Become A Foster Parent
Here’s your chance at giving a dog their second chance
About Fostering
Thank you for your interest in becoming a foster home with Brighter Days Dog Rescue!
This page contains all the information you need to know about fostering with BDDR including your responsibilities, what the rescue covers, and what the commitment is.
Before filling out your foster application, please read through the information on this page carefully.
Your Responsibilities
As a foster parent, you would temporarily take an animal into your home and give us a character assessment of the animal. BDDR pays for needed medical attention (at our veterinarian) and food (if you can pick up in Boulder area). If the dog is not house-trained, we hope that you will do some basic training to help make the pet more adoptable.
Most of the animals will be coming from shelters. We ask that you be patient with them and try to help them transition to their new roles as “adoptable dog” in any way needed. Help us try to figure out what they need to move forward and together we can make it happen. BDDR will be with you every step of the way. You can tell us the size, type, age, etc. and we will try to match you to your preference; Size, age, anything else.
There is no guarantee on how long an animal will be with you, but we do everything within our power to get the animal into a permanent home. On average our fosters usually have their pup/pups for about 14 days. This does vary on many factors though. We advertise/list our pets on our website, www.adoptapet.com, www.PetFinder.com, along with 30 other national websites. We use social media to advertise pets, including Facebook and Instagram. You are welcome to advertise your foster as well.
Fostering Commitment
We ask that you truly think about fostering before you decide to foster. Most of the time, almost 100%, when we bring in an animal to a foster home, we have NO OTHER place to put it.
Please keep in mind that it will take us some time to find another foster home. We do require that you give us 72 hours to find a new foster unless there is a life-threatening issue. We ask that you give your foster dog a minimum of 72 hours to adjust in your home, regardless of behavior.
Dogs are completely adrenal coming off transports and need just a quiet, calm environment, love and perhaps exercise to relax after the stressful transport and show their true personality.
Further, it’s important that you are willing to commit to each foster for at least two weeks. Dogs often find homes before that much time elapses, but it’s important that, barring certain pressing circumstances, you are committed to providing a stable and nurturing environment to a dog who may never have experienced this in his life. If you need to travel, please make arrangements as though this was your own dog (i.e., house sitter) but approve it through us first; We have a limited number of resources available at various times. Because we are a small, hands-on, boutique rescue, we need to tap into many of our limited resources whenever a foster situation doesn’t work. Inevitably sometimes a foster placement doesn’t work and is challenging, so we all work as a team to optimize everyone’s experience; you are never stuck.
Veterinary Care
All our K9’s must be fixed before adoption. Typically 99% of the dogs that come in un-neutered/spayed. We have 3 different vets in the Boulder/Denver/Lakewood area. We will have you take your foster dogs/pups to get fixed through one of our partner vets, and they bill us for those procedures, along with any other vetting the dog may need.
Usually, a foster needs to go to the vet only once per foster dog, so there is not an excessive amount of vet visits to go to. There are some exceptions to this if there is a sick dog, or something comes up.
Fostering FAQs
What does it mean to foster for Brighter Days?
Being a foster parent means you are caring for, loving on, and housing a dog in need. We work with local and out of state shelters to bring dogs into foster care and you choose which dog you want to foster. That doesn’t mean you get to pick any and every dog, but from an approved listed of dogs that BDDR is able to pull from shelters.
What are my responsibilities as a foster parent?
During your time as a foster parent with BDDR, you are responsible for taking your foster to all of their veterinarian appointments and administering medications and follow up care. You’re also responsible for caring for this dog (with love, walks, and attention) while they are in your care. You are responsible for communicating with and meeting in-person any approved potential adopters with your foster dog and working with BDDR and the adopter to help the process go smoothly.
What does the rescue provide or cover?
BDDR covers all medical costs and has a large network of resources to supply you with pet beds, food, pee pads, collars, leashes, blankets, whatever you may need for your new foster dog.
How long do dogs stay in my home?
The foster period does vary on the dog/dogs you are fostering. On average each foster period lasts about 10-14 days, give or take a few days. Sometimes if it a slow season (travel season) it can take a bit longer, or if you have a dog with behavioral/medical issues. If you are fostering a family (mom and babies) or a litter of pups it may also be longer depending on the age of the pup. Puppies need to be 8 weeks old and fixed before they are adopted out.
Submit Your Application
We don’t just want the dog to grow from their foster experience, we want our foster families to as well!
After considering this information and your availability and commitment level, you may click the button below to complete your application.
Please answer all of the questions. to the best of your ability. The form must be filled out in its entirety, and you’re not able to save your progress so please set aside enough time to complete the form
Thank you so much, and we look forward to working with you!!
Brighter Days Dog Rescue
Other
Volunteer Opportunities
Contact us to be added to our volunteer list!
Pet Transports
More than 75% of our dogs come from out of state. While we do have many wonderful volunteers who help us drive/fly dogs to Colorado from other states and donate their time, it still costs on average $30 per dog just to transport them to CO. This covers the gas for our volunteers, rental van (if it’s a larger transport) crates, potty pads, slip leads, etc. If you would like to help sponsor a dog to make their way to Colorado for their second chance at a forever family, we would be beyond grateful. We will send you a picture and information on the dog whose life would not be saved without you.
Sponsor a Hospice Dog
Our hospice doggies is where our hearts lie, but they do cost us a good amount of money. If you would like to help sponsor one of our hospice dogs, we know the doggies and their fosters would be eternally grateful. Each month they need food, potty pads, grooming, etc. Not to mention since they are hospice they do rack up a good amount of medical bills from check ups to surgeries to make sure they are as comfortable and healthy as possible.