BBR Canine Chronicles

Hello! I am honored to be chosen Foster of the Month and pleasantly surprised. I feel like I am never doing enough. I started fostering when my first rescue, Little Lilly, (pictured with my adopted rescue, Hayleigh-now 2 y/o above), passed away at 13 years old last year. Lilly opened my heart (like the Grinch, “it grew 3 sizes that day”) to the plight of shelter animals when I adopted her at six months old from a small dog rescue in Los Angeles where I was living at the time. Lilly traveled with me everywhere, loved everybody she met, and became my resident therapy dog when I opened my private practice as a counselor ten years ago moving back to Michigan. I saw the effect on distressed clients with Lilly in the room, sleeping, chewing on a stick, greeting clients, sitting with them. Clients opened up much easier with Lilly in the room.

Just before Lilly passed away, she had a little sister, Hayleigh, a Labrador mix, who I adopted from another rescue after searching for two years. Unfortunately, Hayleigh grew too big to have in my office, sweet as she is, so I began to foster puppies and smaller dogs, hoping to find another Lilly therapy dog. I quickly realized that I couldn’t replace Lilly and bringing the foster pups into the office with me turned into a great opportunity for clients to meet different dogs and puppies, and the fosters to socialize and acclimate. Recently, a client adopted one of my fosters after meeting them and instantly fell in love and filled out an application. I was overjoyed as I saw what a bond and match happened in that moment. I keep Lilly’s bed in my office so when new clients come in, they ask if I have a dog, and I tell them I foster. They tell me excitedly that they the dog is welcome to attend their session.

People ask me how I can let my fosters leave and get adopted. It is difficult for sure to have them leave you after everyone in the house gets used to having them, including me. Yet, I realized through fostering that our pets pick us and when I see them greet their potential adopting families, I know the foster is here for this family. Fostering is very gratifying, a lot of work, a lot of time, and imminently rewarding. I wanted to do more than just contribute financially to rescues and be more a part of saving lives.

I don’t know how I found Bottle Babies Rescue, probably off their Facebook page, as I only use Facebook to keep up with rescues around my area. I think I was looking for a puppy and came across their site and filled out a foster application after Lilly died and I wanted a buddy for Hayleigh who was an active puppy. BBR is easy to work with, nonjudgmental, and responds quickly to issues and concerns. I used to travel for my work as a stand-up comedian, driving across the country, long distances, and at this point in my life, I did not want to drive long distances anymore. After I adopted Amelia (“Mille”, formerly Demi), a foster fail, from BBR in February of this year, I thought, well, I won’t have to drive 60 miles anymore to Plymouth, because I will not be able to foster three dogs. Well, that made me sad and didn’t happen because not only did I get used to driving the 60 miles to BBR for pick-ups, and adoptions, including the adopt events, but, now, I had to get a buddy for Millie who is a 50 pound tornado. Millie turned out to be a great sister for the fosters as she greets them first, plays with all of them and shows them how to use the doggie door.

As I am older at 61 years, I know my time is limited to have more pets of my own and as I age, fostering will keep me active and contributing to the welfare of these beautiful souls who deserve our help and caring with their journey here on earth.

Maria is a prime example of how to make fosters part of your every day life for enrichment of both their lives, but yours as well and in Maria’s case, her clients. The human-animal bond is real and a real source of delight for many. It’s a win-win for everyone.