McHenry County’s foster parents take in animals that need extra care, prepare them for adoption and say goodbye – most of the time

Judy Treptow told her husband she’d stop fostering dogs when the total reached 200.

So when she hit the magic number, she just stopped counting.

“You have to have a very supportive family, for sure,” said Treptow, who works at Helping Paws Animal Shelter in Woodstock.

There’s often a strong emotional connection that forms between the foster family and the animal being cared for that can make it difficult to let go.

The phrase “foster failure” has been coined not for when a foster situation doesn’t work out – but perhaps because they work a little too well. In Treptow’s case, she just couldn’t let her first mom go.

Cougar, a sheltie mix, had seven puppies that were adopted. But mama stayed with the Treptows.

“I knew she would get a home, but my husband said we just couldn’t do that; we have to keep her,” Treptow said. “She just fit in. She was the right dog at the right time.”

Debby Staley, a Woodstock resident and Helping Paws volunteer, took in a pregnant bichon as her first foster about a year and a half ago. She couldn’t give up one of the pups.

“I started off as a foster failure,” Staley said. “The point is to foster the mother and puppies, then return them to the kennel, not to feel like you have adopt all of them.”

Foster homes are often needed for pregnant mothers, allowing them the space for whelping and raising the pups until they’re weaned. Other times, a dog may test positive for heartworm, which requires a lengthy treatment and makes a foster home a more suitable longer-term environment. There also are dogs with injuries, like a broken leg, that require more attention.

Scott Rood of Woodstock-based Great Dane Rescue Midwest tends to avoid placing the dogs he rescues in foster homes. His dogs tend to be older and in need of training and socializing.

“My average adult dog is 130, 150 pounds,” Rood said. “I can’t send that out untrained into a family with small kids or a couple of cats, or any number of other things that would spell disaster.”

Several years ago, Rood took in a group of severely malnourished dogs after they were seized from a home in Spring Grove. In that case, he did rely on the assistance of fosters.

If the person is really working with the animals – not just keeping the dogs in a cage while they’re at work, going for a walk when they get home, and sticking the dog back in the cage right after – they’ll get attached, Rood said.

Watching the puppies grow, seeing their personalities and laughing when they surprise themselves when they learn how to bark are all very cute things, Staley said.

But the foster families simply cannot keep them all.

Sometimes Staley is at the shelter when one of the puppies she fostered is adopted, so she can say goodbye. She’s been able to steer a few toward families she felt would be a good fit.

Treptow said there always are more dogs for her to help, and she can’t help the next group that comes along unless she lets go.

“It’s always hard,” she said. “A piece of you goes with, but you also have to do what’s right by them and not be selfish.”

It’s gratifying to see the puppies find homes, Treptow said.

“If you have five puppies and then they get to be about eight weeks, they’re all longing for your attention and there’s not enough of you to divide,” she said. “It’s time to let them go and be who they are with families that love them.”