Having grown up in a “no animal” household, it was not until I was twenty-two years old and in my first year of law school – when I adopted my first dog – that I discovered my passion for animals. A year later, I adopted my second dog and I knew I could never return to a life that did not include animals. Four years later, during my first year working as a corporate attorney, I decided to foster four pitbull siblings.The puppies were rescued from an abandoned building in Puerto Rico andneeded someone to care for them until each puppy could be adopted. The puppies were scared,malnourished, and sickly. It was my first experience with the pitbull breed and I feel in love. Shortly after the puppies arrived, they were all diagnosed with distemper and had a minimal chance of survival. I spent the next three months rehabilitating the four puppies. All of the puppies survived, flourished, and found forever homes. It was the most amazing experience of my entire life.

I have been volunteering and fostering for rescue organizations ever since that initial experience. I believe fostering is the most rewarding and selfless act anyone can do for a rescue animal. Itallows an extremely scared and shy dog to experience love, safety, and what it is like to live in a home. This increases the dog’s chances exponentiality of being adopted. As heartbreaking as it is to give the dog up when it gets adopted, I always feel good knowing that the dog is going to an amazing home. As someone who works long hours and lives in a tiny apartment, I know that I am not allowing each rescue dog to live its fullest life. Knowing that each of my foster dogs have gone toloving families with kids and a backyard provides me with so much happiness. Fostering is truly a selfless act and saying goodbye to each dog at the end is bittersweet. I had a woman who adopted one of my foster dogs reach out to me, a year later, to thank me for being such a big part of this dog’s life. She sent me pictures of the amazing life the dog is now living and it brought me to tears. I plan on spending the rest of my life fostering as many dogs as I can.

~Alexa G