Both Aaron and I have always had a passion for animals and have always had animals in our lives. We started out with a second hand hamster called Twickers (he belonged to a friend of Aaron's who had to find him a new home when he left Uni). After Twickers passed away we got another hamster called Poppy. When we bought our first house together we got Hermes who was a rescue cat (he's a big fluffy white cat who looks like a Norwegian forest cat).

After Hermes was settled Aaron spent the next few months convincing me to get a dog. Our first dog Jasmine is a lab x terrier (we think), she is gorgeous and incredibly gentle (especially when play fighting with puppies). A few years later we decided to get another dog (well actually Aaron kept whinging and I gave in) to keep Jasmine company. After looking through different breeds we decided on a Cocker Spaniel, so Bracken came to live with us October 06. Jasmine at first was not too thrilled by the new arrival and wouldn't go near Aaron for 3 - 4 days (I guess she thought he'd betrayed her or something) but after a while Jasmine grew to love her lil sister and now they are the best of friends.

Before I started posting on a dog forum neither of us even knew about fostering furry things. We spoke to a few people who were fostering and asked them about their experiences. Everything we heard was positive, but they pointed out that it is hard work and can be emotionally challenging at times.

We then contacted a few rescue centres and found that some used foster homes, while others relied solely on kennels. One of the people that we met on the dog forum was involved with Four Paws Animal Rescue. We were very impressed with the friendliness of the Four Paws co-ordinators and the quick responses we got back to any questions we had. This was one of the most important things as it made us feel that there was a good network of people who could support us in any eventuality.

Four Paws were having an open day so we decided to go along and help out (so we could assess them). Everybody was lovely and we had a great day (Jasmine and I even came first in the best 6 legs competition!! Even though mine were a little bit sunburnt.). All of the dogs we met were lovely and you could see they were all very well looked after and the people from Four Paws were passionate about helping animals.

We decided to take the plunge and sign up to be fosterers. After a home check to ensure that we were all suitable and that our house had a secure garden, we were ready to go!

The difficult decision was then, who do we foster? As we already have two dogs and a cat it was important that who ever we fostered would fit in with Jasmine, Bracken and Hermes. After a short wait and quick holiday in Italy, we went across the border to South Wales for the day and met some of the dogs looking for foster homes.

Whilst we were there we met a little puppy called Alfie. Both Jasmine and Bracken took to the puppy straight away; it was amazing he looked just like a mini version of Jasmine (she could easily be mistaken for his mum!). As most of our doggy experience has been with puppies we decided Alfie was the one for us. As he was a pup he would also be easier to introduce to Hermes as well.

Since Alfie has been here, he has settled in really well. There have been a few little bits of growling (mainly from a grumpy hormonal Bracken) as he worked out his place in the group and who owns which toy/bone/chair/shoe etc.... He has got more confident with the cat, but is sensible to take note of any warning signs. We have worked with him on his toilet training and he has been getting plenty of socialisation with our dogs.

The next task was to find Alfie his forever home. We set about promoting Alfie by posting on sites, putting up posters, etc. He is a gorgeous little guy and we will really miss him when he goes, but we know that this needs to happen if we are to help other dogs. There are many tales of failed fosterers who end up keeping their foster and I'm sure this will happen to us one day. We have really enjoyed fostering Alfie but know that each new foster dog that comes along will be different and require different things from us.
Emily xxx

If you think you have what it takes to be a foster carer please email [email protected].