Thank you for your interest in fostering a dog for APARN. APARN’s primary objective is to find good homes for Arizona’s homeless pugs. Our Foster Home Program is the backbone of APARN and critical to our success. Our foster home program involves taking in a rescue pug and caring for them as a part of your family until a match is made for them with one of our adoptive families.
What are the basic requirements for being a foster home? We are looking for patient, committed and animal-loving homes. Applicants need to be 25+ years old, have a driver’s license, be non-smokers, and either own their homes or have permission from landlords to foster. Applicants can own other animals, but they need to be pug size or smaller for safety reasons. All animals in the home must be altered
What type of pug will I be fostering? We get all kinds of pugs in, including strays, owner surrenders, or abandoned. They are of all ages and in all kinds of health (physical and emotional) conditions. We also sometimes get in pug mixes and other flat nose breeds. We work closely with each foster family to ensure the pug you will foster will fit in with your lifestyle and current family dynamic.
What is fostering like? Rescue pugs often come with a lot of emotional and/or physical baggage, and fostering requires a lot of love, patience, and commitment. Foster homes are a critical bridge for the pugs from arriving at APARN to being adopted into their forever home. You are often the one responsible for them “learning to be a dog”. For animal lovers, there is no better feeling than knowing you played a critical role in not only saving a dog’s life, but helping an adoptive family receive the pug they have been waiting for.
Who pays the bills when I foster? Your foster will arrive to you already checked by a vet and having had necessary medical care. Any subsequent required medical care is paid for by APARN. We can also set you up with basic equipment you require such as crates, bowls, harnesses and leashes. We ask foster families to cover food, but if it is a financial hardship or an expensive prescription diet, we can cover it.
What is expected of me besides housing and loving the pug? You will work closely with the Foster Home Manager to provide regular updates, photos and a biography on your dog for potential adopters. We also have adoption events that we would like you to being your pug to (note: currently on hold due to Covid).
Can I adopt the pug I am fostering? No. We are asking you to do something that is hard to do. We are asking for you to love a dog. and then to give it to an adoptive family. But without you, we cannot continue to rescue pugs. Every dog you foster is a life saved. It is an incredibly rewarding experience. However, it is not for everyone. If you’d think you’d like to also adopt, we invite you to apply to our Foster-to-Adopt program.
I think I’d want to adopt the pug I’m fostering. We have a new program called Foster-to-Adopt that we invite you to apply for!
I have read all this and I want to Foster!
Fantastic! Here is the application.