Foster

FOSTER A PET

Fostering is a lifesaving endeavor. Each week Soul Dog is asked to help between 15-80 dogs and cats in the Ute Mountain and Navajo Reservations. The majority are puppies, often with their mothers, who are surrendered due to lack of spay/neuter resources. If Soul Dog doesn’t pick them up weekly, they are euthanized. There are no other groups helping animals at 3 out of 4 Navajo animal control facilities, so the responsibility falls to us to save these lives week after week. It is an emotional and heartbreaking decision but if there is no space at the shelter there is simply no other choice.

FOSTER APPLICATION

About Fostering

Fostering is giving an animal(s) a temporary home while they await a spot at the shelter or an adoptive family. The duration can be anywhere from a minimum of two weeks to several months depending on the needs of the animal. Fosters can provide the animals in their care with an advantage towards finding a permanent home, as they often extradite an animals transition from a shelter environment by working on potty-training, basic commands and proper in-home behaviors. The more that is known about an animal, the easier it is to find an adopter. It is hard work and it can be sad to part with your foster when the time comes, but it is extremely rewarding and a joy to watch your fosters thrive with their forever families.

Fosters must be able to help get their animals to adoption events and meet and greets with potential adopters. The foster coordinator always takes location into consideration and strives to make transporting animals as seamless and easy as possible to events.

Caring for Your Foster

Soul Dog Rescue provides all needed supplies such as food, leashes, crates, etc. during their time in foster. All medical care that may arise while the animal is in foster is covered by Soul Dog Rescue, provided the foster follows the outlined protocol and is in communication with the foster coordinator BEFORE medical care is given.

All of our animals come from the reservations in the Four Corners area. The majority of animals in this region are not sterilized or vaccinated, they suffer from internal and external parasites, broken limbs that have healed incorrectly, skin conditions, malnutrition and other often gruesome injuries. Disease can be prevalent and often life-threatening viruses are a reality with many puppies and kittens being at risk for life-threatening illnesses. When a foster takes them into their home, often they have only had an initial consult with a staff medical team member, so there may be things not visible upon the first exam that come up later, such as fecal worms, fleas and ticks, mange, parvo and distemper. Soul Dog wants fosters to be aware that they are not getting perfect animals that have been in loving homes with access to veterinary services and medicines, these animals have lived tough lives and are lucky to be alive. They are survivors that will thrive in time.

Fostering Saves Lives

Meet Dazumble

Dazumble was rescued with her siblings from Chinle, AZ at around 3 months old. She and all of her siblings unfortunately tested positive for distemper.


Distemper is a scary illness and most shelters choose to euthanize animals because most do not survive treatment. We choose to try. Once exposed dogs undergo a very strict quarantine with limited human contact due to it's extremely contagious nature. Quarantine can last anywhere from 2-6 months but will continue until everyone in the same unit recieves a negative distemper test.


Dazumble and her siblings became almost feral due to their quarantine. They trembled and cowered in their kennels and ran away terrified from people. The fear these dogs lived in on a day to day basis was heartbreaking.


Once in foster, Dazumble blossomed. She became a confident and extremely affectionate dog. She frequented breweries, busy parks, and loved to wrestle and run with her foster siblings. She quickly grew to thrive off of human companionship and would cry for attention when she wasn't getting enough at events.


Without her amazing fosters this girl would still be cowering in the back of her kennel. Instead she's now thriving with her forever family.

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