West Lothian Courier

Foster a homeless Staffie

Charity appeals for help

- Debbie Hall

Kind- hearted dog lovers are needed to provide foster homes for two Staffordsh­ire terrier dogs.

Zeus and Ha r r y need a loving home and volunteers from Staffordsh­ire Rescue Scotland are looking for people to come forward to help not only these dogs, but hundreds of others like them.

Lisa Duncan, from the charity, said: “Fosters can come in all shapes and sizes and there are no hard and fast rules to what makes a good foster home but here are just a few of things that we look for in a foster home.”

Lisa said one of the biggest factors is the home needs to be pet free, it can be a lot easier for a dog to transition into a foster home if it comes without the stress of introducti­ons with existing pets.

The charity won’t say no to foster homes with pets but will only place a dog that is used to living with animals in that situation. It is great to have children be part of the fostering process, even little ones can help with a foster dogs journey, but again volunteers will only place a dog with children if it’s used to living with children and has been shown to have no issues with children.

Gardens aren’t vital in a foster home, however if volunteers feel it’s critical to working on a certain problem, like toilet training, then they might only place a dog that wouldn’t miss a garden as much. Any garden must be fully secure and will be fully checked as part of the homecheck.

Fosters are also able to work, and the rescue will provide support with dog walking in this instance. Volunteers would only place a dog in a working home who ha s n ’ t displayed any issues with being left alone, such as chewing or excessive barking

Lisa continued: “We offer full behavioura­l support where needed and a foster liaison officer from the rescue to work with all of our foster owners so we welcome all levels of experience­s

“Making the decision to foster is a difficult one and we often get asked how fosters are able to give dogs up when they are adopted. For the most part the answer is that they know they will be able to help more than one dog by being a foster and that helps them move a dog onto their forever home.

“We cover all expenses for foster homes including food, vet bills, beds, leads and toys.”

For more informatio­n about the charity and becoming a foster carer www.staffordsh­ire rescuescot­land.org.uk.

Fosters can come in all shapes and sizes

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