What Happens When You Fall in Love?

On falling in love with your foster dog, and what happens next.

I fell in love with my foster dog.

Well, I fall in love with all my foster dogs. That’s the truth.

But occasionally a dog comes along that tugs at that place in my heart – that place I typically keep shielded from most fosters. The place that reminds me, this isn’t your dog, we’re not keeping him, don’t get too attached. Instead, I find myself thinking, what if? What if we just kept him?

Lucchese was a 12 pound, four year old scraggle of a dog. He was objectively not “cute” but somehow also the cutest dog alive. There was just something about him, and the internet seemed to agree – it didn’t take long for him to go viral, with several articles written about him. He worked his way into everyone’s hearts, ours most of all.

The thing with Lucchese is he fit into our life so perfectly. He was SO easy – completely potty trained, walked well on a leash, loved all people and all dogs, never tore anything up, hardly ever barked, zero separation anxiety, crate trained – and when you find a dog who fits like a missing puzzle piece, it takes everything in you not to jump on it.

On walks or around the house we’d just look at his face and laugh. He had that kind of face – funny without even trying to be funny – and it brought us so much joy.

For the whole week we had him, Jacob and I would often look at each other and groan. “What are we going to do?” we’d say.

We went back and fourth, weighing the pros and cons. We loved him, that was clear. Keeping him would be easy. But then there was the bigger picture, the exact place where my head and my heart split in two – if we kept him, we probably couldn’t keep fostering.

Having two dogs already puts a bit of a strain on us – those are the weeks where we both have to be on every walk, clocking in for every shift. When it’s just Simon, it’s easy for us to juggle responsibilities – I take the morning walk, he takes the evening walk – but when you have a dog that’s brand new to the city, walking two dogs at a time by yourself is not always possible.

In my heart of hearts, I knew that I had to keep fostering – one, because shelters across the nation are desperate for fosters, but the second reason was a bit more selfish.

For the past seven months, I’ve been trying to figure out my next direction. I’ve been freelancing and trying every job and side hustle under the sun, and I’ve had a blast doing it. But something clicked when I started fostering again, something I had been searching for for years. A passion, a purpose, a thing – whatever you wanted to call it. I knew that the path that I was on was bigger than myself and my own heart. I had to keep going.

When I met Luc’s new mom, it all made sense.

Stacey was warm and kind. She loved dogs passionately and selflessly – she had two rescue seniors, and had just lost her third a few months ago. She had seen a single photo of Luc and applies for him on the spot, and the rest is history.

The why? when thinking about fostering is vast and ever changing. But in those moments, those moments of true love and true joy, that is the why. I’m helping people complete their families.

And with that being said… I’m picking up my next foster on Monday. Stay tuned for more :)

xo