Our fostering process integrating two unfamiliar dogs

It’s been a week with our first foster dog, Val. It wasn’t an easy decision to open our home to another pet (you can read more about our thought process in this article) but I’m thrilled we did!

Here’s a deep dive into our personal process integrating two unfamiliar dogs—one who can be fear reactive and one who is on medical crate rest—and lessons we’ve learned so far.

* Two important notes: 1) I am not a professional dog trainer and 2) progress isn’t linear! This article is by no means meant to outline “steps” I’m telling other folks to follow—nor am I trying to say that everything is totally perfect around here now (just this morning Scout got startled by Val and let out a growl before taking herself to her crate). It is a happy reflection on how far we’ve come in a short time, though. I’m sure there will continue to be ups and downs on our fostering journey.