Fostering

WHY? Because try as hard as we can to make life easy for the dogs in our care some of them find it very difficult to cope in our busy, noisy environment. Dogs who are:

• Too stressed to settle


• Too depressed to be properly assessed


• Too scared to show their true selves


• Too young to be suitably socialised


• Too old to survive a long stay


• Suffering from minor medical or behaviour issues


• Simply need a well-deserved break from kennels

Dogs like: Tiny Teaser

Teaser has a bad skin condition, which isn't getting any better. He needs a foster home to see if it clears up once he is out of kennels.


Bouncy Bertie

Bertie barks all day here at Battersea. He needs to be fostered to see if he settles down in a home environment.


Lame Lizzie

Lizzie's wasted foreleg had to be amputated. She needs a foster home while she recovers from surgery.


The Battersea Foster scheme places dogs like these into suitable short-term homes until a permanent one can be found. The time a dog will spend in a foster home will vary from a couple of weeks to a few months.


ARE YOU A KIND FACE WHO CAN OFFER A DOG A SAFE PLACE? We are looking for volunteer Foster Carers who have:

• The Experience of caring for dogs.


• The Availability to be around during the day


• The Mobility to travel to and from Battersea


• The Compassion to help nurse a sick dog back to health


• The Common sense not to become too emotionally involved


• The Patience to handle a stressed or nervous dog


• The Ability to report back on a dog's likes and dislikes

CAN ANYONE BECOME A FOSTER CARER? We need all kinds of people and if you ticked the seven boxes above we would love to hear from you. However your choice of foster dogs will be more limited if you have:

• A child or children under the age of 12


• Another dog or dogs


• A cat

HOW DO I GO ABOUT APPLYING TO JOIN THE SCHEME?

• E-mail [email protected] and Wendy Henry, our Foster Dog Co-ordinator, will email an application form to you or put one in the post if you include your full name and address.


• Call 020 7 627 7873 and spell out your name and address slowly and carefully and Wendy will send you an application form by post.


• The form lets you tell us what sex, age, size and breed of dog you would feel happy fostering and for how long


• It will also tell us if you feel you could cope with minor medical conditions or certain behaviour issues.

WE LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU

• Meet some of our current foster carers