Foster Problems?! Anyone?!
So I had my first Corgi mix foster come into our home on Monday. She is super sweet, TINY, and really timid and quite. However, I'm starting to get concerned with the way my female Corgi, Carly, is starting to act. Truthfully I was a bit concerned about how she might react because even though I LOVE her guts, she is a bit neurotic. :)
The first day she was great and would sniff the new recruit and then go about her business. However the next morning I started noticing her acting a bit weird. If I would give the new dog attention she would sit across the room away from us and stair. She doesn't do that when I love on Finn, my other male six month old Corgi.
Then when I came home from work at lunch time to let everyone out Carly had had a major diarrhea blow out in her crate. I cleaned and disinfected her and the crate but the problem persisted all day yesterday. Luckily I was home and she asked quite clearly to go out. I can't figure out if she just was having stomach upset, happens sometimes, or if it is a sign that she is stressed out with the change to her routine.
I also have noticed that she has been much more aggressive toward the newbie. For instance the new girl does a happy dance whenever people walk toward her and Carly has started barking and charging her when she does this. Luckily the new dog is very tolerant and just ignores her; also I know now and head it off before it happens.
I would love to foster, but my primary responsibility and loyalty belongs to my dogs and making sure they are happy. Finnegan is fine with it all, besides the fact that he is a 22 pound 6 month old and I have to keep him from trying to play a bit too rough.
I'm so torn. This foster is moving to a long term home with a probable adoption this Saturday. I was asked if I could switch out and take a new one on that same day. I had to say that I only could if it was less than a week, because my dogs seem stressed and need a break so the rescue had to find a new foster home. Has anyone else had issues with their dogs and their reaction to being a foster home? I think I will try it again after I give them a break, but I may have to just be a short term (couple of nights) foster on their way to something more permanent.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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Were you able to walk them all together? Sometimes that helps.
I've never fostered (thought about it, but with two dogs, a cat, and a full-time job outside the house, it would be difficult.) However, we did find a Pomeranian late one night in the rain.
We had no time for proper intros, due to the weather and the time (after 10pm, work at 8am the next morning). We brought him in, dried him off, dragged out the x-pen, and basically did all the most horrible things to introduce a new dog.
He barked. A lot. As in, non-stop. My dogs seemed to HATE having him here. Madison came upstairs and curled up in an odd corner of the hallway, a place I've never seen her go to before or since. Jack laid across the top of the stairs (Maddie hiding, Jack protecting--- both doing what they would be expected to do if they felt threatened.)
By the next day they seemed a bit better, and when my husband took our two out and I came out after with the Pom on a slip lead, Jack did a little happy skip as if to say "There he is!" Still, both seemed very stressed. It may have been the barking, it may have been the shock of going out for a final pee and coming back in with an extra dog, or it may have been just having him there. But it made me really think it might not be easy on my existing pets to foster.
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By the way, if you want to try again, you might try a male next time; Carly might feel less threatened than she does by another bitch, and the six-month old probably won't care about another boy at this stage of development.
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Permalink Reply by Tess, Carly and Finnegan on
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I live in a town home with my own patio but not yard so I walk them together every time they go out to potty. We also went for a half hour walk last night. They all did well together. However just a few mins ago after getting home we all went out and right as we got out the door Finn lunged at Kaylee, the foster, while barking and snarling. He is pretty easy going and this is the first sign of overt aggression I have seen out of him towards her.
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Just a thought, but if your dogs usually get on ok with other dogs, she may be giving confusing signals that have them on edge. Unusual for a six-month old to be that way if he's usually not.
If you really like the thought of fostering, I would say take a break after this one, do some confidence-building things with some other dogs outside your home, then try again.
Also, make sure they have lots of opportunities to all have their own space; I'd be making judicious use of baby gates to keep everyone separate most of the time for a short-term foster.
Sam Tsang has far and away the most experience fostering of the regular posters, but he's dealing with family issues now. You might try sending him a PM upon his return. I am sure he'd be full of helpful suggestions.
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They get along well with dog at dogs parks, greeting dogs on walks and visiting neighbor dogs, but I think once it became an over night thing in THEIR house it became an issue. I suspect Finn my be acting out a bit more because he is following Carly's lead.
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How do you find time to give them attention all separately in their own areas? This new foster is very timid and glued to me. It took her about an hour to even want to move from the entry way rug. Also I think if I were in a room spending time with a foster that my dogs were blocked from, they would have a fit. Something frowned upon when in a town home with attached neighbors. On week days in the mornings I have about two hours of Corgi time, about an hour at lunch and then about six at night. Since I'm the only person in the home and the only attention giver I don't know how I would split that without feeling like I'm neglecting my own.
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Good suggestion. I should probably request a male next time around to see if that alleviates anything. Although with Finn now joining in...
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Markley on
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It just sounds like she is wondering if she is still your #1. When Seanna starts acting like this, I give her more attention- just the two of us. We go on walks together, play in the yard, etc..without any other dogs around. And I start enforcing the NILF program. Once she gets a little attention and structure, she turns around. Carly may never get along with the foster, but they can learn to tolerate each other. I find too, that once the dogs realize that dogs come and go but don't usually stay, they accept a new member pretty easy. She'll be OK. She's just pouting because she's not getting as much attention.
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Yeah, you are right, I think that is part of it. But that is the thing, I don't want her to have to feel that way in her own house. It concerns me that she is stressed enough about it to cause herself bouts of diarrhea, you know?
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Thanks all for your responses. I appreciate the suggestions and your knowledge.
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Permalink Reply by Vicki, Grace and Gizmo on
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I had trouble a little bit with Grace when Gizmo came to live. She got jealous and jumped on me edging him out of the way. I let her know that was not nice in a nice way but firm. Then made sure to love them both together. After several days she learned that I hadd love for everyone. And since she is princess and he can't jump she has learned not to worry. Night time is her time with us. Spoiled rotten corgi.
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Permalink Reply by Yuki & Ellie on
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I would say give them a break after this foster. Once they are back to their usual selves you can try having calm, familiar dogs come for visits (whether they're friends, neighbors, etc.) to get them used to having other dogs in the house sometimes. Greeting dogs outdoors or on walks/at dog parks is a whole different situation than having another dog actually in their home. Once they get used to having dogs over, see if you can have one stay overnight on occasion. The first time or two will probably be a little hectic, but they will get used to it.
Yuki had always been a solo dog. We never had dogs visiting us and our walks were always along a rather bare strip of road because of where we lived at the time. When we were finally ready to get another dog Yuki was already 2 years old, so I had my husband's co-worker (now a good friend of ours) drop his dog off once or twice per week to spend the day with us. The dog is an intact male and, in my mind, was the ultimate test of how Yuki would tolerate a strange dog in his territory. The first two visits were stressful, to say the least, as I was constantly watching to make sure they would behave. There were lots of dominance displays and even a couple of "arguments" between the two (lots of barking, some play that started to escalate, etc.) By the third visit it was as though the two had always been best friends! We then tried some overnight visits (keeping our guest in his crate in our bedroom, right next to Yuki's bed) and things worked well. Tucker still visits with us on occasion and Ellie has learned that a strange dog in her home just means there's another friend to play with!
Obviously, your mileage will probably vary. My point, I guess, is that you'll want to ease into having strange dogs coming and going from your home. With enough exposure to it, I'm betting they'll adapt and maybe even come to love having lots of new friends to play with. As previously mentioned, once Sam is back it would be worth your while to send him a message and get as many tips as you can. Hopefully things will work out and you'll be able to foster!
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