Ok, so where was I...Oh yes, the RAGOM home visit! So, the home visit was scheduled for 6pm on a Wednesday and at the appointed time in mid February, a very kind gal and her golden retriever named "Teddy" met us at the door. Now I have often thought that it is probably easier to adopt a child than it is to be inducted into a rescue organization like RAGOM. I mean, here we were putting ourselves out there to help on a strictly volunteer basis with no other reward than perhaps the gratitude of seeing a few of these beautiful goldens pass through our home and into the loving arms of a forever family. But here we were, opening our home to a stranger who was about to ask us 2 hours worth of questions that would make us re-think whether we should instead adopt a kid! I had gotten all of the eye-rolling out of my system earlier in the day so I wouldn't be tempted to do it in front of the home visit volunteer. But, there might still be an urge.
Teddy burst into the house on a long leash and greeted our 2 dogs- there was enought butt sniffing to last the entire night. We all settled into the livingroom and chatted casually as the dogs darted around us, trying to figure each other out. In hindsight, that was probably the first unspoken question that the volunteer was trying to assess- was the chaos of a new dog enough to drive us over the edge immediately? We didn't flinch. Soon came the other questions. "What kind of food do you feed your dogs?" which was followed with a 3 page list on how to score the quality of your dogfood. Basically, what the document intimated was that unless you're feeding your dog pure meat, you're doing it wrong. What is the source of this information, I asked. She didn't know. Ooooh, my eye started to twitch.
Next question: why do you want to foster a dog? Hmmm, I always like to tell people that we have goldens because they look nice next to the fireplace. That was probably not going to win me any points. Neither was my husband's carefully worded response of "Because my wife is making me do it." Well, let's see what we can do with the next question...."What do you do with the dogs when you are gone for more than a few hours?" OK, this was a trick question. RAGOM and other rescues are adamantly against the use of outdoor kennels, which we have and use on occasion. Yet, it is perfectly acceptable to crate a dog in a tiny box indoors while the owner is away at work. Eye twitches again. We explain that fortunately, since I work from my home office, there is little need to use the kennel anymore. The volunteer seems wary and explains that this may get us rejected as fosters but that she would explain it carefully in her notes. Eye is REALLY twitching now.
The evening ended with several more questions and a few more butt sniffs between the dogs, and a "we'll be in touch in a week or 2." As the volunteer left, the house settled down to its normal din and my husband and I rolled our eyes like they have never been rolled before. There is a very noticable culture among rescues, one that beging more conservative, we were probably ill suited for. The dogs would not be living ON the furniture, sleeping in our beds with us, or dining on flank steak. Although our dog, Dakota, does enjoy sharing a pillow next to the fireplace with me fairly regularly. We could give a new dog a very nice, loving home to enjoy until he found his real home. The risk we ran was falling in love too much with a new dog that we would want to adopt it ourselves. No, I was pretty sure that my resolve would be strong enough not to let this happen.
So, time passed and we waited to hear from RAGOM whether we were approved to be a foster family. In the back of my mind, I started to think that it didn't much matter if we were rejected on the basis of the kennel issue- we were happy with our dogs and we were a good family and that's all that mattered. So, a week later when we received the approval notice via email, I was happy in a low key sort of way. We'll take it as it comes and see how things go.
Were we ready to take on that first foster dog? No, there's training! "What?" I thought. What is there to train on? Take dog, feed, pet, take out for a poop, repeat. Boy was I wrong! Not only is there training but there is 3 hours of it on a saturday morning an hour and a half from home! If we hadn't bailed by this point, we were destined for fostering greatness......
Teddy burst into the house on a long leash and greeted our 2 dogs- there was enought butt sniffing to last the entire night. We all settled into the livingroom and chatted casually as the dogs darted around us, trying to figure each other out. In hindsight, that was probably the first unspoken question that the volunteer was trying to assess- was the chaos of a new dog enough to drive us over the edge immediately? We didn't flinch. Soon came the other questions. "What kind of food do you feed your dogs?" which was followed with a 3 page list on how to score the quality of your dogfood. Basically, what the document intimated was that unless you're feeding your dog pure meat, you're doing it wrong. What is the source of this information, I asked. She didn't know. Ooooh, my eye started to twitch.
Next question: why do you want to foster a dog? Hmmm, I always like to tell people that we have goldens because they look nice next to the fireplace. That was probably not going to win me any points. Neither was my husband's carefully worded response of "Because my wife is making me do it." Well, let's see what we can do with the next question...."What do you do with the dogs when you are gone for more than a few hours?" OK, this was a trick question. RAGOM and other rescues are adamantly against the use of outdoor kennels, which we have and use on occasion. Yet, it is perfectly acceptable to crate a dog in a tiny box indoors while the owner is away at work. Eye twitches again. We explain that fortunately, since I work from my home office, there is little need to use the kennel anymore. The volunteer seems wary and explains that this may get us rejected as fosters but that she would explain it carefully in her notes. Eye is REALLY twitching now.
The evening ended with several more questions and a few more butt sniffs between the dogs, and a "we'll be in touch in a week or 2." As the volunteer left, the house settled down to its normal din and my husband and I rolled our eyes like they have never been rolled before. There is a very noticable culture among rescues, one that beging more conservative, we were probably ill suited for. The dogs would not be living ON the furniture, sleeping in our beds with us, or dining on flank steak. Although our dog, Dakota, does enjoy sharing a pillow next to the fireplace with me fairly regularly. We could give a new dog a very nice, loving home to enjoy until he found his real home. The risk we ran was falling in love too much with a new dog that we would want to adopt it ourselves. No, I was pretty sure that my resolve would be strong enough not to let this happen.
So, time passed and we waited to hear from RAGOM whether we were approved to be a foster family. In the back of my mind, I started to think that it didn't much matter if we were rejected on the basis of the kennel issue- we were happy with our dogs and we were a good family and that's all that mattered. So, a week later when we received the approval notice via email, I was happy in a low key sort of way. We'll take it as it comes and see how things go.
Were we ready to take on that first foster dog? No, there's training! "What?" I thought. What is there to train on? Take dog, feed, pet, take out for a poop, repeat. Boy was I wrong! Not only is there training but there is 3 hours of it on a saturday morning an hour and a half from home! If we hadn't bailed by this point, we were destined for fostering greatness......
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