June is foster month
One of our dedicated foster champs, Eileen, is featured in this article in The Australian Dog Lover magazine.
He’s a little excerpt…
June marks National Foster A Pet Month: a time to celebrate and acknowledge the incredible behind-the-scenes work of Australian foster coordinators and foster volunteers, who dedicate their time to the welfare of both Greyhounds and the volunteers who care for them.
Eileen Schofield is a foster coordinator at Friends of the Hound, just north of Brisbane.
She told us about the in-and-outs of caring for Greys as a foster coordinator: “I can go from having seven dogs in the morning to two at night,” she said.
Tasks for Eileen on an average week may involve: matching a hound to the right carer, booking the dog in for de-sexing and vaccination, checking his or her teeth, picking up and dropping hounds off to their foster carers, as well as checking on new volunteers from time to time.
A critical moment in fostering and rehoming Greyhounds is introducing them to new environments. Eileen stays connected online to give advice to fellow volunteers who may be handling distressed dogs.
“Especially with reactive dogs, often they pick up on their environment. If you are stressed, then the dog will be stressed. Perhaps you might assume they’re aggressive, but maybe they’re just unsure,” said Eileen.
“Maybe they’ve never seen another dog before and they’re scared. Another thing I’ve noticed is the more you pull the lead, the more it can cause problems. If you get tense, the first thing is that the lead gets tighter and they get tense. They’re certainly clever animals.”
Check out the full article “The Community Spirit behind Fostering Greyhounds“