Foster Homes are temporary homes for rescue Cairns. They are the backbone of our rescue program. It is at the Foster Homes that rescue Cairns are housed, fed, provided necessary veterinary care, evaluated and rehabilitated from the time they enter rescue until the time they are adopted into a loving forever home. No experience is necessary to become a Foster Home, just general common sense, the desire to save a Cairn’s life, some general pet knowledge, an hour or two a day, a crate for the foster Cairn to be fed and sleep in (and we can supply these), and the room to keep your foster Cairn separate from your house dogs at least until they get acquainted with each other. We’ll guide you every step of the way and the experience of helping a rescue dog can be very rewarding:

Because we’ll be entrusting you with our rescue dogs, we require that all Foster Homes complete a Foster Home Application and provide 2 references. Upon your being notified that you have been approved as a CRUSA Foster Home, you will be required to sign and return by mail a copy of our Foster Home Agreement. Please read this document carefully, as it tells you our terms and conditions for fostering and obtaining reimbursement of your expenses. 

The time that you have a foster dog in your home will vary with the dog but you can tell us at the time we contact you to foster what you can or are willing to handle. Younger, healthier dogs tend to be short-term fosters, seniors or dogs with special needs can take longer to place. Puppy mill survivors vary depending on how much damage done at the puppy mill needs to be undone with love and care by the foster home. These dogs tend to be very shy at first and must be taught by the foster home that humans can be kind and need not be feared.

On behalf of our rescue dogs, Thank You for your willingness to volunteer and save a life!

Transport volunteers enable us to rescue Cairns nationally. Thanks to our transport volunteers, we are able to rescue Cairns in areas where we may not have an available foster home at the time that can house and rehabilitate the Cairn, and transport the Cairn to another city or state where there is an open foster home that can help. For longer distances, we can set up a “transport chain” where the distance to be covered is divided among several transport volunteers who each drives a portion of the way and hands over the rescue Cairn to the next transport volunteer. Transport volunteers also enable us to adopt Cairns out of the geographical area where the Cairn is located in situations where we believe that the Cairn and the adoptive home are a good match for each other despite the distance. In those situations, the adoptive home also drives part of the way to pick up their Cairn.

All it takes is a few hours a month at most and the willingness to drive. You’ll most likely also meet other rescue volunteers along the way. You never know when a Cairn will need help in your ‘neck of the woods,’ but if you fill out our Volunteer Form, we will have your information on file and be able to call on you to help. You can tell us the distance you are willing to drive. We will reimburse you for tolls and if you let us know ahead of time, also for gas, or you can take a tax deduction for the mileage and toll costs directly on your income tax return.

By providing it with a bed and breakfast while it’s in transit to it’s foster home or forever home