I've only done temporary fosters while the permanent foster home and vet appt. arrangements were being made, usually a few days sometimes up to a week. I then transported it to the city where the Rescue was located, where I met a Volunteer who took it directly to the Vet clinic for a full exam before it going to the foster home.

I always introduced my dogs to the pup or dog in a neutral setting away from the house. I normally crated the pup/dog while at night, let it interact with my own dogs during the day.

Hopefully those who foster on a regular basis will give you some tips and advice.

Thank you for helping this dog-best of luck to you.

 

How I've always done it is to allow the dogs to meet in a neutral place......not in your home, yard or car.....and then go for a good long walk which lets them become comfortable with each other.

I have the means to crate and rotate, but I've never had to do it.....maybe I've just been lucky. My resident dog loved having fosters in the house.....some he was just as happy to see go, but he'd get mildly depressed when his favorites found their forever homes. I think it entirely depends on the individual dogs.

And my resident dog is a rottie mix.....all of the fosters were goldens or golden mixes.

 

I'm fostering for the first time. Since Dancer, our 10 yr old foster golden girl, was vetted and also heartworm positive, I brought her home and introduced her to my 10 month old golden, Brie. Dancer let Brie know right away not to invade her space with a grrr. Brie backed off. I also picked up all bones and chewing nylabones, ect. I did leave the toys out. These are layed back goldens, ours never have shredded our eaten their stuffys.Two days later they are buds. As long as your dog is socialized it should be easier. Hopefully Rescue dog and cat tested the dog.. Good luck!

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I dont keep them seperate for two weeks..imo that just makes all dogs unhappy. I have found my jack russell is much more reactive on a leash than anything. So I have found that bringing the new dog into my back yard (this is dependent upon if it is known the dog is friendly with other dogs) and let them meet with me holding the newer dog (for the small dogs).

Neutral territory is the best to do. As well as the above mentioned walking with each other. I had to do that with a male lab we watched for a friend.. a few times before we could even think about them being together..but part of it was due to the jrt's leash reactivity.

If your dog is respectful, knows how to read another dog and YOU do too you should be fine. I have had alot of fosters come through and never have I kept them apart for too long. Only time if their had been a fight and need to calm them down. (Mainly the jrt started it over food or male/male situations.)

 

I know this is late to reply but I thought I'd put in my two cents in case someone else reads this thread for information in the future.

I've only fostered puppies and the last two were too young (7 and 5 weeks) to do the walk and greet, plus I knew how Ranger would respond by then. My first foster was about 10 weeks, though so I leashed new foster Scout and got my mom to leash Ranger in the house. Scout and i were across the street and he let out a little growl when he saw Ranger coming. I walked off with Scout and my mom walked Ranger next to us. We didn't let the dogs interact for the first 5 minutes, just walked them together. Then mom dropped back and let ranger sniff Scout's derriere while we walked. Then I dropped back and let scout do the same to ranger. By the time we got home (10 mins), the dogs knew each other.

I'd picked up all the toys and bones. Brought both dogs into the living room and had Ranger still on leash. They interacted, both wanted to play, so they had a supervised play session in the house, with me making sure it didn't get too intense. After that...nary a problem, even when toys were slowly introduced.

One really good thing I read was to have an extra toy out for the number of dogs in the room. So if you have two dogs, you need at least 3 toys. If the dogs have a bone each, there needs to be a third bone out. Works like a charm.

After that, my little fosters were introduced in the front yard. I knew Ranger would be fine with them so he came out on leash, smelled them, and then we went inside.

I crate the pups at night and at times during the day til they're a little more house-trained. I never got to the point where I let Scout out while I was away (too young), but I never crated Ranger while I was gone. After a few weeks, they were allowed unsupervised play sessions in the yard.

Also, when Ranger was fostered before I adopted him, he was crated while his foster mom was at work while her own dog was loose. I don't see a problem with it. I think Ranger would've had a problem if I'd started crating him again just because there was another dog in the house. If you're worried about the dogs interacting through the crate while you're away, just keep the crate in a different room. I had to start doing that otherwise Ranger would run to the crate every time a puppy cried, and it started reinforcing the puppies' temper tantrums about being in a crate.

 

Thanks all for your helpful comments. Ended up I had nothing to worry about. I did the walking together side by side when I first got the foster and they were fine. I have fostered three dogs since I first posted and my dog, Toby, is a dream in his behavior. I have been very lucky in that I got foster dogs with wonderful temperaments and that coupled with my Toby's personality has made fostering fun and not stressful.

Thanks again. I can't say enough about the walking together side by side in the beginning !

 

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