I foster, but don't know if I want my roommate to...am I being unreasonable?

[Peaches]

Busy weekend! I’ll try to remember it all.

Friday night I met with the foster coordinator (unrelated to this) and talked with her a bit so she was more aware of the situation. We both agreed a weekend trial would be great. Turns out the dog this weekend actually needs a place to go every weekend because his normal foster mom is gone, so the ideal situation would be he could come here during the weekends if this worked out.

I haven’t spoken to Jane, but I don’t think she wants this dog back. I have a feeling she thinks she just got a “rotten egg,” so she might not be turned off from fostering. I’ll talk to her tonight.

I think she’s comparing the weekend foster to my guy and I don’t think that’s fair. My foster is by far the easiest I’ve had. No accidents, not talkative, sleeps through the night, great with every person and dog, good about his food and toys, and when you’re not paying attention to him, he just sits down next to you.

So foster coordinator brings weekend foster over on Friday night and he remembers my guy. Then Fluffy and Weekend meet and play a little bit. Foster coordinator leaves and Weekend immediately starts whining and barking at the door and in general stressing. Jane asks me what to do, so all three humans take all three dogs on a LONG walk. When we get back, Weekend has settled down. I was busy with my guy at the time, but as Jane was taking Fluffy’s harness off, Weekend ran over to Jane and Fluffy went after him. She separates them and they seem fine. Then it’s bed time.

Weekend is a crier in the crate. It got better as the weekend went on, but it was fairly obvious the first night/day. I was gone for a couple hours on Saturday, so I gave Jane and John the option to take my dog out of the crate if they wanted. They did and everyone got along, but John told me after, “Man, it’s hard to study with three dogs. I don’t know how Jane does it.”

I had all of them out Sunday morning and everyone got along and all napped, but the minute her parents got home, Fluffy hid under the couch. Weirdest thing. They introduced Weekend to their room slowly, and apparently Fluffy was okay with him being on the floor and the bed.

At some point while I was out, Weekend pooped on the floor. I wasn’t overly surprised. As of last night, Jane also believes he has a tapeworm. Foster coordinator is aware of this and will be doing something about it after he’s picked up today.

Saturday night, Jane and John take Fluffy and Weekend to the dog park (this has been foster coordinator approved). There’s a small “under 30lb” section and then the main section. Fluffy is ~25lbs, but usually goes in the main area, both fosters are “small section only.” Apparently Weekend just stuck to Jane’s side the whole time. On Sunday, we all went with Fluffy, Weekend, and my foster. Weekend seemed to have a better time.

When I was there Sunday, a woman brought her 3 or 4 year old daughter in the small dog section (this does not normally happen). I made a comment to John that he should watch Weekend around the kid. John goes over to Jane and says worriedly, “Peaches says Weekend is bad with kids!” I have to explain, no, I just don’t trust little kids and dogs, especially at a dog park, especially with a dog you’ve known for two days!!!

John didn’t seem overly happy with Weekend, because Weekend clung to Jane. Additionally, all of John’s human and dog friends at the dog park are in the main section, and he kept mentioning, “Oh look, Rover and George are here” to Jane, and seemed disappointed that he had to stay in the small section.

This morning Jane went out to the main area and let Weekend out. He and Fluffy were playing, but Jane didn’t close the door to her room. Apparently she had put a piece of ham in a paper towel and left it on the night stand to give to Fluffy later. Weekend goes into the room without Jane knowing, finds the ham and starts eating it. When Jane finds him, he’s eating the ham and ripping up the towel. She grabs for him and he snaps at her. She said she’s fine, but was a bit flustered as I talked to her right after it happened. She crated him right after this.

She did let him out later, as I just left my room to watch Fluffy and Weekend. Apparently she went into the room to change, but left both dogs alone outside her door. O_O They got into a spat about that exact situation yesterday (Weekend is jumping and barking, and Fluffy tries to play with him, and/or Fluffy tries to get him away from the door) and I warned John about it! When Jane came out of the room, I was just staring at the two dogs and told her, “I’m watching them because they got into a little tiff in a situation like this yesterday.”

Jane just left and Weekend’s foster mom will be picking him up some time today. I’ll try to update later after I talk to Jane about how everything went, and address some of the Fluffy food questions then. The SPCA provides food, so Weekend got his normal kibble.

[Polydor]

Can’t help with the situation at all but that seems really tough on Weekend to be moving houses/people every 4 days.

P.

[arapaloosa_lady]

That sounds like a tough situation on the foster dog being shuffled around homes so often, especially with new dogs/people.

I’d be badgering my roommate about feeding Fluffy something besides boiled chicken! Feeding such a nutritionally unbalanced diet is neglectful, even though it’s coming from a kind-hearted place of wanting to feed Fluffy yummy homemade human food.

[wendy]

Sorry Wendy but some dogs definitely are omnivores with a carnivore bias. My Jack Russell love fruits and vegetables and nuts,

just because they love something doesn’t mean they need to eat it or that it is good for them. A small minority of humans can eat dairy but no human needs to eat dairy to survive. Most humans love to eat sugar, but it kills an awful lot of us. We have no dietary need for sugar and would probably be better off in today’s society if we ate no sugar. Many pet dogs are fed high-sugar (grain) diets and enjoy them tremendously, and then suffer from decaying teeth, obesity, kidney failure and diabetes.
Dogs are physically carnivores. They have no nutritional need to eat anything other than dead animals. It is true they are “open” and can scavenge calories from anywhere if necessary, but that doesn’t mean it’s good for them, it just means they can survive during hard times. A good feature but not one that should guide feeding during non-hard times.
Since a pet dog isn’t exactly a starvation situation it’s hard to justify feeding the poor thing anything other than what it needs nutritionally, which is meat, organs and bones.
Definitely not boiled chicken by itself. Doesn’t mean the dog needs to be fed kibble- if the owners want to feed fresh food, good for them. Plenty of balanced home-made recipes out there to guide them.

[Nicker]

IMO, I see nothing to make me say absolutely no way she should foster. It’s a learning experience with every dog. The good thing is the ones you don’t really connect with can go on to be adopted and the ones you really love can stay, or you can pawn off on your friends. I see more reason for the person fostering and shuffling her foster dog around every weekend to rethink fostering. That’s really not fair to the poor dog. It would be nice if the weekend home was the same every weekend.

Besides, maybe her boyfriend will talk her out of it?! Problem solved.

[Peaches]

I don’t really understand the person who’s gone every weekend fostering, and neither does Jane. Weekend definitely should be at the same place until he gets adopted. I don’t know.

Jane is done with fostering. I guess this weekend she realized that it’s not the same as having your own dog (I could have told her that!). Not sure I like where this is going though…

I know she’s been looking at Craigslist for a while, but I thought it was more along the lines of window shopping. Nope, she’s been actively looking for any dogs that make her “light up” or any Dalmatian. She had a Dalmatian growing up and she really wants one again.

However, apparently she hasn’t found any Dalmatians or dogs that she likes on Craigslist, and has decided that what she really wants is another Fluffy. So today she found a Jack Russell rescue and applied for a month old puppy that will be available mid-November.

I have heard non-stop from Jane and John that they’ve been warned against having two Jacks. However, Jane really wants a clone of Fluffy and says, “We know some people who manage two.” Additionally, they want to get a puppy so that, “It will grow up knowing that Fluffy is the boss.”

A) I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work that way and B) I’m pretty sure those “some people who manage two” don’t live in an apartment!

She applied today and should hear back from them in 2-3 days for an interview. If the interview goes well, a home visit is required. “One of our volunteers will visit your home to ensure that your yard is secure and safe for a terrier.” I am really hoping it won’t go past the interview stage. In my mind, there is no way it should. I looked on their application and it looks like she would be disqualified based on living in an apartment. I know under yard section she said she has a patio and an “outside yard for potty.” Yes, we have a fenced patio and technically our apartment backs up to a grass potty area…but it’s not fenced.

[Bicoastal]

Take a deep breath and wait. No need to freak out if she gets rejected.

And I thought you were going to say she’s been looking on Craigslist for a new apt…

[Simkie]

There’s a lot of good news here. She is done fostering and it sounds like no one was injured She is applying for a puppy from a place that is terribly unlikely to give her one

But where there’s a will, there’s a way. Sounds like Jane is dead set on wanting another dog. Perhaps you might want to look for a new place to live? Once she gets turned down from legitimate rescues/breeders/etc, then she’ll probably just hit up a pet store or stumble across some fly by night breeder on CL, and then the proverbial shit will really hit the fan. (Or, with a puppy, I suppose it could be literal shit ;))

This sounds like an excellent time for you to exit stage right and wish her well.

[bits619]

[QUOTE=Simkie;7818481]
There’s a lot of good news here. She is done fostering and it sounds like no one was injured She is applying for a puppy from a place that is terribly unlikely to give her one

But where there’s a will, there’s a way. Sounds like Jane is dead set on wanting another dog. Perhaps you might want to look for a new place to live? Once she gets turned down from legitimate rescues/breeders/etc, then she’ll probably just hit up a pet store or stumble across some fly by night breeder on CL, and then the proverbial shit will really hit the fan. (Or, with a puppy, I suppose it could be literal shit ;))

This sounds like an excellent time for you to exit stage right and wish her well.[/QUOTE]

Seriously, all of this. Though fostering is out, I don’t think the situation is getting better if she’s shopping for a dog to own.
Agreed take a breath and wait because she very well may be denied from the places she goes at first…
But I’d be checking out your own housing options as well. Seems like this living situation won’t get any better than it is now. Is there much time left on your lease?