Foster
What Is Foster Care?
Being a foster caregiver means sharing your home with a rescued dog—providing nourishing food, shelter, toys, walks, and plenty of love as if they were your own until they match with their adoptive home.
As a foster parent, you play a key role in a dog’s transition by:
-
Observing Behaviors: Helping us understand their personality in a relaxed, real-world setting.
-
Laying the Foundation: Working on basic skills like house-training and leash-walking.
-
Supporting Special Needs: We often need specialty fosters with the skills to care for nursing moms or dogs recovering from medical conditions.
-
Finding the Right Fit: Bringing your foster dog to select adoption events to help them connect with potential adopters.
Who Can Foster?
To ensure the safety of our dogs and adhere to state regulations, the onboarding process is simple and supportive:
1. Submit an Application: Complete the online form for your state to get started.
2. Attend Orientation: Participate in a brief Foster Orientation to learn our best practices.
3. Home Visit: A member of our Foster Care Team will connect with you to schedule a quick orientation and a required annual home visit.
We’ve Got You Covered: NMDR provides all the medical care, crates, and essential supplies you need. We only ask that you provide the safe, loving temporary environment these resilient pups deserve on their way to an adoptive home.
How to Foster: Open Your Heart and Home
One of the most impactful ways you can support our mission is to give the incredible gift of a temporary home to a dog in need.
Fostering offers countless rewards for everyone involved. Living in a home allows a dog to acclimate, build confidence, and learn to be part of a family much faster than in a kennel environment. While you experience the deep reward of helping a pup heal, you also clear the path for another rescue—every dog in foster care frees up vital resources for NMDR to bring the next at-risk pup to safety.