I have always wanted to foster dogs before they are adopted, but never had the opportunity. When I came to college however, I had the opportunity, but lacked the time to foster long term because of semester lengths and school breaks where I would return home where a foster was not allowed. I never saw fostering as a possibility, until I received a flyer from the humane society a few miles from my university. There was a severe shortage of foster homes, and the shelter was at maximum capacity. I felt horrible, because there was nothing I could do to help, and the thought of perfectly kind dogs being euthanized because there was no room left was disheartening.

I wanted to help, but I didn't know-how. I called the humane society asking if there was any way to help other than adoption. They gave me a list of supplies they were in desperate need of, suggested signing up to be a dog-walking volunteer and fostering. I explained my situation and that fostering didn't seem like an option for me, and the woman got extremely excited. She began explaining to me about their short-term foster options and things seemed too good to be true. I talked to my roommate about the idea, and she was extremely excited. We looked at our class schedules and found that between the two of us, we would be able to give plenty of time to a foster pet. After we worked out all the details, we filled out the application, got approved and left to pick out our first foster dog.

Our First Foster, Twiglet.Molly Joiner

With short-term fostering, you open up spaces in the shelter giving them more time to get dogs adopted out. You take some of the stress off of the shelter for a week or month and open up kennels for dogs. It may seem insignificant to only open up a kennel for five days, which was the length of our first foster, but it can change lives. Our first foster had five days left before she was sent to a rescue in another part of the U.S., and because we were able to foster her, she was able to reacclimatize to the fun of home life and her kennel was made available five days earlier to house a homeless dog. You can teach these dogs numerous things during your time together and they'll leave a mark on your heart forever.

You can also foster dogs which have been stuck in the shelter for far too long. If you visit a shelter, you can see how sad a life it is for these homeless animals, and some of these kind souls have been there for years. Giving these dogs an opportunity to get out, even for a short time is a priceless gift to these forgotten angels. So consider bringing joy to your life by enriching the life of a shelter pet today, and if you can't foster, volunteer. If you can't volunteer, donate! There are countless ways to help.