I want to keep her because I can't explain to her that she'll only be at the shelter for a few days and then she'll get a new chance with a new family who will lover her long-term - instead she'll just think she's back at the shelter.
But I really don't want another dog. We love to travel, and when we go places, we drop off Hachi at my parents' house. I don't know that we can drop off a 2nd dog and leave them both there for 10 days at a time. What if she doesn't like it there? Hachi is the most easy-going dog in the world, and Ginger doesn't seem far behind, but it took her a couple of days to get used to our living situation. Imagine getting dropped somewhere else every few months when your new friends (that's us) disappear. We do AirBnB and we do Rover, which both necessitate people and dogs coming into our house. Ginger would probably not do well with that, and I don't want to have 3 dogs milling around our downstairs on a regular basis. That means keeping Ginger would not be a good move from that angle either.
It sucks. I can't handle fostering dogs. They're too good for us. What did we, as a species, ever do to deserve dogs? I would like to purchase a 5-acre homestead and just take all the old dogs from shelters and let them run free together, like an always-open dog park. If anyone has any ideas on how to make that financially solvent, please say so.
Also if anyone has any hugs to spare after I take Ginger back and she goes up for adoption, those would be welcome as well. I miss her already.
We've done kittens, which is a lot of fun, and I've never had quite that feeling. With kittens, there are always multiples so it always feels like a bit too much to handle in the long-term. Also, they're just babies so they haven't gotten used to any kind of life (only partially true, I realize) and I know that once they go to their adoptive homes, they'll be there for a long time.
But then there's Ginger.
We thought about fostering a dog because our dog, Hachi, gets kind of lonely and he loves cold weather. However, we humans love cold weather a little less than he does, so it seemed like it would be nice for him to have a playmate for a few weeks in the winter. The Cleveland Animal Protective League (APL) had a few dogs on their foster list, including someone named Rufus. Rufus was described as a big, lovable, moose of a dog. 100+ pounds, not very smart, extra loving, doesn't realize how big he is, and every other descriptor of a beautiful big dog. He had also been tied outside at his pervious owner's house and had an embedded collar, which is just really upsetting. I decided I wanted Rufus, if we were going to foster. I knew that there would be about a 10% chance that I'd be willing to give up Rufus after fostering, but I was willing to take that risk.
Not surprisingly, Rufus got snatched up for fostering within about 30 minutes of being available and we were instead offered a weird little dog named Ginger. She was moderately cute and described as generally aloof. Not much else was given about her.
We debated for a day or so, unsure if we really wanted to spend two weeks with a dog that we didn't want to begin with, but we ultimately decided that if she would otherwise be sitting in a cage, let's do a good deed and take care of her.
Turns out, Ginger is awesome.
She spent the whole ride home from the APL on Jenna's lap, whining a little but mostly just snuggling. She proceeded to spend the past 13 days demanding hugs (by half-jumping and putting her front paws on our hips, then leaning into our bodies), playfully nibbling at us, snuggling beside the couch, snuggling on the couch, gently trying to steal chapstick off of the coffee table, pouncing at our feet when she wants to play, open-mouth toothing Hachi when she wants to play with him, not wanting to walk when it's below 25 degrees, and peeing 6 feet from the backdoor then immediately coming back inside so we don't wait in the cold.
She's so cool. She's also incredibly thin, has jacked up legs (her two front legs are about 2 inches apart at her chest, but stand about 6 inches apart at the floor, and her back-right leg seems to have been broken at one point and healed incorrectly. Doesn't appear to bother her, just looks very strange when she walks), and has probably been through some rough times. I want her to be done with rough times.
I want to keep her, but I really don't want another dog. I want to keep her because she (very easily) wormed her way into my heart. I want to keep her because she deserves to be happy somewhere after her last family dropped her off at the shelter when their landlord said "you can only have 1 dog" and they'd had their other dog longer than Ginger. I want to keep her because she's low-maintenance and fits in wonderfully in our little household. I want to keep her because when I come downstairs in the morning and see her standing at the bottom of the steps with her head cocked to one side, it makes me smile. I want to keep her because I can't explain to her that she'll only be at the shelter for a few days and then she'll get a new chance with a new family who will lover her long-term - instead she'll just think she's back at the shelter.
But I really don't want another dog. We love to travel, and when we go places, we drop off Hachi at my parents' house. I don't know that we can drop off a 2nd dog and leave them both there for 10 days at a time. What if she doesn't like it there? Hachi is the most easy-going dog in the world, and Ginger doesn't seem far behind, but it took her a couple of days to get used to our living situation. Imagine getting dropped somewhere else every few months when your new friends (that's us) disappear. We do AirBnB and we do Rover, which both necessitate people and dogs coming into our house. Ginger would probably not do well with that, and I don't want to have 3 dogs milling around our downstairs on a regular basis. That means keeping Ginger would not be a good move from that angle either.
It sucks. I can't handle fostering dogs. They're too good for us. What did we, as a species, ever do to deserve dogs? I would like to purchase a 5-acre homestead and just take all the old dogs from shelters and let them run free together, like an always-open dog park. If anyone has any ideas on how to make that financially solvent, please say so.
Also if anyone has any hugs to spare after I take Ginger back and she goes up for adoption, those would be welcome as well. I miss her already.
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