If you love animals and have the space and quality time to spend with a foster dog, you are on the right track to becoming a foster. K9Crusaders is focused on setting up fosters for success. It is important that we get to know you, get a sense of your home and family situation and what you are prepared for in a foster dog. This allows us to place a rescue dog that best suits your home. Foster animals come from all walks of life, some with known history, but many without. We want to select and work with each foster family to ensure their experience is rewarding.

The first requirement is to provide a patient, loving environment for your foster dog. Once the dog is settled in, basic training is important to give the dog structure and set expectations. You will be asked to transport your foster dog to vet or grooming appointments. You may also be asked to bring your foster dog to K9 Crusaders adoption events. The foster dogs tend to be much more relaxed when they are with their foster parent at these events. It's also a great chance for you to talk with people who may be interested in adopting your foster dog and share stories, personality traits and silly quirks about the animal to potential adopters. You will also be asked to complete a Foster Evaluation Form to provide information to potential adopters. We may also review adoption applications with you to get your input, since you will know your foster dog best!

Our priority is to match a dog with the best suitable foster home based on each dog's needs. If your current dog is up to date on vaccinations, spayed/neutered, friendly and well socialized, it shouldn’t be a problem. It often even helps to have another dog for your foster dog to socialize with and learn from. We do want to ensure that the rescue dog and your animal(s) are comfortable and safe at all times - we are here each step of the way to help you introduce the new animal to your crew and answer any questions along the way.

Rescue dogs are going through a major transition and many have experienced trauma or mistreatment and are highly anxious. Even a well trained dog in this situation may be a flight risk and will not respond to recalls. If they manage to escape your home, it could be nearly impossible to get them back. Unfortunately, we have experienced too many of these incidents that put our dogs in danger. We know you want to provide love and excellent care to an animal in need but we need to ensure we are providing the safest situation for all our dogs. Occasionally, we are able to make an exception for a dog who we know is not a flight risk, or for those with mobility issues - seniors or special needs.

It depends on a lot of things. We receive daily notifications about dogs needing to be placed from shelters, so it could happen as quickly as a couple of days. Our priority is to find a suitable match of dog and foster home so it could be a few weeks.

We have had many foster families fall in love with their foster dog and decide to adopt them. If you feel like it's a furever fit, let us know within two weeks of receiving the dog. Otherwise, other applications will also be considered.

It is important to understand that when you become a foster family, you are opening your home to animals in a shelter who are at risk of euthanasia. So as much as is may be difficult to say goodbye, you are now opening a space in your home to save another animal. Becoming a foster can be challenging sometimes, but it is always rewarding to see how your family has given an animal a second chance and changed their life forever.