I have always been a dog lover and in October 2023 I started volunteering with Love-A-Bull, a pitbull rescue and advocacy group in Austin, Texas.

My first foster… well technically Cheddar was my first foster but I think we all knew we wouldn’t be sending him back. That brings me to Pippi. Pippi was the second dog I ever transported as a Love-A-Bull volunteer and when her wonderful long term foster had a family emergency and she needed a temp foster I said YES PLEASE.

Can you have a heart dog that isn’t yours? If so, Pippi is that for me. I think about her all the time and I love her so much. Cheddar (while a perfect angel in my eyes) resource guards pretty much everything so we did a meet and greet to introduce them then a crate and rotate situation. They did great on walks together and would coexist well and safely separated by crates and gates.

While I’d spent time with Pippi, it was fun and different living with her. I found out she’s a little naughty! 😆

She would trim my aloe Vera plant whenever I looked away, puppy nibble my feet, and ran out the front door twice even though I know to treat any new dog like a flight risk! (See air jail pic) 🤭

In the short time she was at our house, Love-A-Bull helped with some training for those behaviors to give her the best chance of adoption. When I had to drop her off at a new long term foster I was so sad to leave her cause she’s my little buddy but happy she’d be with a dog she could play with – something she needed and deserved as a three year old pup.

Just a week later I got to take Pippi to meet her new family. When we arrived the 3 daughters had written Pippi in sidewalk chalk out front. I could’ve cried! She met the two resident dogs and while it was a little bumpy at first, we worked through big feelings and all agreed to start the adoption trial. Imagine how my heart swelled each time I got an update about the dogs getting along more. I got pictures of Pippi (now Mazzy) cuddling every family member and the older daughter sleeping on the ground with her.

As a proud foster failer and successful foster, I can’t recommend both enough. Really nothing bad can come from opening up your home to save a life, even if it’s just as a temporary foster for a couple of weeks while a long term foster is traveling.

Love-A-Bull makes it easy to foster by providing all the supplies needed, a training plan for dogs as needed, marketing for the dogs, and even helps with transport to vet appointments and adoption events if needed. Thank you @petcolove for the inspiration to share! #MyFirstFoster