00:00so my good friend Sonny Noel from the Randolph Regional Animal Shelter is joining me
00:07on DHA's Rockin' Rough Roundtable to talk about a program that I absolutely love I think just
00:13hearing the words foster to adopt make people feel really comfortable because when you're
00:20bringing a new family member into your home you want to make sure it's the right fit and
00:25it just works out so well for everyone involved by the way we do have a mascot here
00:30this is beautiful sweet lovely Cher Cher is up for adoption hi Cher and she's so happy and sweet and
00:37just absolutely incredible love to get my doggy kisses so Son talk to us a little bit about the
00:45foster to adopt program when did you guys actually start it because you were one of the first rescue
00:50organizations that I remember decided to do foster to adopt well I think it just came through the idea
00:58of taking the pressure off of people that they're adopting an animal and then it was a finalized
01:06thing and we just wanted them to feel more at ease about bringing the animal home and just taking it
01:14day by day and seeing if the animal is a good fit we do it for cats dogs rabbits it's really it kind
01:24of just happened organically with just offering it to people of basically saying just try just you
01:30know try and there's no time length that they have to be committed to they can take some people know
01:37within a few days if the animal is going to be a you know keeper or some people it takes a little bit
01:45longer and we're fine with that we keep the animal listed for adoption during that time frame and let
01:51people know that the animal is in a foster to adopt situation and will still accept applications so that
01:58if it doesn't work out we can refer back to them but it's really just a nice way for a person to take
02:05a dog a cat a rabbit home and just see if it's something that will fit into their lifestyle if
02:12it's the right match some animals and especially dogs have different energy levels and sometimes you
02:18don't know that until you take them home and they get settled right now currently at the shelter we have
02:24two or three dogs that are in the foster to adopt program one it only took two days for the
02:31person to know that uh the dog isn't going anywhere and she's in love with him the other one is a cattle
02:38dog mix that has a higher energy they're just learning about um his instinctive traits to want to run and
02:47chase and all of that stuff so there it might take a little longer for them and that's fine um so it's
02:54just a really it's a way to just take the pressure off of thinking that you know it's a finalized
03:00adoption even though even when animals are adopted we always take them back as well um and you know
03:06sometimes we don't know what a dog or cat is like till they actually get into a home and start feeling
03:12comfortable so yeah and i think the mission of the shelter has always been to get these animals into
03:19the best possible home so that's why foster to adopt works we've had many wdha listeners who've done it
03:25lou comes to mind and lou literally wanted to adopt immediately and you were the person who said to
03:31lou just wait a little bit longer and make sure she was a high energy dog and it was a great match
03:36and she's come to visit me and lou has come to various wdha events so hi lou and kona it's nice to
03:43see that your adoption your foster to adopt worked out really well and you've said that the actual
03:48return rate for doggies or cats coming back to the shelter is very very low because people love this
03:54program everybody feels very at ease with it and that has really been more of a success for you
04:00guys than if you didn't have it absolutely i uh like you just said um recommend people to to take
04:08it this way and to do the foster to adopt because sometimes people um you know they're so excited and
04:14and they they want to just adopt which is great also but i you know in dogs and situations like
04:21where we had a wild child kona i want to make sure that people get a true feel for what they're
04:27signing up for um so that's why i say you know might as well go this route and just you know take the
04:34pressure take the ease off get to learn each other and sometimes if it even if it isn't a good fit
04:40sometimes the the folks will still hang on to the dog and just truly then just foster they'll open
04:47their homes to just keeping the animal till they find a permanent home which is really nice too
04:53yeah doggies get out of the shelter and they get to live in a home environment you learn a little bit
04:57more about them i have been a foster to adopt person and i have been a foster failure twice so
05:04both dogs you know rosie that's rosie came to me as a foster to adopt she was a young pup and i had an
05:09older dog and i was fostering her to adopt her and of course she never left so i'm somebody who has
05:14had experience with it and it really really is a good feeling and it's great because you know you're
05:19working with a dog and you're learning about the dog and the dog is learning about you and um i i just
05:23love it and it's been so successful for the shelter the other thing i want to say is in the situations
05:29where it's not a good match for whatever reason and the animal comes back to us i always tell people
05:36that that is okay that gives us the feedback of what maybe this dog or cat does need what kind of
05:44home would be better for them it gives us the insight of what the animal would be like in a home because
05:51we only see them in their kennel environment so we know what they are like you know in in that type of
05:58controlled environment so even if it doesn't work out it actually still gives us wonderful information
06:03to then better place the dog i love it sunny randolph regional animal shelter the foster to adopt
06:09program has been a smashing success and i just wanted you to talk about it a little bit so people
06:14can get an understanding for what it is and thank you so much and look at how good is share she's just
06:20so come here share you're so good i just love you thank you my little love you've been so good and uh thank
06:26you for checking out the rock and rock round table we're gonna go play with share now
06:29we're gonna go play with share now
06:35you
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