Reporter, Valentina LaFranca – A Michigan native is new to the area but not new to the process. Jordyn Burgess has been fostering for about a decade. when she came to Syracuse, she found ollie.
Burgess: ” He came to us as a stray a little over a year ago. He was in rough condition when we found him, right? Yeah.”
LaFranca – Burgess says Ollie was clearly underweight with obvious behavior issues. Because of his lack of training, she knew he was going to be hard to place.
Burgess – “A shelter environment was not going to be a space he was going to do well in. So, we thought we would immediately begin the foster process. We reached out to Second Chance Canine Adoption Shelter to start that and become formal fosters through their program so we could get him into the home environment where he did have that best chance for success.”
LaFranca – Second Chance Canine Adoption Shelter has a foster network that hatched at the start of covid.
The shelter was forced to shut down during the pandemic, leaving many dogs displaced.
With a dire need to house those dogs who belonged at the time, came a foster community that has only grown since.
But what does fostering a dog mean? Well, it is agreeing to take a homeless dog into your home for a predetermined period of time or until the dog is adopted.
Like Dawson here, who was found in a creek.
But to Carol Wolkensdorfer, fostering is much more than defined.
Wolkensdorfer – “the foster parents are everything.”
LaFranca – Wolkensdorfer is the Second Chance foster coordinator.
Wolkensdorfer – “Fostering I think is one of the greatest things because it only costs you love.”
Lafranca: She says Second Chance will supply a foster family with everything a dog needs so they don’t have to spend a dime. That includes things like crates, food, and toys, but also things like arranging and covering vet visits.
Wolkensdorfer: ” If the foster people can’t do it, we will do it for them.”
LaFranca—”The foster coordinator here at Second Chance says that foster parents are crucial to making the system work. Each dog that can be taken out of the shelter makes room for another, who may be roaming the streets.
LaFranca – And the cycle doesn’t stop there.
Georgette Fernandez, a certified dog trainer at Second Chance, says fostering helps the shelter with the adoption process.
Fernandez – “Those fosters provide so much information to us to make sure that we find the best match for that dog so that they’re not ever homeless again.”
LaFranca – Not only do foster parents provide information, but they also provide relief to dogs who are likely overwhelmed living at a shelter.
Fernandez – “Even though this is a great shelter, it’s not a house, and it’s not a home.”
LaFranca, while becoming a foster parent does good for dogs in and out of the shelter, there is still a cost, not a monetary toll but an emotional one.
Burgess – “I’ve already shed tears and he’s not gone. while I’ll be tremendously sad to see him go, I know it’s going to give me the opportunity to save another dog, and so that’s. It’s what’s going to make it worth it for me.”)
LaFranca – People like Burgess are many dogs’ only hope because the problem is only getting worse, Fernandez says.
Fernando: ” There’s a lot. It’s like I’ve been doing this for thirty years and I’ve never. This is unprecedented in the amount of dogs out there, and it’s just so sad because they don’t deserve it, you know.”
LaFranca – if you’re hesitant about taking the step to foster…
Wolkensdorfer – “Just do it, you’ll get so much love from this dog, and we have a lot of foster fails, which we love because the people, once they foster, they go ‘we just can’t give her up, you know, and that’s the perfect ending.”
“You’re gonna get as much love out of it as the dogs are, and I could cry, and it’s just a perfect thing to do.”
LaFranca – You can’t buy love, but you can rescue it.
Reporting in Syracuse, I’m Valentina LaFranca N-C-C news.
