I have bumped into several clients and former clients this week who have no pets or have room for more pets in their life, but don’t want to adopt a new one for life. These people are realistic about the time demands of a new dog or planning on traveling soon, but feel a hole in their lives right now. I have a suggestion: Volunteer!
The City of Lewisville Animal Services has an active Volunteer program with formal training and background checks, starting as young as 16 years old with a signed parental waiver. Volunteers are allowed to do housekeeping chores, handle and socialize animals, provide needed human contact, interact with future adopters, and ultimately even “jog a dog”. Check out their Facebook page.
For more information: https://www.cityoflewisville.com/about-us/city-services/animal-services/volunteer-with-animal-services
Breed rescue groups are always looking for temporary foster homes. I find many clients that LOVE a specific breed and know its idiosyncrasies make great foster families while the parent organization does the work to find a forever home. So if you love Golden Retrievers or Shelties, find their local rescue group, go through their process, and schedule fosters on your time frame. Win for you, win for foster pet, and a win for the rescue group.
The ultimate foster is to be a puppy raisers fora service dog. We actually have a national organization called Canine Companions for Independence (CCI) with an office in Last Colinas in Irving. This is a big commitment since you will raise their lab/golden mix puppy for 12-18 months to adulthood with basic training, CCI competes their specialized training, and then they are matched to a disabled person free of charge for their forever home. This would be an ultimate act of giving.
