If anyone would like to join us at Abandoned Terrier Rescue Association of Southern California as a volunteer, we would welcome the help, especially as our geographic area has expanded! We would love to have a list for potential transport help and, if possible, short term fostering.

Some of my advice for fostering, especially if you have multiple dogs…

• Your house will no longer be featured in Architectural Digest!
• You may have a crate in every room that can double as end tables!
• Your “rugs” may be pee pads.
• You will get to be personal friends with your vet and staff as the hospital will be your second home.
• You will log more miles on walks.
• Your doggie toy box selection will be reduced.
• You will have Nature’s Miracle on your repeat deliveries from Amazon.
• You will get lots of love and feel like the canine version of the Old Woman in the Shoe sometimes. But Wires are worth it!
• You will get to meet great people who appreciate all you have done and you will see them thrilled to adopt.
• Happy people; happy dogs. Nice endings!

Getting there takes time, effort and sacrifice. It can be scary taking rescues through heartworm and other treatments, and you lie awake at night hoping you are doing what’s right and best—including their placement. You fall in love, but you try to remain detached as you know they will leave one day—but to a home, that is even better than what we foster volunteers can provide.

I joke with Ruth that these Wires come from hell, we are purgatory, and then they go to the home they deserve, and that is heaven on earth!

Those interested in fostering can contact our volunteer Nancy Smith who handles applications and correspondence. Her e-mail is: desnbs@verizon.net. We are working on an application for fostering that should be finished soon and that we can provide. Volunteers willing to help with transport would be great to know about as our territory has expanded, and we often need help with “legs” of transport.

Attention FTN Members: If you participate in transporting (or a leg of transport) a Fox Terrier to or from rescue, the FTN Transport Fund can reimburse you for expenses (limitations may apply).

This article original appeared in the Spring 2021 edition of the All Things Fox Terrier newsletter.