• Foster Care Program

Want to foster?

Fostering-to-adopt is a great way to see if a dog is right for you before committing to adoption.  To get started, fill out our adoption application, noting you’re interested in foster-to-adopt. A Foster Coordinator will follow up with you to provide you with more info about the DC Dogos Foster Program. Or click here to open the application in a new window.

Before rescue dogs are adopted into their forever homes, they are first placed in the safe haven of a foster home. This loving and supportive environment plays a huge role in helping each dog begin to recover from the anguish of their past life and once again know how to experience love and trust.  If you’ve always wanted the opportunity to care for a dog but were unable at times to commit to long-term care, then fostering a dog in need is the ideal solution. 

Why foster?

Fostering a dog is one of the most rewarding experiences you can have (next to adopting, of course). By temporarily taking an animal in need into your

home. Fosters save lives!! Being a foster is rewarding and a wonderful learning experience for you and your foster dog. Rescues need fosters to help them care for dogs recently taken from shelters, abusive, neglected or just rehome situations. Opening your home to a foster helps us learn more about the dog’s behaviors and needs so we can find him or her the perfect new home.

Fosters will care for the dog as if they were their own and provide the basics such as food, shelter, treats, and TLC. The rescue will cover medical care and medications unless the foster wants to pay for those costs. DC Dogos requires our fosters to help make sure the dog knows basic training and will work with us if a professional trainer is needed. The rescue will seek out adopters and once one is approved then the foster dog gets to go to his or her new family!

Sometimes while fostering a dog, people realize that they are a good fit for their lifestyle and decide they want to adopt. You may sometimes hear people refer to this as being a “foster fail”! However, it is a good fail when it comes to rescue! If this happens to you then we go through the adoption process for the rescue.

There are basically 2 types of fosters.  A Short Term foster is one we reach out for that we know will only be a few days to a few weeks. This happens often when we remove a dog from a shelter and know they are going to an adopter or foster but transport needs to be arranged.  A Long Term foster may be for months but hopefully less than a year. Our goal is to get a dog placed in their new home as soon as we can but sometimes the dog needs medical attention or  proper training before the dog can be placed.

Don’t worry, this is a common feeling.  People are afraid to foster because they don’t want to get attached then see the dog leave. It can be sad and tears are often shed by dog fosters when the dog they care for and love moves on to a new family.  However seeing updates about your foster makes every tear worth it! Knowing you made a difference in the dog’s life and seeing him or her with his new human parents or kids is forever humbling. It is surely worth trying at least once to see if you make a good foster parent!

Example of how fostering saved this Dogo.
Arya

Arya was found as a stray by a kind police officer who brought her to the local shelter in West Palm Beach, FL.  The owner didn’t want to pay the fine to pick her up this time and based on the condition she was in; this person didn’t deserve Arya!  She was a year old, underweight, scared, and not trained at all! Her shelter spay surgery had major complications, which led to another surgery and a long recovery, but she handled it all so well.  Fast forward a few more months and she got herself bit by a brown recluse while with her foster! UGA medical hospital thought we would have to amputate her leg but with some serious foster TLC she kept her leg and made it through 6 months of recovery.

Arya has a special place in our heart so when it came to her adoption, we all knew it had to be the perfect home. Soon enough that home sent us an application and Arya moved her way to New Jersey!  She was so happy to find that she now has 2 little humans and mom and dad who love her like another child. Then something even better happened! Her mom and dad adopted a DC Dogos brother for her named Ares! Life couldn’t get any better for Arya and she truly deserves all the love she gets today.

Arya is a clown, there is no other way to describe her silliness.  She is a a beautiful dogo and her fun personality will have you in stitches.  She is always up to something and her goal is to put a smile on your face…all the time! You can follow Arya on her own Instagram page @onlyarya_thedogoargentino and you can follow Ares too @ohmyares_thedogo.  These are 2 DC Dogos alumni dogs that benefited because fosters stepped up to care for them until their perfect home was found! Thank you to everyone involved in fostering, transporting, and donating to Arya and Ares!

Application Information  – Please read!

Thank you for your interest in adopting with DC Dogos Inc.! Please note that we are a US based rescue and currently adopting to the continental United States only. Your application will undergo a thorough review process and may take several weeks to complete. Not all applicants can be approved, and our decisions consider several factors including background and reference checks. We also take into consideration local, state, and residential BSL regulations as a deciding factor. If your application makes it to the final stages DC Dogos Inc will need a copy of your state ID and proof of address. Before final approval we will conduct a home check that will need to include all members of the household. It is important that all members of the household be in agreement when adopting a rescue from us. We are an all-volunteer organization and we ask that our applicants be patient as your application is being processed. Applications are processed in the order they are received and can take 1-3 or more weeks to completely process. We are very selective on placing our Dogo Argentino rescues but don’t take it personal! Our decisions are based on a combination of our experiences with dogos in rescue and we always act in the best interest of our rescue dogos! Should you have any questions or want to follow up you can email us at adopt@dcdogos. If you are not familiar with the breed please continue to research and ask questions to see if they are the right breed for you and your family!