Fostering - A way to help out dogs stuck in between

Foster families do so much more than provide a roof over a homeless Great Dane's head and a meal in their tummy. Through careful observation, they help GDRNE-NC's evaluators determine the best forever home for each unique dog and their personality. 

Commitment from the people to be with this dog during the entirety of its stay and understanding that the dog you are helping will move on to its forever home, even if that is with you as a foster fail.

• Plan on a 4-6 week stay.  This is "an average" and the dog could be there less or more time
  • We cannot guarantee the timeline, we do what we can to get a dog adopted as soon as possible but it largely up to the dog's needs.
  • We can only provide food when we have donations coming into the rescue, otherwise food and other regular maintenance for the animal falls onto the foster
• Foster Danes can have special needs, in most cases these are medical or behavioral, etc. 
• Know they are not "perfect".
• You cannot pick the foster family - we will match a foster family to their foster Dane based on environment, family structure, experience, location, etc.
• Most Great Danes require a fenced in yard - we understand that is not always possible and work with foster applicants on a case by case bases
  • This is not only due to their needs, but when a dog is in foster - the actions of the dog while in foster care, fall on the rescue, and what that dog does if he ever were to "escape" from the foster will fall on the rescue. 
  • Blind/Deaf dogs required fenced in areas for their own personal safety
• Fosters need to be able to transport the dog to vet as needed
  • We always attempt to work with vets close by
  • We also work with vets that provide discounts to rescues
  • We prefer vets that know large breeds
  • We also have to sometimes take some dogs to specialists
• Behavior issues may require the foster to take the dog to training.
• Small kids is not a disqualification but understand some foster dogs, we do not know well yet and sometimes it can be a safety measure not to place a foster with small kids due to a Great Dane's size or until we know how they are with children.
• Unneutered or unspayed animals in the house also can present issues as our fosters may be waiting to be spayed/neutered themselves.
• Large number of animals in the household also can be a concern in the event the foster is not able to assimilate, and again we are not always sure how the foster does with other animals.

 These are some guidelines to let you know what we feel is "ideal" but no household is going to have all of the above. Some dogs are fantastic with kids, some have great recall while others have none, some are not mobile enough to require a fence while others may run laps. 

We go, case by case. Please apply and we can talk about the right foster for your individual environment.

**Online Application coming soon, if interested in fostering one of our dogs, email us at northerngdrne@gmail.com