Fostering dogs reignites a passion for painting
Jo has looked after almost 100
A MOTHER-OF-TWO, from wiltshire, has taken care of almost 100 dogs — large, small, young and old — as part of Dogs Trust’s Home from Home foster scheme. Jo Heather is one of more than 500 foster carers across the country who care for a dog temporarily in their own home, while Dogs Trust looks for their forever home.
The 56-year-old fostered her first pup in 2017, after becoming involved with the charity because of her daughters’ love of dogs, and she hasn’t looked back since. Jo says: ‘when Emeline and Chloe were younger, they were always talking about dogs. Our local rehoming centre is a short drive away, so we used to pop in with little donations of blankets or dog biscuits — things like that. One day I noticed a poster looking for fosterers and that’s where it started. I never imagined we’d end up fostering as many as we have.’ Becoming a fosterer has also reignited Jo’s love of painting.
She adds: ‘I started thinking: I’ve got a little bit of time here — the dogs are happily sleeping so I can sketch them and paint away, and that’s how it happened really.
‘I don’t know how many I have now painted. Dozens anyway. I’ve gifted many of them to the new owners as a good luck present.’
This year, the need for foster carers like Jo has never been greater, with Dogs Trust receiving more than 45,000 handover calls last year from owners. Home from Home is one of two foster schemes run by the charity, with volunteers caring for a dog for as little as a few days, to several weeks.
The charity also runs a very unique fostering scheme for dog owners escaping domestic abuse. All costs for fosterers on the Home from Home scheme are covered by Dogs Trust, thanks to the support of players of People’s Postcode Lottery, who to date have raised more than £20.6million for the charity.