We have lived in Albuquerque for two month now and have settled in more or less. We are still exploring different parts of the city and trying different routes. One of the things we decided to do differently was to become more engaged in the community that we live in. So far we have attended two neighborhood meetings (sadly it’s to set up a ‘neighborhood watch’ program since there have been some break-ins) and our builder’s celebration for being the national leader in number of green homes built. So what, you may ask does that have to do with pet rescue? I’m getting there…. 🙂
First some background. Diane has been following the San Francisco Shiba cam since the beginning – keeping track of the litters and the various dogs (there’s a discussion board as well). Naturally, we have had discussions about getting a dog for some time now. Never having had a dog (fishes were the closest I ever had to a pet) I was weary and reluctant (‘stubborn’ if you ask Diane ;-)). Part of this was due to the fact that getting a dog is a long term commitment and thus not something to be entered into lightly. So, what if  I/we didn’t like having a dog after all? I wanted to ‘try before you buy’ – hence we are fostering rescue dogs.
The dog rescue organization is called ‘Pet-A-Bulls’Â – rescuing mostly American Pitbull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers and mixes involving those two breeds. Â The organizations director (Mary) lives in Santa Fe and can only accomodate so many dogs that she brings down for the weekly adoption event at the PetSmart store. Â By placing dogs with foster parents it allows her to rescue more dogs from shelters.
After Diane read about the organization and followed it on facebook for a while we went down to the PetSmart a couple of weeks ago to check it out. I/we eased into this slowly, at first only filling out a foster application but not taking a dog home yet. Pet-A-Bulls makes fostering attractive since all veterinarian costs are covered, they provide food as well as a crate. The foster parents responsibility is to provide a loving home for the pet and drop it off Saturday mid-morning at the PetSmart location for the adoption event.
After the initial exploratory visit we went back the next Saturday to see what dogs needed fostering. We found one that we liked size and temperament wise but she was adopted later in the day. That’s OK since that’s the whole purpose of the exercise. We had more luck the next weekend when we brought home ‘Wrinkles’ …
