Halfway home on offer to homeless hounds

Fostering puppies in need over the last three years is one of the most rewarding things that animal lovers Jason Vry and his wife Jess say they’ve done.

The Perth couple has fostered over 30 puppies from a number of different rescue groups who are supported by PetRescue, such as HAART, and say that transitioning them from homeless hounds to confident, happy pets are both heart-warming and hugely gratifying.

“We get asked often if we are sad when they leave us, but there is such a huge need for people to foster animals and we wanted to volunteer and help them in some way,” says Jason.

“Rather than donating money we decided to donate our time, and we’ve never looked back, we just love being foster carers and it’s fantastic that the rescue groups we foster through cover the costs of food and vet care, so all we have to do is provide time and love.”

As you might expect, Jason and Jess did, in fact, become ‘foster failures’ when they first began volunteering, adopting Frankie the puppy two years ago.

“We had intended on adopting a dog at some stage, and Frankie just had the most beautiful temperament despite the fact that he destroyed all of our chilli plants,” laughs Jason.

“He’s now a fantastic big brother to the pups we foster, demonstrating good manners like how to sit and helping us to house train by showing them where to pee.”

As well as having their own permanent dog, Jason and Jess continue to foster litters of puppies, many of which are flown down from Broome in WA’s north by SAFE Perth and are found wonderful homes, often as a result of the PetRescue website connecting them with their new families.

“We’re very happy to offer a halfway home to these pups in need, they may only stay with us for four or five weeks, but by fostering and caring for them it means that the rescue groups can take in more animals in need, so we’re very aware that we’re helping them to save more lives.

“It makes us feel so good and we’d definitely encourage animal lovers to put their hand up and give fostering a go.”

Rescue organisations across Australia are always in need of foster carers to temporarily look after the animals in their care. To find out more about foster care, you can read more here. Or to find a rescue organisation near you which is in need of foster carers, please visit our Rescue Directory.