Hi all,

We currently foster for two rescues (Irish Retriever Rescue and Dalmatian Welfare, both of whom we've fostered for for 2 years now) and would like to potentially offer our services to ESS Rescue too.

We live near Amersham in Bucks and have two very young children, both of whom are obviously used to dogs, age 1 and 3. We also have two cats who are used to dogs. I work from home so am around all the time other than the occasional trip to the supermarket/ballet class/Tumble Tots or similar (oooh my life is so glamorous! ). We live in a medium sized house with an enclosed garden at the end of a cul de sac in a tiny village.

We don't yet have a dog of our own as we want to wait a while until the children are older, perhaps next year we might take the plunge when our son is a bit more steady on his feet and our daughter is at school so I have more time for training. But for now we get our doggy fix by fostering and love doing it, it gives us the benefits without the long term responsibility! We've fostered all sorts from very young puppies (my personal favourite type of doggy visitor despite all the hard work!) to very old dogs.

My hubby has always been very keen on springers and we've read up on the breed and discovered that they would suit our lifestyle so a springer is another option for when we get our own dog. Hence we'd like to offer to foster a few, to help out but also to get some springer experience so we will know if they are the right dog for us or not!

I'm not sure if you need any more foster homes, or if you do if you would consider one with young children and no experience of the breed, but if we can help out at all then do let me know.

ESSW always need foster homes, if you could PM me your email address I'll send you an application to Help pack.
Also I know The Oldies Club are always looking for foster homes as well, if you want to contact them as well I'll happily pass on there details.

What a lovely post.

You sound a super family, ideal for any dog. But you do realise springers are very very special

Does anyone want to start a sweepstake on how long it will take for dogsandchildren to become part of the FF club?

I'm assuming the FF Club is 'Failed Fosterers'?!? I think I can say without hesitation that one day, we will definitely fail!! A possibility we have already talked about and are prepared for, I'm sure there will be one we just won't be able to let go of at some point. And you never know, if springers are as special and addictive as they sound from on here, it could well be a springer joining our family one day!

Thanks Selina, have pm'ed you.

There are plenty member on here , what a lovely offer of help, thank you and welcome to ST

Thank you for the welcome. Application form to become a foster home has now been filled in and sent so hopefully not too long until we have our first springy visitor!

Just poking my nose in......quick question..... do you find fostering fulfilling????

I currently am owned by a lovely little girl called Sophie and we (I!!) would really love another, but as OH got made redundant at then end of January and doesn't start his new job until April my dreams are a long way off.

I would love to help other people by fostering and would appreciate any feedback













Thank you xx

Wow, how gorgeous is Sophie?! A beautiful girl.

We love fostering, the past couple of years have not been the right time for us to have a dog of our own as we had a baby (our daughter, now 3.5 years old - we started fostering when she was just under a year) and knew we'd want another fairly soon so I was going to be pregnant and then have a newborn again. But I was desperately missing having a doggy friend around, both my hubby and I were brought up with dogs and just love them, so we decided to look into fostering. It has been great as we've just been able to say no at times that don't suit i.e. when I was heavily pregnant or when our son was first born but we've had some super dogs. We've only had one that has been unsuitable in that time, both of the rescues we foster for are very good at only giving us dogs that they are almost certain will be good with our children - I say 'almost' as no rescue can be 100% sure of what a dog will be like in a new situation I think so I just monitor things very carefully and never leave them alone.

It can be very hard saying goodbye to a dog that has been with us for a couple of weeks and that we've all got attached to, but the reward of knowing that they're going to a great new home goes some way to compensating for that. I've been lucky enough to do most of the homechecks for the dogs we've fostered as they've all been within an hour or so of us (and I always do it if I can just so that I know exactly where they're going to and can be 100% sure it's right for them!) which I think helps as I can visualise them in their new homes. The only other negative I can think of are that foster dogs are inevitably more hard work than your own (they often have no training and are not toilet trained etc) - and you don't get to train them and reap the rewards as somebody else gets them just as you start making progress usually!!

And I also get personal satisfaction from helping other families with young children get a dog that has been with our two and that we know is great with kids - a lot of rescues won't rehome with children under a certain age and some of the people that our dogs have gone too have been searching for a rescue dog suitable for children for months so that's great too.

We've also had a couple of dogs that have been very timid and it's been lovely bringing them out of their shells and helping them regain some confidence, very rewarding. Another benefit has been that our children are very confident around dogs - so many of my daughters friends are really nervous of them but we usually have to remind her that she has to ask the owner if she can stroke him/her as she's so keen to stroke and say hello! That's something that I think is great and that's purely because of the lovely foster dogs we've had.

Put simply, I highly recommend fostering! Just be prepared to have a bit of a tug at the heartstrings when you say goodbye but remember how important your work has been and how much you've helped that dog go to their lovely new forever home.

Phew, that turned into a bit of an essay! But I hope it has helped, do pm me with any other questions.

Thank you for that honey it has given me a lot to think about and talk to Andy about.

Sorry I don't know your name - but join us in the "bar" for a quick drink xxx

It's Lucy - and maybe I will! I've been holding off posting anywhere else until we're an approved springer foster home as I feel a bit of a fraud at the mo with no springer or even springer experience! Was going to post an intro once we've had a homecheck and are an official foster home.

Hope you manage to convince Andy - sure you'll find a way, us women are very convincing!

You only have to love springers to be on here!!!






And yes I'm sure I'll convince Andy - us women have special powers....

Well they look and sound perfect for us so I guess that counts!

And yes, we do............my husband might say manipulative but I say persuasive!!

Right, off to bed now as I have a little boy that will want to be up by 6am at the la-*test*-('") (groan!) but pm me if you have any other questions about fostering.

Thanks babe, will do.


Also have a lil man that will be up by 6.30 but am very used to it!!!!!

Hi Lucy

Im another Lucy also with 2 young kids (Grace 3yrs and Georgia 7mths) Im from Chesham and actually used to work at lexham gardens dental practice in amersham ! Now live in cheddington by tring although all our family are still in chesham.

I would love to foster but we already have murphy and are hoping to get another dog - a springer. we are just being homecheck for Pippa one of NESSR's dogs.

Well done for fostering and proving young kids and dogs can mix ! PM me if you fancy meeting up for a dog walk sometime !

take care

Lucy