Dogs for Better Lives Foster Program - Ashland, OR & Surrounding Areas

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Are you looking for a life-changing volunteer opportunity that also happens to involve hanging out with dogs?

Our team of foster and transportation volunteers make a big impact on our Assistance Dog Programs, helping our dogs through various stages of their Assistance Dog training journey. Sometimes our dogs need a short-term foster home before, during, or after training. Other times a dog will need a ride to another location to begin training on campus or to be handed off to another volunteer or staff member.

Fosters and transportation volunteers must be willing to communicate with our staff and have the patience and desire to work with a young, active dog in our program. Dogs for Better Lives is responsible for all veterinary care of the dog.

Types of fosters we're looking for:

• Foster a dog from a shelter prior to formal training. Before training, newly recruited dogs from a shelter or rescue benefit from a transitional home to start learning appropriate behaviors and ease into working-dog life. Fostering dogs prior to training usually lasts between 2 to 4 weeks.
• Foster a dog in training. Some dogs in training find the kennel environment stressful. You can assist these dogs by providing a short-term home so that they can continue to become a certified Assistance Dog. Fostering dogs in training typically lasts between 3 weeks to 3 months.
• Foster a dog that has been career changed. Giving our Career Change Dogs a temporary home while they wait for adoption can make all the difference in their future as a loving family pet. The duration for this type of fostering is about one to 2 weeks and requires flexibility to transport dogs to the DBL facility for meetings with potential adopters.
• Temporarily foster a puppy. When a puppy raiser goes on vacation, our puppy needs a place to stay where they can continue to learn good behaviors and have new experiences. The duration for this type of foster is anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks.

Join us in our mission to change lives for the better! For more information, please visit our web page at: dogsforbetterlives.org/get-involved or contact Donna Bachek at donna.b@dogsforbetterlives.org