By opening your home and sharing your time, patience and experience, you can help an animal thrive and prepare for what comes next.
Every foster placement is different. The Guelph Humane Society (GHS) will work with you to find an appropriate match and provide the training, supplies, medical care and ongoing support you need to care for your foster animal.
Current Foster Opportunities
Our foster needs change throughout the year. Opportunities currently accepting applications will be listed here.
Our foster needs change throughout the year. Right now, GHS is seeking people with experience caring for and safely handling medium- to large-sized dogs.
How you can help
Dogs currently in need of foster homes may require help building confidence, managing reactivity or developing everyday skills. Foster volunteers must be comfortable following the individualized care, management and positive-reinforcement training plan provided by GHS.
What most current placements require:
- A securely fenced yard
- A home without another dog
- The ability to safely handle a large, physically strong dog
Finding the right match
Requirements vary by animal. Our team will talk with you about your experience, home environment and availability to determine whether a current opportunity could work for you.
Think fostering a dog could be a good fit? Applying begins a conversation and does not commit you to accepting a placement.
Individualized Foster Care: The Paisley Project
Some long-stay animals benefit from a foster home carefully matched to their individual needs. Through the Paisley Project, foster volunteers help these animals build confidence, establish routines and experience everyday home life while they prepare for adoption.
Paisley Project applications are submitted for a specific animal. The matching process, care plan and training are tailored to that animal’s needs.
What Does Fostering Involve?
When you foster, you become an important part of the animal’s care team. You provide day-to-day care and a stable home while working closely with GHS to support the animal’s health, well-being and progress.
Depending on the animal, your responsibilities may include:
- Providing a safe, comfortable space in your home
- Following an established feeding, exercise, enrichment or training plan
- Administering prescribed medications or treatments, with instructions and support from GHS
- Helping the animal build confidence and adjust to everyday life in a home
- Monitoring and sharing information about the animal’s health and behaviour
- Transporting the animal to GHS or veterinary appointments
- Caring for the animal until they are ready to return to GHS or move into an adoptive home
Before you accept a placement, our Foster Coordinator will explain the animal’s needs, expected time commitment and support plan. You will have an opportunity to ask questions and consider whether the placement is manageable for you and your household.
Animals That May Need Foster Care
Animals may need foster care for many different reasons. Throughout the year, GHS may seek temporary homes for dogs, cats, kittens, puppies, rabbits and other small animals, including:
- Orphaned neonatal kittens who need bottle-feeding and frequent care
- Kittens and puppies who are too young for adoption or spay/neuter surgery
- Nursing cats, dogs or rabbits and their babies
- Animals recovering from illness or surgery or receiving medication and other treatments
- Shy, stressed or under-socialized animals who need a quieter environment to build confidence
- Dogs who need additional exercise, training or behavioural support before adoption
Please review Current Foster Opportunities to see which types of foster homes GHS is currently recruiting.
Supplies, Training and Support for Foster Volunteers
Foster volunteers with the Guelph Humane Society receive the supplies, veterinary care, training and ongoing guidance needed to care for animals in their homes. GHS provides food, essential supplies and approved medical care for each foster animal, allowing you to focus on providing a safe and supportive temporary home.
Support may include:
- Food, bedding, toys and other supplies needed for daily care
- Appropriate housing or equipment, such as a dog crate or rabbit enclosure
- Veterinary care, medications and other required treatments
- General and species-specific training
- A care plan based on the animal’s individual needs
- Ongoing guidance from our Foster Coordinator
Before a placement begins, our team will review the animal’s care plan, the supplies being provided and how to access support when you need it.
Foster Volunteer Requirements
To foster an animal with the Guelph Humane Society, you need a safe and suitable home, reliable access to a vehicle, enough time to provide daily care and the support of everyone in your household. These requirements help protect the health and well-being of foster animals, resident pets and the people caring for them.
All foster volunteers must:
- Be at least 18 years old and a decision-maker in their home
- Have the support of everyone living in the household
- Commit to the foster program for at least six consecutive months
- Live within a 40-minute drive of Guelph
- Have reliable access to a vehicle for GHS and veterinary appointments
- Have enough time to meet the animal’s daily care, exercise, training and medical needs
- Complete the required orientation and training
- Follow GHS policies, care plans and foster agreements
The six-month commitment is to the foster program and may include more than one placement. It does not mean that one animal will necessarily remain in your home for six months; the length of each placement varies.
Resident cats and dogs must be spayed or neutered, up to date on vaccinations and in good health. Resident cats must live indoors, and resident rabbits must be spayed or neutered before you can foster a rabbit.
A separate room is required when fostering cats, kittens or small animals. Individual animals may have additional household, experience or scheduling requirements, which will be explained before you accept a placement.
How to Apply to Become a GHS Foster Volunteer
Applying to foster is the beginning of a conversation. It gives you and our team an opportunity to get to know one another, talk about what fostering involves and consider which opportunities may work well for you and your household. The process typically takes one to three weeks, depending on current foster needs and training schedules.
- Submit an application. When a foster opportunity that interests you is accepting applications, complete the application linked under Current Foster Opportunities.
- Hear from our team. Our Volunteer and Foster teams will review the information you provide and contact you about next steps. Foster placements depend on the individual needs of the animals in our care, so we may not always have an appropriate match available right away. If that happens, we will let you know.
- Connect with our Foster Coordinator. If an opportunity may work well for you and your household, our Foster Coordinator will arrange a phone conversation. You can learn more about fostering, share your experience and ask any questions you may have.
- Attend general foster training. If the opportunity continues to feel right for you and your household, you will attend a general volunteer training session with our Volunteer Coordinator. This session covers GHS policies, procedures, the general responsibilities of foster volunteers and access to any required online training.
- Complete species-specific training. Our Foster Coordinator will help you prepare to care for the type of animal you will be fostering, including relevant health, behaviour and safety information.
- Welcome a foster animal into your home. Once your training is complete, our Foster Coordinator will work with you to identify an appropriate placement. Before the animal goes home with you, we will review their care plan, supplies and the support available to you.
Foster FAQs
Previous animal-care experience is not required for every foster opportunity. However, some animals need a foster volunteer with specific experience related to their species, age, medical care or behavioural support needs.
Relevant experience may come from employment, education, previous volunteer work or caring for animals in your own home. Each current foster opportunity will explain the experience required. GHS training will support you in your role but does not replace any experience requirements identified for a particular opportunity.
Whether you can foster while working full time or outside your home depends on the needs of the individual animal. Some animals can be left alone for part of the day, while others need more frequent feeding, medication, supervision or support.
Tell our team about your usual schedule when you apply. We will consider your availability when discussing whether a foster opportunity may work for you.
It depends on the needs of the foster animal and your resident pets. Having pets does not automatically prevent you from fostering. In some cases, a calm, well-socialized resident animal can help an under-socialized foster animal build confidence and adjust to everyday routines.
Resident pets must meet the health requirements listed above. Some foster animals need to be the only pet of their species in the home or remain separated from resident animals. Our team will explain any introduction, separation or management requirements before you accept a placement.
Yes. If you rent your home, you can foster provided your landlord or property manager permits animals and everyone living in the household supports the decision.
Before accepting a placement, please confirm that your lease, building rules or other housing requirements allow the type of animal you may be fostering. You must also have the agreement of any roommates or other people who share your home.
A separate room is required for foster cats, kittens and small animals. This gives them a quiet place to adjust, helps keep them safely separated from resident pets and makes it easier to monitor their health and care.
Space requirements for foster dogs vary according to the individual dog and your household. Our Foster Coordinator will explain what type of space the animal needs before you accept a placement.
Yes. You must have reliable access to a vehicle throughout the foster placement. Foster volunteers are responsible for transporting animals to GHS and veterinary appointments, including appointments that may arise on short notice. You may also need to transport carriers, crates, food and other supplies.
Foster volunteers must live within a 40-minute drive of Guelph so animals can reach appropriate veterinary care promptly if an urgent need arises.
The length of a foster placement depends on the animal’s age, health, individual needs and reason for being in foster care. Some placements may last a few days or weeks, while others may continue for several months.
Before you accept an animal, our Foster Coordinator will share the anticipated time commitment. Timelines can sometimes change as the animal’s needs or circumstances change, and our team will keep you informed throughout the placement.
When you foster with GHS, our team will suggest a placement based on the animal’s needs and your experience, household, availability and preferences. We will share the available information about the animal and explain what the placement involves before you decide whether to accept.
You are not required to accept a placement that does not feel manageable for you or your household.
Paisley Project applications follow a different process because you apply for a specific long-stay animal. Visit our Paisley Project page to learn more.
If your foster animal becomes sick or you have a behavioural concern, contact our Foster Coordinator as soon as possible. We will help assess the situation, provide guidance and explain any next steps.
Before a placement begins, you will receive instructions about who to contact if an urgent concern arises outside regular hours. If there is an immediate health or safety concern, follow those emergency instructions right away.
If you need to travel during a foster placement, your foster animal can stay at GHS until you return. Please tell our Foster Coordinator as soon as possible and provide at least one week’s notice whenever you can.
You can bring the animal back to GHS before your trip. When you return, they can come back to your home and continue the foster placement.
If a foster placement is not working for your household, please contact our Foster Coordinator as soon as concerns arise. We can offer guidance, adjust the animal’s care or management plan and explore additional support that may help.
If the placement cannot continue, our team will work with you to determine the safest next step and arrange alternative care for the animal. Moving between homes can be stressful, so we may need some time to make appropriate arrangements when there is no immediate health or safety concern.
If you are concerned about the immediate safety or health of anyone in your home or the foster animal, contact our team immediately.
If you would like to adopt the animal you are fostering, you can submit an adoption application. Please let our Foster Coordinator know that you are interested before the animal is made available for adoption.
Fostering an animal does not automatically reserve them for you or guarantee that your adoption application will be approved. Foster volunteers receive the first opportunity to apply only when they express interest before the animal is made available for adoption and no other applications have been received.
You will need to complete the regular adoption application and meet all adoption requirements. The regular adoption fee will also apply.
Saying goodbye when a foster animal is adopted can be emotional, and every foster volunteer experiences the transition differently. Becoming attached is a natural part of welcoming an animal into your home and caring for them as they grow, heal or build confidence.
When your foster animal moves into an adoptive home, your care has helped them reach that next step. Many foster volunteers find comfort in knowing they played an important role in preparing the animal for their new family—and that completing one placement can create space to help another animal in the future.
Our Foster Coordinator can help you prepare for the transition. You can also take time between placements when you need it.
Have Questions About Fostering?
If you have questions about current foster opportunities, program requirements or the application process, our Volunteer and Foster teams are here to help.
Please email volunteer@guelphhumane.ca.