Journal 1

An Unforgettable Fostering Experience

I have always been an animal lover, becoming a vet to help animals is one of my dreams since I was a little girl. Therefore, I decided to join the university’s animal rescuing club last semester, wishing to help the dogs and cats in need.

In the cold winter of December 2020, we received a message that one of the stray dogs we captured and planned to get neutered was pregnant. She was so skinny that we could not know she was carrying a total of nine puppies in her belly. Finally, in one chilly night, all nine babies came to the world successfully. Since the puppies were young and the mom needs to rest from the delivery, we had to hand feed them milk by syringes, also make sure they burp after eating. The babies had not opened their eyes then, they are only able to go to their foster homes after being weaned off their mother’s milk.

About a month later, the puppies had opened their eyes and started to wander around. The semester had also come to an end, me and other members of the animal rescuing club brought the puppies home and became their fosters as the winter vacation begins.

This photo was taken on the first day I met her, the dog I fostered. I was told that she was the skinniest one in the litter, so I had to give her extra care. Initially, I was worried that she would cry a lot during the car ride home since she had never been in a car and apart from her siblings. To my astonishment, she fell asleep on my lap right away, sweet as an angel. She was so small and cute that I could not take my eyes off of her the whole ride.

Although a puppy might be cute, everyone who had one would say that raising one at this age is made of completely chaos. Waking up to take her to potty three or four times a night, cleaning the unending watery poop and stop her from eating it, crying and whining when you are not by her side, and all the “playful” puppy biting. I was basically a full-time babysitter with no salary.

Despite these things, I do not regret fostering her at all. Having her for a month brought so much joy to my life, and it was truly an exceptional experience. She was such a sweet, smart, and a wonderful puppy, which made saying goodbye so much harder. But the whole thing about fostering is to help them find a forever home, wish them a happy life being loved in their new family, and to keep helping more animals that are in need.