The Dog I Couldn't Save

In the world of Animal Welfare, when we say one of our foster animals was a “Foster Failure”, it’s tongue in cheek.  It usually means the foster parent couldn’t part with the animal they were fostering and ended up adopting them.  It’s usually a happy accident!  Usually.



One of my fosters, Rudy, who I fell totally in love with!

Buttercup was an adorable little Chihuahua mix that I fostered about a year ago.  She was my first Foster Failure, but it wasn’t the happy accident that usually defines “Foster Failures”.   This one was a true failure.  Buttercup turned out to be beyond my abilities.  I had to admit that I couldn’t help this one, I couldn’t save this one.

My Volunteer Coordinator Deb contacted me and asked if I could foster a sweet little dog named Buttercup who wasn’t doing well at the shelter.  She felt that Buttercup just needed a few weeks away from the stress of the shelter and she would be fine.  In a calm environment she might not be so skittish, which was impacting her ability to connect with potential adopters and find a new forever home.



My foster dog Howdy, who had minor behavior issues but quickly turned around

A couple of months before, I had fostered a little black dog named Howdy who had some minor behavior issues.  After just two weeks in our peaceful home with our well adjusted, well behaved dogs he was able to go back to the shelter and was adopted shortly afterwards!  I was still feeling good about Howdy and was ready to take on another foster dog, so I brought Buttercup home.

As always, my dogs were curious to meet their newest houseguest.  I put her in the guest room, a.k.a  The Foster Room, and put up the puppy gate.  My dogs sat outside the puppy gate as they always do, noses in the air trying to get a whiff of their new friend.

 



My dogs outside the puppy gate greeting Howdy for the first time

I got Buttercup settled in her crate, giving her a doggie bed, water, and a bit of food.  After awhile I allowed my little dog Phoebe into the room to meet her, and later I brought my Husky, Isis in for a greeting.  This period of time is usually marked by curiosity, lots of sniffing, and a touch of wariness as personalities begin to emerge.  But this time it was weird.  My dogs seemed to sense something odd in Buttercup.  They quickly left the room and avoided her for the next two days!  Highly unusual.  Oh well , I thought, maybe they’re just not that into her.

In the next day or so I realized that Buttercup was more than a little bit skittish.  She was over the top skittish!  I had never seen such an anxious dog.  OK, no problem.  I can handle that.  Over the next few days I tried everything I could think of to ease her anxiety, but nothing worked. 

She chewed the plastic all around the plastic crate liner.   When I secured the liner to the crate with zip ties she managed to get underneath it and get stuck there.  She later chewed underneath the holes in the crate, making holes in the carpet.  She wouldn’t potty in the yard if we were out there so we put her in the yard and went inside for 15 minutes.  When we came out she had chewed off one of the wooden planks on a gate and squeezed through.  Thankfully, it was an internal gate that didn’t lead to the outside of the property, otherwise she’d have been long gone! 

There were many other expressions of extreme anxiety and I came to the conclusion that I couldn't deal with it on my own.  I assessed that she would probably need several months of fostering with someone more experienced than I in dealing with extreme anxiety.   I called my Volunteer Coordinator and shared my thoughts on Buttercup’s fostering needs.  She arranged to take Buttercup back.

You're probably wondering why I didn't post a photo of buttercup.  Actually, she looked a lot like Rudy, who you see pictured at the beginning of this post.  I searched for one of the photos I took of her during Buttercup's brief stay with us but couldn't any!  Perhaps I deleted those photos because I didn't want the reminder of my first foster failure.  I felt so awful that I couldn’t help Buttercup, it was a huge sense of failure. 

I found out later that Buttercup was transported to a rescue in another state that had the resources and the time to work with her on the anxiety.  After several weeks I was happy to learn that Buttercup was doing well in her new environment.  So in the end Buttercup got the help she needed, it just wasn't from me.

I try to tell myself it wasn’t my fault that I wasn’t able to help little Buttercup.   Sometimes, despite the best of intentions, you come across a dog or cat that you are unable to help.  You have to acknowledge that and try your best to find someone who can.

 
Have you ever had a foster pet you felt was too much for you to handle?   Leave us a comment and share your story, we always love to hear from you!