Local Idiots Think They’re Only Temporarily Fostering That Dog
All shelter pets cannot be immediately put up for adoption. Some are too young, too scared, rehabbing from injuries, recovering from trauma or otherwise aren’t best suited for a shelter environment. On their road to finding their forever home, many animals rely on the kindness of community volunteers to care for them, “temporarily.”
The Oregon Humane Society encourages interested parties to apply on their website. One set of foster parents that made it through the application process, Sullivan’s Gulch residents Brianna Frances and Dakota Bonnet, were paired with a dachshund beagle mix named Alabaster who needed to be kept separate from other dogs while he received his second round of immunizations. Upon agreeing to a three week fostering commitment, the couple was excited to give Alabaster a safe place to stay and to care for him before giving him back to OHS where he would be ready for adoption.
Ten days into their foster stint, we caught up with them to see how fostering was going. “Alabaster has settled into a routine here. As he eats breakfast I read him Harry Potter and then we lay on the kitchen floor for thirty minutes on a rug emblazoned with his name that we crocheted,” said Bonnet. “After our mid morning constitutional we watch Bravo – Housewives is his favorite – and then I am usually between one to three hours late to work, because he is lying on my bag and just looks so cute that I don’t dare move him. Our evenings generally consist of more walks, playtime, snuggles, treats and lots of open mouth kisses.”
When asked if they would be returning Alabaster to the humane society at the end of their three week assignment, Frances was declarative. “Of course we will. We can’t just yet though. We promised Alabaster we’d show him all of the lower 48 states and so far we’ve only seen Oregon and Washington. The cross-stitched portrait of him we commissioned from Etsy has not arrived yet. Also, we only just started The Order of the Phoenix, sending him back to the shelter when he doesn’t know how the series ends? Now that would be animal abuse.”