This month we'll be sharing foster carers' first-hand experiences, both to celebrate and thank them for their amazing work, and also with the hope of encouraging more of you to get in touch with your local rescue and see if you too could be a life saver!
Kit & Sid's Foster Story with Gumtree Greys
In 2018 my partner and I brought home our very first foster (and first rescue greyhound) Sid, and very quickly realised that arriving from the racing industry into a home is something akin to alien abduction for these poor dogs who have no real preparation for life as a companion animal and are therefore fairly terrified of the most ordinary things; for Sid it was other breeds of dog, fans, being touched gently, humans putting on shoes, to name a few!
Sid turned out to be a complex rehabilitation case, and the more we worked together and learned from one another, the more we realised it was impossible to imagine him going anywhere - and so we "foster failed" as the term goes, but what a win it turned out to be.
Sid opened the door to my role as a Coordinator at Gumtree Greys, and over the years he became an excellent snootervisor of home checks, co-pilot for transporting/collecting fosters, and emotional support hound to teach new arrivals how to use stairs or ride elevators. He also instilled in me a love of the chaos goblins, and as a result, I have undertaken study and micro-credentialing in handling and training methods.
I am fascinated by the science of behaviour and passionate about supporting other greyhound guardians to improve the quality of life on both ends of the lead, I feel that this is a way to honour Sid, and the amazing resilience he showed through his ability to trust us and open himself to life as a well-loved pet.
Last year, although we didn't know it at the time, Sid performed his final rescue ride along for new foster arrival Shadow, who turned out to be his genetic nephew! Foster fails apparently run in the family, so although our best and bravest boy lost his battle with renal failure, his legacy and his spirit lives on with Shadow who is now a permanent member of our household. Shadow has taken up the mantle of volunteer support crew, and is a fixature at the weekly Farmers Market stalls we attend with Gumtree Greys to spread the word about fostering and adopting.
Fostering opened up a new world for me, I've met some of the most amazing humans, and hounds, and ultimately I feel like it has made me a better person through experiences which have challenged me to be more patient, more compassionate, and even better at things like assessing risk (there's nothing like finding out just how many things are in reach of a horse sized dog until you have a counter surfer in your home!).
Getting to work closely with dogs when they first arrive, timid, quiet, and shut down and then watching them grow into their best selves with lots of opinions and the confidence to be goofy and have fun, it's just magic! Every time I meet the people who are going to fall in love with a foster just as much as I have, I get that "Christmas morning" feeling, the sweet anticipation and excitement of knowing that they are about to embark on a journey of many happy years together... What could be more rewarding than that?!
If you want to get involved and foster a greyhound with Kit and the team from Gumtree Greys then sign up today via this link - https://www.gumtreegreys.com.au/foster/
