Becoming a Foster

Ready for another furry face around the house but not quite ready to adopt? Still want to help dogs & cats in need? You'd make the perfect foster family.

Gateway Pet Guardians receives a large number of phone calls or emails begging us to take a shelter dog or a stray whose owners cannot be found. Often, we must reluctantly turn them away simply because we don't have a foster home available. Our foster homes are vital in helping stray animals find their forever homes. Without their hard work and dedication, we could not save, rehabilitate and place these homeless dogs.

Fostering an animal can be one of the most rewarding things you do. Most of the dogs that GPG rescues come from the streets of the St. Louis metro area. After life on the streets (and various other reasons) dogs are typically scared, and sometimes shy. Many of these dogs have never been given any love, training, or medical treatment.

Gateway Pet Guardians duties:

Foster home duties:

The length of time an animal is in foster care can vary greatly. Sometimes (usually with puppies) they will be adopted out in a few weeks. Other times it may take a year! We really have no way of knowing. What we do ask is that our foster homes make the commitment to keep their foster dog until their forever home can be found. The reason we ask for this commitment, is that we do not want them to be "bounced" around. Dogs that have this happen become very unsure of themselves and usually display this with behavior that is less than desirable.

Gateway Pet Guardians is a virtual shelter, which means we do not have an actual location for prospective adopters to stop by to meet our animals. We do have at least 2 adoption events per month. We require our animals to go to at least one event per month (the more exposure, the more chances of them finding their forever homes!). We do prefer the foster parent to be at the events. That way prospective adopters can talk directly to you to get a better idea of behaviors, habits, likes, dislikes, etc.

While a GPG pet is being fostered in your home, our Adoption Coordinator will contact you about scheduling a mutually convenient time for potential adopters to visit, whether at your home or another convenient location. This allows adopters the chance to play and interact with the dog or cat to see if they are "the one".

If you would like to become a foster family for our rescued animals, please fill out our on-line foster application.

If you have questions about the program that were not addressed here, please call us at (314) 664-7398.

All in all, you supply the love and TLC and we supply all the medical treatment and support you need.
Questions about fostering? Contact us at gatewaypetguardians@yahoo.com