Big dogs aren’t harder to love, but they are waiting longer to find it. New survey data from Best Friends Animal Society shows that large dogs (over 40 pounds) wait nearly twice as long to be adopted as small dogs (under 40 pounds). According to over 1,000 shelters and rescue groups surveyed, the number one reason for the wait isn’t temperament or training – it’s a shortage of people willing to foster large dogs.
Best Friends is calling on people across the country to open their home, even temporarily, to a big dog. Fostering is central to Best Friends’ work to end the killing of dogs and cats in shelters. When large dogs are overlooked by fosters and adopters, they are more likely to remain in crowded shelters where limited space makes them an at-risk population. Choosing to foster can quite literally save a life.
At Best Friends’ shelter partner Jeffersonville Animal Shelter in Indiana, shelter director Kristie Ashcraft saw firsthand how a foster program could be life-changing for large dogs. The shelter struggled for years to get large dogs into homes more quickly.
With support from Best Friends, Jeffersonville launched a foster program and community campaign to challenge assumptions that big dogs are harder to manage. The response was immediate: the shelter placed 30 dogs into foster homes in just 15 days and placed 91 dogs into foster homes in the program’s first three months alone.
Within less than two years, the shelter was saving 91% of the pets that entered their care, up from 84%, proving that when communities show up to foster big dogs, more lives are saved.
“At Best Friends Animal Society, we believe pets belong in loving homes,” says Julie Castle, CEO, Best Friends Animal Society. “Opening your home to foster a large dog, specifically those over 40 pounds who tend to wait the longest in shelters, can make a huge difference. Big dogs don’t care if you live in a mansion or a small city apartment, they just need a soft spot to sleep and a little bit of your time.”
Best Friends encourages anyone interested in fostering to contact their local shelter or rescue group. Many organizations provide fosters with some supplies the pet needs, including food, treats, toys, a bed and more – all the foster volunteer needs to do is provide a home and some love. For those unable to foster, Best Friends recommends donating supplies, such as extra-large crates, dog gates or toys, to a local shelter or rescue group to help support fosters of big dogs.
Meet sweet little mama Claudia, a stray now at the Farmington Regional Animal Shelter. Claudia arrived at the shelter with a litter of puppies, which were adopted shortly after being weaned; now it’s Claudia’s turn to find a loving home. She is appropriately three years old and weighs in the neighborhood of 45 pounds. She is a friendly Heinz 57 (even AI wouldn’t hazard a guess as to breed), but she is a good-natured dog looking for someplace to call home. You can visit Claudia and a whole lot of other good dogs at the Farmington Regional Animal Shelter, which is open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.