Rambo the Foster Dog

On Saturday, we picked up our first foster dog of the year.  I happened to come across his sweet face on Facebook when a Rescue shared his plea from a shelter in Huntsville Texas.  And when I shared him, David sent me a text that said "we have to get him, hes so cute".  David is not a big animal guy.  He's very supportive of my wanting to foster and falls in love with all of them, but he has never been one to insist on a dog, until now.  Because really how could we let this face stay in the shelter any longer? Meet Rambo!

The boys had named him Tank, but I guess he already had a name!  Rambo is an 18 month old Fawn Great Dane who is very emaciated.  You would never guess it from the first picture but one look at is whole body will make your heart ache.  

You can count his ribs and run your fingers along his spine.  He has a huge ball of fluid on his elbow (you can see it in the picture).  He walks super slow because he is in so much pain.  He cries out when he gets up out of bed and sometimes while he is laying down asleep.  My original plan was to keep him in the kennel, but he cant stretch out and get comfortable so I am keeping him in the kitchen with the baby gates.   He is such a sweet sweet boy.  And his eyes are just so full of hope.  He is eating great and we are going to give him all the love he needs to get better.

We dropped him off at the vet today to get check out and we are praying that everything is treatable.  The vet noted that he seemed to be in pain and is having problems with his back legs.  I let her know that we only live a few minutes away so that we could bring him home so he can eat and get comfortable before going back for more tests.  My heart just breaks for him.  Its hard to see such a big beautiful boy in such bad shape.  Its hard for me to see any dog like this.  What's even more sad is that a human did this to him. 

I have faith that in no time he will be living up to his name.  He will fill out, get healthy and find a home where he will be treated like he deserves.  A home with kids to love on him, a mom to make him yummy treats and a dad to sneak him a few extra treats behind moms back!  Hes going to be even more stunning when he gets some meat on them bones.  He weighed in at 107.8 so I'm guessing he will be up to 120+ and bouncing around in no time.  

So many people have said that there is no way that they could foster, because they would end up loving each one.  Is giving them up to their forever homes hard?  Heck yes.  Do I want to keep each one?  So far, yes. I've cried seeing photos that their new families send me.  But mostly its because I am so glad that I was able to help.  What some people fail to understand is, that adorable puppy or dog that is in the shelter.  The one that you wish you could adopt or foster but are worried you wont be able to give him up, today might be his last day.  Here is San Antonio, our shelter is very high kill.  Every day dogs are put to sleep, simply because there is not room.  Some dogs come in and go straight to the euthanasia room and others are only give a few days to find a home.  It would be so much better to hurt over giving them to a home that is going to love them, than it is to cry because you did nothing about it.  That's the way I see it.  

Have you ever thought about fostering?  Or have you fostered before?  I'd love to hear about it. We are fosters for the San Antonio Great Dane Rescue, but there are many other rescues and shelters that really really need fosters!  If you can afford some extra dog food and have a safe place and love to give, why not. Try it.  You never know, you could see just how rewarding it is! Save a life in 2014. Whether its one or ten, every dog deserves a chance!