What You Should Know When Fostering Dogs During Pandemic

Fostering dogs is one of the most meaningful things to help our fur friends have a nicer house to grow together. However, fostering a dog during the pandemic requires essential knowledge and understanding of the true meaning of this beautiful action.

Many pet parents, especially new dog parents, realized that the hype of fostering a dog in the pandemic quarantine time actually means so much more than just the foreseen benefits of having a companion.

The Covid-19 pandemic has shifted our daily routine totally from the traditional way. More and more people are working from home, increasing their time staying indoors. When the Covid-19 pandemic started to spread dramatically in some states, many people wanted to foster a dog or a cat before the adoptions closed their buildings.  

Since lockdown is a standard method to stop the spreading, companionship with someone or something at home becomes a lifesaver for many people to deal with loneliness, depression, and anxiety. This led to the unexpected increasing demand for having a pet in several households in the US. For instance, particularly in New York and Los Angeles foster programs of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, they’ve received more than 600 foster applicants, over 200 percent compared to the same period of previous years.

Numerous benefits of having a dog have been proved over the years, which explains why dogs have become the most popular pet globally—only when being “isolated” to the everyday world, lacking social interactions do a lot of people seek help from our lovely four-legged friends.

Mental Health: After a long day sitting in front of the monitors, having a dog to talk, play and take care of will reduce a lot of stress and refresh your mind even better. The simple act of touching, hugging, or petting your dog eliminates stress and anxiety that you may suffer from work or family issues. The time you spend with your dog is the time you enjoy the present moment and allow yourself to leave all the messes aside, just simply happily play as your paws.

Physical Health: Although a quarantine situation turns out to be the perfect time to be a couch potato and enjoy all the new-release Netflix series, lounging all day long affects your health in the long run. Instead of that, playing fetch, running around, or taking your dog out for a short walk will gradually improve your physical health a lot. One indisputable benefit of having a dog that many dog parents admit is the extra exercise they “have to” do when spending time walking their dog.

Like humans, a dog's well-being is significantly influenced by its living environment. You can't expect a dog to be 100 percent happy all the time and make you comfortable while you only give out 10-20 percent of your energy and time with them. Dogs are sensitive, and this is quite a featured characteristic that helps them understand and interact with humans sophisticatedly. However, lacking care, on both physical and mental sides, your dog may even absorb your depression and grow it on themselves.

With the lengthy lockdowns and several obstacles in storing food or going outside, many dog parents choose to do lazy things at home rather than having productive activities in this situation.

In addition, returning to a new normal, many people start to get back to the office. They no longer have free time to spend with their dogs and find fostering a dog is quite a burden. Many shelters all over the country report the increasing number of returning dogs, indicating how many people are not ready to have a dog.

If you plan to foster a dog during the pandemic crisis, please remember that this is a long-term choice and comes from a careful decision. Don't turn to a pet as a temporary rescue in this challenging time. When you are ready to be annoyed by a lot of lickings in the face every morning, scooping "stinky" poops twice a day, playing until you can't even feel your breath, and losing your favorite couch, you'll be paw-some dog parents.