The General and I have been fostering puppies and dogs and the occasional kitten for close to a year now for Pet Project Rescue, an organization ran out of Northeast Minneapolis. The General had done it before, but wound up keeping the dogs. I knew that wasn’t happening, so I figured I’d give it a try. No commitment. No money out of my pocket, just another animal running around the house. When you already have 160 pounds worth of animal running around the house, what’s one more, right?

When it started out with us fostering an overweight Pekingese with only one eye, I was like “You have got to be kidding me”. I was sure we’d wind up fostering animal that nobody in their right mind would ever want to adopt. Then, just a couple of weeks later, we met the absolute perfect family for this one-eyed dust mop we thought was destined to never be happy again. The family loved her from the minute they met her and the feeling seemed to be mutual. Once Peeka went to her new family, I knew right away that this was something much more rewarding than I could have imagined.

My favorites have been Eddie (the chihuahua I actually got to help rescue from Animal Control) and Merlyn (the day he got here from Mexico, I had to warm him up after his bath!), both of which have been hard to give up, but they both found incredible homes. Merlyn even got his named changed to Pete and was in the Twin Cities Puppy Bowl! We fostered Ruby, the other chihuahua, for months, because she had such a hard time getting used to life outside the puppy mill.

We’ve also helped find homes for:

• Colby and Fletcher, the only two felines we’ve fostered, taught us that while kittens are cute, they also will murder you with their fangs and talons.
• River, who came to us with a gaping hole in her stomach from her spay which had to be washed, medicated and bandaged multiple times a day.
• Elsa, one of the sweetest dogs we’ve had, but also liked to chew the crotches out our pants. All our pants.
• Baby Adolfo, who is now Henry and lives with one of my favorite co-workers and his husband.
• Gypsy, Elsa’s sister, that we just had for a couple of weeks before she found her home.
• Cosme, who came straight from the jungle and had a bit of a weight problem. She went to live with a family who’d already adopted one Mexican foster dog (and six kids, but just not from the same place).
• Betty, the possible pit bull mix two month old puppy who was stuck in the back room of Animal Control with the dogs that come from fighting ring raids, all because she might have been part pit.
• Vicente, our last foster resident, found his home after only a week with us, just after he learned to jump from on top of his kennel, to the top of our kitchen counter, over to the top of our stove, and over the baby gate we had between the kitchen and the living room.

More foster dogs are on their way (or may already possibly be) here from Cancun. We’re getting two new two month old pups named Shaun and Irene, who are sure to make sure remember why we like older dogs!

If you’ve ever thought about fostering, you should contact Pet Project Rescue. They’re be more than happy to answer any questions. Heck, I’d be more than happy to answer any questions. You could even try it once and nobody’s going to be mad at you!