At What Stage Do You Let Your Own Dogs Alone With Your Foster

[Guest donatella]

Do you do this after spending supervised time and getting a feel for how they act around each other?

I only foster the smalls and make sure things like food and toys are put up so there is nothing to fight over, but I wondered if there was an actual time limit you should abide by? I do worry about coming home to a blood bath and i wondered what the chances were or if i was just being paranoid if both dogs were non aggressive?

Edited August 22, 2012 by donatella

[Cosmolo]

While i don't regularly foster anymore, 2 of my dogs would never be left alone with any foster or visitor. They are not aggressive but they are assertive and having had a terrible experience leaving an assertive dog alone with a visitor who didn't take kindly to it, i won't do it again. Of the remaining 3 dogs of mine- they can be matched with certain dogs after variable periods of time depending on the visitors age, sex, size, breed and behaviour and whether i have known them for a period of time prior to them coming into the home.

I get very worried when i hear how quickly some people leave strange dogs alone together. Make one mistake and the results can be tragic.

Edited August 22, 2012 by Cosmolo

[Burkes]

It depends on each dog and how it is going. I couldn't say there is a 'time frame' as each dog is different.

Some dogs I separate the entire time they are in care, others probably minimum a few days of supervision.

[Maddy]

Depends a lot on the individual and how I feel about their social behaviour.

Some dogs, it's a few hours of watching them and they go in for good, others live in the run until I'm more comfortable with their behaviour.

Only fights we've ever had involving our own dogs have been with dogs we already knew from body language and initial behaviour that we were going to have problems with (and the fights were my fault for not keeping the dog in question entirely away from other dogs).

[keetamouse]

I do have a lot of small dogs including 7 of my own, 2 are crated when I am out, one Malt who just barks all the time when outside, the other because he is so tiny and it is for his safety, the others I crate most of them when out, they are fine as they are crated at night and they are fed in there as well so they are used to it, I usually put 2 in each crate and they are fine.

I would never leave the pack, which can be over 10 small dogs here at any one time out together I think it is asking for trouble.

Maree

CPR

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

I'm very careful, with some dogs I have no worries whatsoever but I've had a few that I've had to keep separate whilst fostering them as sometimes they are just not comfortable for some reason. Best to be safe rather than sorry.

My own dogs are wonderful and generally love the incoming fosters but some dogs coming in have had food/toy aggression issues. 1 Iggy cross I had recently was quite nervous around my dogs, we think he'd been attacked by other dogs at some point so he was always separated when I was out.

[tdierikx]

My fosters are always separated when I'm not around to supervise... but I only foster pups, so it's more for my own dogs' sanity than anything else.

T.

[SueM]

It really is a case by case with me, my current foster is fine with my two but I always supervise for at least a few days before leaving them alone together, but others I have crated if I am out.

[Sheilaheel02]

Never if I'm not able to supervise. Any rescues that get to interact with my dogs are very carefully selected (I have an elderly dog here and a small dog too now, so I've had to limit my foster numbers anyway). Living rurally means that any fosters (actually all my dogs) are monitored and managed pretty carefully.

S

[kayla1]

I haven't taken on any new foster dogs for a while, but when I did I chose dogs that I knew had a better chance of fitting in here (based on age, sex, assessments etc). After an initial supervision period, which varied, nearly all of them were fine to be alone together. There was only one that I had to separate from mine, but she was only here short-term on her way to another carer.

[Little Gifts]

I agonise over the first day I have to leave the dogs alone together but strangely the only altercation we have ever had was in front of us humans when my dog misread a new foster dog's reaction to playing with a toy it found. I don't leave toys lying around for unsupervised play so it was an accident and unfortunately it happened on the first night the dog arrived so it strained the relations with my two for a while. He was a pushy foster boy all round but is a gem with his new family!

I think you get a sense of when they will all be ok on their own. I really think they all just lie around and do nothing while we are away anyway so we have comfy spots to lie in at several locations around the yard so the dogs aren't in each other's faces.

[Guest Ams]

I also find I have more problems between the dogs when I am at home, although I do separate the pack into smaller parcels just for safety's sake (and yes it was after a very hard learnt lesson where I'd left six dogs alone - all had been together for some weeks without problems). I really don't believe what CM says, you can't leave 15 - 20 dogs running around by themselves unsupervised without there being some squabbles.

[Cosmolo]

Agree with Ams- i have run large packs when i am there and it's been fine. But you're there to interupt tiny things as neeed- things don't ever have the opportunity to escalate. When you're not there and there are large numbers or a group of dogs not terribly familiar with each other's body language etc- it's easy for things to get out of hand.

[chuckandsteve]

This is what i worry about.

We have had 1 incident when we were out 2 months after we had been leaving them together, ended with foster getting a few stitches. I havent left a foster with my dogs since and dont think i will again

[Cosmolo]

This may be an unpopular position but breed does play a part too. This includes the breed of one of my own dogs that i don't leave unsupervised with fosters. The potential for more serious damage increases with some breeds. Size imbalances are also worthy of consideration- leaving small dogs and large dogs together increases risk of accidental injury as well.

[JulesP]

A friend used to foster. One of her foster dogs killed her own dog, a little poodle that she did UD with. She was a pretty experienced dog trainer. Very sad.

[Cosmolo]

I have heard about a number of situations where that has been the result Jules- terrible.

[Guest donatella]

This is my worst nightmare Jules and why I asked the question (even though I have no fosters at present).

How very sad

[JulesP]

It has certainly put me off fostering. And I think I would only foster one at a time if I had no pets of my own.

[Guest donatella]

I only foster Toy breeds but that doesn't exempt them from being malicious either. I can see why the likes of a crate is a god send for many rescuers.