Fostering the Foster Movement

This episode was produced and hosted by Stacey Axelrod, with production assistance from Kate Trahan, Lauren Cattan, Daniela Escobar Blaines, and Sarah Brasky.
Sound mixing and mastering by Jack Braglia.

Why We Foster was created by NYC Pet Photographer Stacey Axelrod and brought to you by Foster Dogs, the leading organization in creating positive, inclusive foster communities.
Support the show with a donation to Foster Dogs!

Transcript:

Dorie Herman: It's just amazing because we have all these different people from different walks of life, who have such different experiences and assets to bring. For me, my dogs don't really love lots of other dogs, and so I haven't actually been able to foster or fospice myself. But I have many other talents that I can bring to the table and I'm getting to contribute in ways that are really meaningful and that use my skills and assets to help benefit the organization in ways that maybe other people who can foster a lot of dogs, but maybe couldn't do what I can do.

Stacey Axelrod: Hello, and welcome to Why We Foster the podcast all about the pet foster community. Today, we won't actually be talking about Why We Foster. Instead, we'll be focusing on all the things you can do when you can't foster. There are so many different ways to get involved. And these days you don't even have to live near the organization you're volunteering with. And lots of volunteer roles can be done from the comfort of your own home on your own time.

Like... creating a podcast, perhaps. That's what I did! I'm Stacey Axelrod, and even though I would love to foster pets right now, my current trio of adopted pets, all seniors and all special in their own way, have made it very clear that our apartment has no vacancies. Believe me, I will foster many pets in the future. And you better believe I'll be recording every conversation and every moment to share on this podcast. But for now, I'll continue supporting the foster community through storytelling, art, and advocacy.

The person we just heard from is Dorie Herman, a Foster Dogs board member, Foster Hospice advocate, graphic designer, writer, and event organizer in New York. She's also the human behind the social media sensation Chloe Kardoggian and the family of rescue dogs that carry on her legacy as @the_kardoggians on Instagram. Like Dorie said, she brings a lot of talents to the table and her work as a volunteer has benefited so many different rescue groups and animals over the years. Just wait until you hear how Dorie used her craftiness and her community to raise over $10,000 in one night.

Just because Dorie and I have never fostered pets and won't be able to for some time, doesn't mean that we're not members of the foster community. We use our time, experience, skills, and resources to support animal welfare and to further the foster movement. And as Dorie mentioned, our community is extremely diverse, welcoming everyone and anyone who wants to be here.

Dan Schachner: Fostering for us is a great, great way to not know a lot of dogs, but know a lot of different people, too. There's an incredible foster community out there that are so supportive of one another.

Any rescue you want to talk about. They all have a foster network and that foster network has a tremendous online presence. It's so helpful. And if anybody needs anything, you know, Kitty litter at 3:00 AM or a transport from the airport on a Sunday morning, this foster network is there and I've found them incredibly helpful.

Stacey Axelrod: That was Dan Schachner. We all need a community to lean on, and the Animal Planet Puppy Bowl Referee is no exception. As he mentioned, any rescue you can think of is supported by a community of dedicated volunteers. Perhaps one of the easiest ways to get involved is to just contact your local shelter and ask how you can help or check out their website for volunteer opportunities. That's how Tara Majeed got involved at an animal shelter in Chicago.

Tara Majeed: I started out just walking dogs. Then I started working with adopters and I became an adoption counselor. Then I became, you know, an advanced dog handler. So I'm able to work with the dogs that need a little bit more attention.

And then I also became a mentor to new volunteers and helping to train them and acclimate them and answer their questions.

Stacey Axelrod: Even though Tara started out walking dogs, her volunteer role has grown and changed over time. She volunteers at one of the lowest-funded municipal shelters in the country. This means that in order to continue to operate, the shelter relies on the generosity of dedicated volunteers. No matter what the financial situation is at your local shelter... as a volunteer, you can have a critical role impacting the lives of the animals within its care.

Tara Majeed: I think the way that I approach my time there is it's not about me. It's all about making sure that the time that I spend with that dog is some of the best time that it will have in its life, regardless of what happened before or after. Because whatever happened before it came to me and whatever happens after shouldn't matter, except for that moment. And dogs are so good at living in the moment that it's really easy to do that. And I think having that approach, makes it a lot easier for me to feel like I've done what I needed to do for the dog.

Stacey Axelrod: I love Tara's outlook. At the end of the day, as volunteers and advocates, we do what we need to for the sake of the animals in the shelter system. It's about having a profound impact on the lives of these animals, whether it be for the next 15 minutes or the next 15 years.

That mindset of making every moment you spend with a shelter animal the best it can be extends far outside the walls of a shelter. Another area for volunteership is in the role of transport, a key aspect in helping shelters function. As a transport volunteer, you could help bring animals from one place to another, whether for fostering, adoption, or vet appointments. It's a crucial role for many shelters and rescues to protect the often limited resources they have.

Erin Webreck: When you're doing transports a lot of the time, you're actually the Freedom Ride for a dog out of a shelter for the first time. And that's just such a special moment in a dog's life and their journey. To facilitate that and be a part of that is always, really moving to me. Those minutes or even hours sometimes where you're sitting on the train or in a car with a dog that's leaving the shelter for the first time. And they're scared or shut down and you're just sitting there with them sending calming vibes and just knowing that their life is about to change in the absolute best way. There's no feeling like it. It's a great thing to do and to be a part of.

Stacey Axelrod: That was Erin Webreck, a Foster Dogs volunteer who started helping with transport two years ago. Many of her rides have been Freedom Rides, the first trip an animal makes out of the shelter and to their foster home. Usually these animals are still carrying much of the stress from their shelter experience. It requires patience and a relaxing demeanor, but it is one of the most rewarding and lasting impacts you can have on a shelter animal's life.

Let's hear from Tina in New York, who sent us a voicemail about her experience as a transport volunteer for Louie's Legacy Animal Rescue.

Tina: It's just so important because not a lot of people have cars and if they weren't able to take that Freedom Ride, they would get left behind and their futures would be unknown if they would even have a future. I've only just begun this journey, and I have no doubt I'll have wonderful stories to tell, but I'm enjoying it so far. And I'm meeting such wonderful animals. They're so precious. Each and every one of them is so precious.

Stacey Axelrod: Speaking of wonderful stories, let's hear a voicemail from another foster dogs volunteer, Miriam Valero, who never let the fact that she doesn't have a car stop her from being a transport volunteer.

Miriam Valero: So I can't foster because my beautiful dog Honey is an only dog. She is a princess and only wants my attention when I'm home. So therefore I have to find my cuddles and meet all the dogs in the world through volunteering at events or volunteering to transport pups. It's always fun to call a cab and say, Hey, I have a dog, do you mind?

I remember I had to transport a dog to an event. It was a large dog, big fluffy, black dog, his name's Brandon Walsh, such a lover. I think he made out with me the whole ride to the event. And then taking him back to his fosters at the end of the event, he was so wiped out, he basically drooled on my lap.

The reason that I do this is, like I said, it's to help. I always want to make sure the dogs are able to attend events and sometimes fosters just can't bring them. And I have no problem going to pick up a dog, in whichever way possible, whether it's on the Metro North, or the train, or the bus, or an Uber, or a Lyft, or walking. I love volunteering in any capacity that I can and transporting pups is probably the best way to do it.

Stacey Axelrod: Transport volunteers can be so vital to a rescue organization. Not only because it reserves resources, but also because animals often have to be transported long distances.

Remember in the last episode when we addressed the myth of overpopulation? On a local scale, there are, in fact, some areas with more homeless animals than there are homes looking to foster or adopt. But on a national scale the imbalance shifts. All it takes is communication, collaboration, and a little bit of driving... or in our next guest Richard's case, a lot of driving.

Richard Werner: So I started to do the transports last year about once a month, I take a van and drive down to Tom's Brook, Virginia, and meet a van that has driven up from Tennessee. Move the dogs from their van into our van, and then drive back to Staten Island where Louie's is based.

Typically we transport anywhere between 35 and 60 animals. And I enjoy doing the transport because I get to help so many more animals than just the one from fostering. There are people that are in a much better position than myself to be able to foster. But unlike me, seem to need sleep and don't enjoy driving for nearly 12 hours.

Stacey Axelrod: Tennessee is one of those areas that experiences an overpopulation of animals. On the other hand, because of the sheer volume of people in New York, there is always a demand for adoption. Many rescues use teams of transport volunteers to relocate those animals in Tennessee to foster homes in New York. One of the volunteers on the receiving end of the Louie's Legacy transport team is Glenn.

Glenn Tobjy: I transport dogs usually from when they get a large delivery of pups coming in from Tennessee. And I transport them mostly to bring them to the foster homes in New York City. So we transport the animals and we get them from point A to point B. Or we bring them to the vet's office if they have to get shots, if they have to be spayed or neutered, and then we deliver them back to their foster parents.

It's an important part of every rescue and foster program that they have somebody that can get these little pups, and kittens to a safe environment where they can get their personality back and get them ready to be adopted. And I'm so happy that I'm doing it and I it's really enriched my life.

Are you sensing a theme here? Nearly every guest on this episode echoes that sentiment. Enrichment. Fulfillment. Purpose. Working or volunteering in animal welfare and fostering seems to fill everyone's buckets, whether they come to the community looking for it or not.

Alex Lloyd: I was looking for a little more purpose and to find some people outside of my group of friends. I think I saw it posted on Instagram and I was like, Oh, this is, this is fun. I can actually help this way. So I started volunteering at events with a rescue in New York called Muddy Paws Rescue. Weirdly, I think meeting dog people in New York was more appealing to me than actually hanging out with the dogs and connecting with people about something else that wasn't surrounded by work or where we went to college and who we know from home and all that kind of stuff.. I quickly got really hooked.

Stacey Axelrod: That was Alex Lloyd, a volunteer turned foster parent in New York City. I think we can all identify with her experience. Making friends as an adult can be awkward and difficult, but so many people who find the animal rescue community find their people here too.

After seeing that first Instagram post, Alex started volunteering at events with the city shelter. While volunteering, she started taking photos. And from there, her place in the movement only grew.

Alex Lloyd: I created an Instagram. Because I was posting so much on my personal Instagram and I felt like people didn't want to see it. So I happened to snag the handle adoptable dogs of NYC, which weirdly no one had taken at the time.

I emailed basically every rescue in New York and tried to find fosters that I was personally friends with just to get a little more experience photographing the dogs. Cause I really enjoyed that. And that kind of segwayed into a whole other rescue world in New York that I'm now super ingrained in.

I could see that it was making a big difference, more than, say, meeting 30 or 50 people in Union Square. It was reaching thousands or tens of thousands of people on social media.

Stacey Axelrod: That's right. Alex is able to reach tens of thousands of people with just one Instagram account, @AdoptableDogsofNYC. That's thousands of potential adopters for every animal she posts. With odds like those, and the right content and photos, Alex and other social media accounts play a critical role in getting animals out of the shelter system.

Here's how Milla Chappell, the person behind @RealHappyDogs on Instagram, has gone about sharing the stories of adoptable dogs in her area.

Milla Chappell: Social media is a really powerful tool for dog rescue and one that I didn't even realize existed, say, 10 years ago. I didn't know how powerful social media could be for helping dogs find their homes.

I try not just to, you know, but also to take photos that tell the story of the dog. I always ask either the foster or the owner, what are some things that this dog loves to do? Or where do you love to go together? Or what are some of his favorite toys or what are some of her, comfy spaces in the home. That way my photos could reflect the story and the personality of the dog. And along with that, I could also tell a written story of that dog's interest and personality and the places that they love to go. And I've learned that people really identify with that..

Stacey Axelrod: When viewers identify with the stories they see, they're more likely to share that content, multiplying the number of potential adopters that see a dog's story. That's the power of social media.

You can access these huge networks of people, whether you're sharing the stories of adoptable pets like Alex and Milla, or you're educating and advocating like Dorie Herman, the person we heard from at the beginning of this episode.

Dorie Herman: Every dog I have came to me through social media and so many animals I've helped place are all through social media. So, I know that it finds animals homes. And just sharing... you have no idea if one person sees it, but they happen to be the one person who was looking for that animal or wanted to make a donation or has extra dog sweaters that they need to donate. Whatever the case is, you know, it's all about ripples in the pond and you just need to make that first move.

Stacey Axelrod: Before building up a huge following on Instagram and becoming the "momager" of the Ka Kardoggians, it was just Dorie and Chloe, a tiny senior Chihuahua she adopted in 2013. Together they harnessed the power of social media to help a very important and often overlooked population of homeless pets.

Dorie Herman: I had always loved dogs and always wanted to be more involved in animal rescue and never quite could figure out how to do that. And it's like Chloe created a community for me that was everything that I had looked for and got to use my particular talents for in a really organic way.

Chloe was nine and a half years old, had a severe heart murmur might have been considered a fospice dog if she had made her way into the shelter system. And it really struck me that we could use her story to show people how important it is, for all of these animals to have love in whatever amount of time they have left, whether it's just because they're super seniors or because they're terminally ill.

Stacey Axelrod: Fospice is a program dedicated to placing super senior and terminally ill animals in the loving homes of people who can provide the compassionate care that these animals need. Before foster hospice programs started gaining popularity, these animals were considered among the hardest to place and usually their stories ended in premature euthanasia.

Now, in part thanks to people like Dorie using social media as a tool for advocacy, more and more people are understanding the value and the joy of taking in these animals who have so much love left to give.

After Chloe passed in 2018, Dorie wanted to honor her appropriately. She started the hashtag #ChloeLivesForever to help others promote adoptable senior dogs all over the world. She also channeled her time and expertise into a fundraiser celebrating Chloe's life and legacy.

Dorie Herman: I wanted to plan a celebration of life fundraiser so we could raise money for fospice. It's a way for Chloe to be honored for the work that she's done raising money. And at that first fundraiser, which was literally just me baking cookies at home and, donated drinks and tons of raffle items that were amazing. And me printing things out and trimming everything at home and taping things together, and donated space and everything. I think we raised about $11,000 and that was amazing to me.

Stacey Axelrod: Dorie dedicated her time, put in the work and leveraged her community to create something beautiful and impactful. It was such a remarkable way of celebrating Chloe that Foster Dogs Incorporated decided to rename their fospice program Chloe's Fospice Friends. And the hashtag #ChloeLivesForever is still being used today to promote fospice animals in need of a home.

But you don't have to raise $11,000 or have any special skills to make a difference in the animal welfare community. Every walk outside the shelter, every ride to a foster's home, and every social media post advertising adoption changes the life of a shelter animal. Even if you can't help with the hands-on care of animals or welcome a foster pet into your home, there are still so many ways you can get involved in the animal welfare community.

Behind the scenes, rescues and shelters always need more support. Maybe you have professional experience in law or accounting, grant writing or marketing, photography, web development, or maybe you have special skills in community outreach, organization, or you speak another language! All of these skills and so much more can help a shelter operate and continue to save lives.

Dan Schachner: If you want to be involved in the animal community, there's a place for you. And my sort of overall thought on that is this mantra: If you can't adopt, you can foster. If you can't foster, you can volunteer. If you can't volunteer, you can donate. And if you can't donate, you can advocate. There's always something you can do, but I always keep those five things in mind: adopt, foster, to volunteer, donate, advocate. Because those are the five ways that people can get involved. And they they can apply to a wide range of people whether you have time and resources or you don't have time and the resources.

Even if it's something as simple as getting the word out about dogs that need adopting, dogs that might need fostering, a shelter that might be running a fundraiser. Something you can just repost on your social media. There's always something you can do that can make a difference and expand your world and it will always be rewarding. You know, it's so corny to say this but it's true: Animals do make us more human. I think that it's so exemplary in the fostering and adoption community. So yeah that's my 2 cents.

Stacey Axelrod: I can't agree more with Dan here! And like Zach Jobin, the person behind @ChewliaLouisDreyfus and @SirOlivierLawrence on Instagram, you never know what you might find in the animal rescue community.

Zach Jobin: I definitely never saw myself being a part of it. My initial perception was like... I'm a 30 year old dude in New York City, I don't think I'm gonna exactly be buying dog sweatshirts and Instagramming puppy pics. You know, I'd kind of dismissed it, not realizing, it's just a lot of folks who love and care about their pets and do some good work. Once I opened up to those people, they were uniformly great and kind.

I get more Christmas cards from friends I made Chewy than I do from family these days probably. It's very, very sweet. You know, that's the kind of impact you hope any creature walking this planet has, to just encourage love where it might not have been considered before.

Stacey Axelrod: So... have we convinced you to get involved yet? All you have to do is reach out to your local animal welfare organizations and ask how you can help.

Zach Jobin: I think you'll find a lot of ways to apply yourself to the organizations you want to get involved with. There's a lot of need out there, for time, for just energy, for education, whether you're giving or receiving it. But, don't be intimidated by the fact that maybe you can't foster right now. Don't let that idea that you can't apply yourself in one specific way limit you from seeing how maybe you can.

Open your hearts as wide as you can when you're involved in the dog community... whether that's, you know, considering senior adoption, considering fostering... You really get out more than you put in, no matter how much you put in.

Stacey Axelrod: So if you have a special skill to share, or a Saturday afternoon to spare, or a car to get from here to there, then there's a place for you in the rescue and foster community you've come to the right place and we're ready to welcome you with open arms.

Zach Jobin: I think it's a great community for anyone to be involved in. It's just kind people doing great work and, it's a community built almost entirely on love, which... pretty rare these days, I think. It's a really beautiful thing!

Stacey Axelrod: Thanks so much for tuning in to Why We Foster. If you enjoyed the show, please subscribe now. If you really enjoyed the show and you want to show some love to our volunteer production team, we would appreciate your support with a rating or review on your podcast app of choice! Why We Foster is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you know someone who might enjoy the show, please share it with them and help them subscribe! You can also follow us on Instagram at @WhyWeFoster and visit WhyWeFoster.com for more info about the show.

Why We Foster is produced by me along with Foster Dogs Incorporated, the leading organization in creating positive, inclusive foster communities by providing support, experience, and innovative programs. You can follow Foster Dogs on Instagram at @FosterDogs and please consider supporting this incredible non-profit in whatever way you can at FosterDogsNYC.com.

Our incredible production team is Kate Trahan, Lauren Cattan, Daniela Escobar Blaines, and Sarah Brasky. Audio mixing and mastering by Jack Braglia. You can find me at petphotographer.nyc or on Instagram at @NYCPetPhotographer. I'm Stacey Axelrod and this is Why We Foster. Farewell for now, Foster Friends!