I looked at the caged animals in the shelter...the cast-offs of human society. I saw in their eyes love and hope, fear and dread, sadness and betrayal. And I was angry. "God," I said, "this is terrible! Why don't you do something?" God was silent for a moment and then He spoke softly. "I have done something," he replied, "I created you."  ~Jim Willis 1999

Foster Homes URGENTLY Needed

Purebred Labs and Lab mixes die every day in shelters across the Midwest. Please help us help them by opening your heart and home to a foster dog. Love of Labs will provide for the veterinary care for your foster dog and all necessary supplies, including a crate. All we need from you is dog food and a loving home! You’ll never have a more rewarding feeling than truly saving the life of a beautiful companion.  At Love of Labs we get urgent messages from shelters every week with photographs and pleas to save dogs scheduled for euthanasia. Our ability to help these dogs is limited by the number of foster homes we have. Every new foster home allows us to say yes to one more dog.

Please will you help us help them?

If you have questions, please click on Foster Information. Then, please fill out our Online Fostering Application to begin the fostering process. If you prefer, you can download a PDF version of our application here. You can also write us at foster@lolin.org for a foster application.  ~

Our foster homes are approved using the same process as our adoptive homes.  We ask you to provide vet and personal references so that we can confirm that your pets are up to date with their vaccinations and spayed or neutered. This is critical for fostering for LOLIN for a few reasons.  First, it is our mission to education the public as to the importance of spaying and neutering and maintaining routine veterinary care (including heartworm prevention) for your pets.  All too often the family pet is surrendered to the shelter because they contracted heartworm and the family does not want to pay for the expensive treatment.  Second, foster dogs coming directly to your home from the shelter are usually stressed and have only recently had their vaccinations.  In order to prevent the dogs in our foster homes from making our shelter dogs ill, or the other way around, we require all dogs in a foster home to be up to date with rabies, distemper, and Bordetella (kennel cough) vaccines.  Having your dogs spayed or neutered is also required, as many of the dogs who come from the shelter are not altered when they first arrive at your home.  LOLIN pays for them to be spayed or neutered as soon a vet appointment can be scheduled.

We’ll also conduct a home visit to see where your foster dog will be living and to give you a chance to ask questions and get advice from an experienced volunteer.  All of our home visit volunteers have adopted or fostered LOLIN dogs and can let you know what to expect.

Once you are approved (this usually takes a week to two weeks depending on your availability to schedule a home visit), you will work with one of LOLIN’s two foster coordinators to rescue your first foster dog.  The coordinators will take into account your personal situation and work to match appropriate dogs on our waiting list to your circumstances.  Our coordinators are both experienced fosters who are always available to answer questions, make suggestions, and provide assistance.  Rescue is a group effort, and your contributions are supported by a team of volunteers and coordinators who are here to make your job easier.

A few things to consider when fostering:

Yes, it can be hard to give up your foster dogs, especially after you have them for a while!  But, you get to be part of their life forever after, should you desire to be.  As the foster, you have the right to call the new forever home to inquire how the dog is doing &/or even visit the dog.  Almost all of us that foster for LOLIN have continual contact with the forever guardians and the former LOLIN dogs.  And you can always dog sit!  It is amazing to see the scared, skinny dog you have taken from a shelter turn into a beautiful happy family pet in their forever home.

The new families are always proud to show us how wonderful their "babies" are doing, plus they never hesitate to call us if they need anything either. You see, fostering is very rewarding!!!!

Sure, your foster dogs take a piece of your heart with them when they leave, and I swear, they never forget you!!  The sadness of letting one go is quickly replaced by the rewarding feeling of bringing the next foster into your home.  Knowing that without your efforts the dogs you foster would have been euthanized is a powerful motivator to get one adopted so you can move on to saving the next dog!  Your heart is always large enough to share with the next foster that comes into your home truly needing that love.

We are often asked how long you’ll have a foster dog in your home.  There isn’t a good answer to that question, as each dog is different, however you should plan on having a foster dog for 6-8 weeks.  Some dogs go very quickly and dogs who are older, require medical care, or who have physical or behavior issues we are working on may stay longer, but you will always be aware of a dog’s special circumstances before you commit to fostering.

Short term fostering is also an option.  From time to time we need a place for a dog to stay overnight during a transport.  If a regular foster takes a vacation we’ll need someone to step in and care for their foster dog for a week or two.  We also use short term fosters to allow dogs coming from shelters to recover from spay and neuter surgery before going on to one of our doggie daycares.

WHAT FOSTERING IS

WHAT Fostering is NOT

Common Problems with Foster Dogs and Remedies

A POEM TO MY FOSTER DOG

BY Diane Morgan

I am the bridge,
Between what was and what can be.
I am the pathway to a new life.
I am made of mush,
Because my heart melted when I saw you,
Matted and sore, limping, depressed
Lonely, unwanted, afraid to love.
For one little time you are mine.
I will feed you with my own hand.
I will love you with my whole heart.
I will make you whole.
I am made of steel.
Because when the time comes,
When you are well, and sleek,
when your eyes shine,
And your tail wags with joy
Then comes the hard part.
I will let you go-not without a tear,
But without a regret.
For you are safe forever--
A new dog needs me now

Little Pieces
by Grace Saalsaa (Written for those who foster)

Melissa sat on the floor, unable to sit straight and tall like her mother had always admonished her to do when she was a child. Today, it would be impossible. And tomorrow... it probably wouldn't be possible then either. Her mind was too busy thinking about the dog that lay across her lap.

When he came to be with her, he had no name. She remembered that day very well. The first sight of him was enough to break her heart into little pieces.

The woman, who had taken this dog from the rough streets where he had lived, had tried to save him because she was unable to watch this young dog find his own food in a dumpster outside the crack house where he lived. Nobody cared that he was gone.

His fur was very thick; so thick that she had to wiggle her fingers down to feel his bony body. And as she pulled her fingers away again, they were coated in old dirt. Black and white, he was supposed to be. But on that day he was beige and dust.

He sat in the back of her car panting continuously, ears laid outward for he had lost his courage and couldn't keep them proud and tall. He sat motionless, waiting and limp.

But the thing that was the most disturbing was the look in his eyes. They were quiet eyes, sunken into his head - and they watched her. They were alive with thought. He was waiting for her to do something "to" him.

Little did he know at the time that, instead, she would "give" something to him. She gave him one of the little broken pieces of her heart.

She reached out to stroke his head and he instinctively squinched his eyes shut and dropped his head, waiting for the heavy hand. With that little bit of movement she gave him another one of the broken pieces of her heart.

She took him home and gave him a bath. She toweled him dry and brushed some order back into his coat. For that, he was grateful and even though his own heart was loaded with worms, he accepted yet another piece of her heart, for it would help to heal his own.

"Would you like some water, big boy?" She whispered to him as she set down a large bowl of cold well water. He drank it up happily. He had been dehydrated for a long time and she knew it would take him most of the week to re-hydrate.

He wanted more water - but it was gone. Ah... that's how it is, he thought to himself. But he was grateful for what he had been able to get. "Would you like some more?" and she gave him another bowl along with another little piece of her heart.

"I know that you are hungry. You don't have to find your own food anymore. Here's a big bowl of good food for you. I've added some warm water and a little piece of my heart."

Over the four months that he stayed with her, his health improved. The heart full of worms was replaced piece by piece with little bits of her loving heart. And each little piece worked a very special kind of magic.

When the warmth of love and gentle caresses are added, the little broken pieces knit together again and heal the container it resides in. That container becomes whole again.

She watched each little broken piece fill a gap in the gentle dog until his quiet eyes radiated the light from the little pieces. You see, kind words gently spoken turn the little pieces into illumination for the spirit that resides within.

He rested beside her, happy to be with her always. Never had he known such kindness, such gentle caresses; such love. His health had returned, his spirit was playful as a young dog's should be and he had learned about love.

Now his heart was full. The healing was complete. It was time to go. There was another person who had another heart that was meant to be shared with him.

So she sat shapeless on the floor because all the broken pieces of her heart were with the dog. It is difficult to sit tall when your heart is not with you. She wrapped her arms around the dog that sat with tall, proud ears for her. Lean on me, he said.

And she gave him one last thing that would keep him strong; that would keep the pieces of her heart together long after he had gone on to live his new life. She gave him her tears and bound them to the pieces with a simple statement made from the ribbons of her heart.

"I love you, Joe."

And Joe lived happily ever after.

Melissa sat on the floor, straight and tall like her mother had always admonished her to do when she was a child. Today, it would be possible. And tomorrow... it probably would be possible too. Because her mind was busy thinking about this, the next dog that lay across her lap.

Where did she get the heart to help yet another dog, you ask?

Ahhh... it came with the dog. They always bring a little bit of heart with them. And when the rescuer breathes in that little bit of heart, it quickly grows and fills the void left by the last dog.

My Foster Dog
by Unknown Author

My foster dog stinks to high heaven.
I don't know for sure what breed he is.
His eyes are blank and hard.
He won't let me pet him and growls when I reach for him.

He has ragged scars and crusty sores on his skin.
His nails are long and his teeth, which he showed me, are stained. I sigh.
I drove two hours for this.

I carefully maneuver him so that I can stuff him in the crate. Then I heft
the crate and put it in the car. I am going home with my new foster dog.

At home I leave him in the crate till all the other dogs are in the yard. I
get him out of the crate and ask him if he wants "outside." As I lead him to
the door he hikes his leg on the wall and shows me his stained teeth again.

When we come in, he goes to the crate because that's the only safe place he
sees. I offer him food but he won't eat it if I look at him, so I turn my
back. When I come back, the food is gone.

I ask again about "outside." When we come back, I pat him before I let
him in the crate; he jerks away and runs into the crate to show me his
teeth.

The next day I decide I can't stand the stink any longer.
I lead him into the bath with cheese in my hands. His fear of me is not
quite overcome by his longing for the cheese.
His nails are long and his teeth, which he showed me, are stained. I sigh.
I drove two hours for this. 

After an attempt or two to bail out he is defeated and stands there. I
have bathed four legged bath squirters for more years than he has been
alive. His only defense was a show of his stained teeth, that did not hold
up to a face full of water.

As I wash him, it is almost as if I wash not only the stink and dirt away
but also some of the hardness. His eyes look full of sadness now. And he
looks completely pitiful as only a soap covered dog can.

I tell him that he will! feel better when he is cleaned. After the soap,
the towels are not too bad, so he lets me rub him dry.

I take him outside. He runs for joy . . . the joy of not being in the tub
and the joy of being clean.

I, the bath giver, am allowed to share the joy. He comes to me and lets me
pet him.
One week later I have a vet bill. His skin is healing. He likes for me to
pet him ( I think). I know what color he will be when his hair grows in.

I have found out he is terrified of other dogs, so I carefully introduce
him to my mildest four legged brat. It doesn't go well.

Two weeks later a new vet bill for an infection, that was missed on the
first visit. He plays with the other dogs.

Three weeks later his coat shines, he has gained weight.
He shows his clean teeth when his tongue lolls out
after he plays chase in the yard with the gang.

His eyes are soft and filled with life. He loves hugs and likes to show
off his tricks, if you have the cheese.

Someone called today and asked about him. They saw the picture I took the
first week. They asked about his personality, his history, his breed. They
asked if he was pretty. I asked them lots of questions.

I checked up on them.
I prayed.
I said yes.

When they saw him the first time they said he was the most beautiful dog
they had ever seen.

Six months later, I got a call from his new family.
He is wonderful, smart, well behaved, and very loving.

How could someone not want him?
I told them I didn't know.
He is beautiful.
They all are. 

foster@lolin.org

Please don't breed or buy, while shelter animals die.