How would you describe your first fostering experience? Exciting, rewarding, intense? How about a little of all three? 

Since June is National Foster a Pet Month, we were inspired by Petco’s call to share first fostering stories. Below are some of the Maddie’s Fund^® employees experiences. You can share your own stories on social media with #MyFirstFoster and help encourage more people to foster. 

My husband and I fostered a dog for one night. She was the sweetest dog, and felt right at home the minute we brought her into our apartment. She fell asleep in a little nook behind our couch and we forgot for a moment that she was even there!! She was just so happy to be out of the shelter. We took her the next morning to meet her adopters, so we only fostered her for about 18 hours. This was several years ago, and I’m still a little jealous that she slept the whole night on my husband’s side of the bed. – Kelly Clardy 

My first fosters were a litter of two to three-week-old mixed breed puppies, six of em. A ton of work, but they were so cute and it was so much fun! They all got adopted – Sheila Segurson, DVM 

I remember my first foster puppies. I work from home so I could have taken puppies before, but the big, especially energetic or shy dogs were most at risk, so I had always fostered those. What a lot of work puppies are! My husband and I called them “poopies” for obvious reasons. I named them Ramona, Rhonda, and Rebecca. They easily found homes and I arranged a reunion for them, where they all seemed to recognize each other right away. They were all very much loved. – Erika Shaffer 

Fun, rewarding, and a little heartbreaking. My first foster was an 8-week old female shepherd mix puppy that I named Bisquit. I fostered a puppy because I figured a puppy would be adopted quickly and thought I wouldn’t become too attached. I also love dog training and wanted to work with a puppy from the very beginning to help it learn the basics to be successful in a home (potty-training, appropriate chewing, etc.). I was right and wrong — she was adopted in 3 weeks but I was very attached so there were tears. What I didn’t realize since she was my first foster is that it didn’t have to end there. Her adopters sent me updates and pictures over the next few months which made me feel great. She was in a wonderful home growing up to be a very loved dog. It made me feel good knowing I was able to help her when she needed it most. Funny thing — they changed her name from Bisquit to Bacon! – Kim Domerofski 

Pretty fantastic though I’m definitely a foster fail! We fostered a dog just after her amputation surgery while she healed. It was a rewarding experience and, honestly, a good way for my wife to see if she was amenable to having a dog as we’d always had cats in the past. It took two whole days and she was hooked! – Craig Coryell 

 My first experience was fostering 8–day old kittens. I was really scared of messing up. When they made it to adoption I was overjoyed and the rewards and “feel good” definitely outweighed the fear and all the work. It was two intense weeks and several less intense, but knowing I made a lifesaving difference for three kittens was worth it.  – Laurie Peek, DVM 

It was kind of exhilarating— scary and fun at the same time. We took home Mocha, a dog whose life was on the line due to stress-related behavioral deterioration. She’d been at the shelter for 7 months, and we took her home for the weekend. Because of the information and photos we got, she was adopted the next week. – Kelly Duer 

We took in many feral cats and tried to get other people to adopt them. A very seat-of-the-pants fostering/adoption operation and not too successful. We ended up with 17 cats ourselves. – Lars Rabbe 

 Our first fostering experience was with Yoda, a husky mix stray who was set to be euthanized because he wouldn’t share food. Fostering wasn’t planned, but it ended up giving us a glimpse into life with two dogs (both Husky mixes at that!). Yoda got along so well with our current dog, Rocco, that we decided to keep him. The two are inseparable now, like long lost brothers. Wouldn’t change it for the world! – Brittany Ransonet 

 We fostered two kittens with our pug and after a terrible first night, I thought we had made a mistake. Our dog barked and was up all night. Turns out he just really wanted in their litter box (gross). Once we moved their crate out of sight, it was smooth sailing from there. – Wendy Frink 

Please share your first fostering experience over at Maddie’s Pet Forum or on social media!