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Our Foster Program Open Your Heart and Home to Help Save Lives

We Need You!

Become a Foster

Considering fostering? Foster homes are EXTREMELY VALUABLE to our rescue operation. Homeward Trails is a humane organization that puts animals first. If we learn of an animal in need, we will respond if we are able to help. Our Adoption Center can house at most 60 dogs and 10 cats at one time, limiting the number of animals we can rescue by the number of foster homes in our program. The more foster homes we have, the more animals we can rescue.

Foster a Dog
Foster a Cat
KF Foster Pups

Why foster?

By providing a temporary home, you are giving that animal another chance at life that they otherwise would not have had. We’ll be there every step of the way, providing you with training and support to have a successful fostering experience. It’s fun to have a furry friend around the home! But remember, being a foster isn’t always easy—dogs may need to be housebroken or have separation anxiety issues, cats may have trust issues or need socialization. Depending on the animal and time of the year, it could take anywhere from a couple of days to many months to find a new home for your foster animal.

We always have a great need for specialty fosters who will take in pregnant and nursing dogs and cats with their babies, litters of puppies and kittens, shy and fearful dogs, dogs who need behavior support, or animals who cannot be placed in a home with other animals.

Are we a fit?

To determine if you are right for HT and if HT is right for you, take a moment to read our Foster FAQs. If you are ready to jump on board and join the HT Foster Team, please fill out the appropriate questionnaire to foster a dog or foster a cat.

A Foster Coordinator will follow up with you to provide more info about the program and answer your questions. Before starting, you will sign our Foster Agreement to clarify what you can expect from us and what we expect from you. We look forward to having you join the HT family!

Georgette KF Foster Kitten

The Details

Foster Process

Foster a Dog
Foster a Cat

More News from the Trail!

  • Saving 200 Lives – Our Biggest Event Ever!

    We are SAVING 200 LIVES THIS WEEK!!  Our biggest event ever! This time next week we have TWO Trails UP teams hitting the roads to save lives in this unprecedented effort! And we need your support to make it happen. We are sooo excited!! And to make it more fun for everyone, this effort is part of our Quarterly Raffle. For each $100 donor, we pick one winner at random to win a $350 Amazon gift card, a custom dog or cat goody basket and 2 free tickets to our Chili Bingo event in the fall – winner to be chosen as soon as we meet our $ goal. 120 DOGS WILL BE STERILIZED….. “I love this dog that wandered up to my house. But I’ve got a female dog inside and this dog is not neutered. The cost of getting him neutered is more than I can afford. But I hate to take him to the shelter. So for now I have to keep him chained up. If I can get him neutered and vaccinated then he can live indoors with us. I would love for him to be a real part of our family.” – Mr. Jenkell For the first time ever, Homeward Trails has organized a 120-dog spay/neuter event in Galax, VA, one of our most favorite Trails UP communities. We will be traveling to Galax where we have been working for months to secure 120 dogs who desperately need neutered, vaccinated and microchipped. These animals are loved but have owners who simply cannot afford their surgery. Without this event many would face becoming pregnant and ending up in the local shelter with puppies. Or possibly facing a life on a chain. This is no way for a family to live.  As much of our Trails UP spay/neuter efforts have focused on cats due transport options and surgical availability, our hearts have been hurting as we see the shelters filling up with dogs & puppies and so many people desperately wanting to get their dogs neutered. And so we have been working overtime to put together this major event. We will be partnering with several groups to bring a mobile unit to Galax and bring these lifesaving and lifechanging services to these dogs. We cannot WAIT. Every dog will be neutered, vaccinated and microchipped. And we hope to send all home with dog food, flea/tick meds and for those who need it – a dog house! The cost to us for this event comes to $120/dog  – as we are providing these services totally free to the community. PLEASE consider sponsoring a dog for this event and allowing us to truly change the life of a dog and the people who love him/her. A donation of any amount will truly make a difference! 80 CATS WILL BE STERILIZED The second half of our Trails UP team will be heading to Buchanan County to do free spay/neuter and Trap-Neuter-Return for 80 cats. The number of cat lives that will be saved from preventing unwanted kittens is often totally hard to digest. It’s HUGE. Just last month, we spayed almost 25 early pregnant cats – you can see how many lives that saved through prevention. It also means the world to the human caretakers of these kitties who so often struggle to feed their own families let alone the dozens of cats they care for. We will spend 5 days in the field working with community members in this very under-resourced communities. We will set traps in trailer parks, in yards and barns, on decks and in gardens – wherever we can – to get 80 cats sterilized, vaccinated and microchipped.    This will require not only 36 hours of trapping but more than 10 additional hours of driving to and from our surgical clinic. Our van will be loaded up with 80 cats (the very most we can fit) to make the 3.5 hour one-way trip to the surgical center. This is a huge undertaking each time we do it. But with no affordable large-scale spay/neuter clinics close by, we take what we can get. Our team is so dedicated! And so over a short period of just 5 days, we will sterilize, vaccinate and microchip 200 animals in two separate but equally under-resourced communities. And we are SO EXCITED. Please sponsor a dog or cat at just $100 and you can be a winner of a $350 Amazon gift card, a custom dog or cat goody basket and 2 free tickets to our Chili Bingo event in the fall – winner to be chosen as soon as we meet our $ goal.

  • Helping Happy Hounds – Fee Waived Adoptions for All Hounds

    As you may or may not know, Virginia animal shelters are filled with Hounds. These amazing dogs are most often discarded by callous hunters, found starving wandering the countryside. Many never make it as hunters and are then tied up to chains or left along the side of the road like old furniture. A good number of them do not make it out of shelters alive.But these dogs – like all dogs – are amazing and worthy of families. We just cannot get them families fast enough to stop them from dying in our shelters when there is no more space.And so we are trying something new here. ALL HOUND DOGS ADOPTED FROM HOMEWARD TRAILS WILL BE FREE. Yes, we are WAIVING ADOPTION FEES for Hounds for the foreseeable future.We hope that will entice well-matched applicants to consider a Hound now. Use the money you save on training, treats, toys.We think all dogs are worthy. But the reality is that some take extra incentives. Some have more barriers to getting adopted. And the result is well, more end up dying. And no – this does NOT mean we are just giving dogs away. All applicants will still go through our application/screening process to ensure good homes. This is just us trying to save more dogs by eliminating one more barrier to adoption. And hey, Hound lovers can use all the extra money they can get to buy treats, right?Help us help these Hounds. Our program Helping Happy Hounds is live NOW. Let’s save some lives!

More News from the Trail!

  • Saving 200 Lives – Our Biggest Event Ever!

    We are SAVING 200 LIVES THIS WEEK!!  Our biggest event ever! This time next week we have TWO Trails UP teams hitting the roads to save lives in this unprecedented effort! And we need your support to make it happen. We are sooo excited!! And to make it more fun for everyone, this effort is part of our Quarterly Raffle. For each $100 donor, we pick one winner at random to win a $350 Amazon gift card, a custom dog or cat goody basket and 2 free tickets to our Chili Bingo event in the fall – winner to be chosen as soon as we meet our $ goal. 120 DOGS WILL BE STERILIZED….. “I love this dog that wandered up to my house. But I’ve got a female dog inside and this dog is not neutered. The cost of getting him neutered is more than I can afford. But I hate to take him to the shelter. So for now I have to keep him chained up. If I can get him neutered and vaccinated then he can live indoors with us. I would love for him to be a real part of our family.” – Mr. Jenkell For the first time ever, Homeward Trails has organized a 120-dog spay/neuter event in Galax, VA, one of our most favorite Trails UP communities. We will be traveling to Galax where we have been working for months to secure 120 dogs who desperately need neutered, vaccinated and microchipped. These animals are loved but have owners who simply cannot afford their surgery. Without this event many would face becoming pregnant and ending up in the local shelter with puppies. Or possibly facing a life on a chain. This is no way for a family to live.  As much of our Trails UP spay/neuter efforts have focused on cats due transport options and surgical availability, our hearts have been hurting as we see the shelters filling up with dogs & puppies and so many people desperately wanting to get their dogs neutered. And so we have been working overtime to put together this major event. We will be partnering with several groups to bring a mobile unit to Galax and bring these lifesaving and lifechanging services to these dogs. We cannot WAIT. Every dog will be neutered, vaccinated and microchipped. And we hope to send all home with dog food, flea/tick meds and for those who need it – a dog house! The cost to us for this event comes to $120/dog  – as we are providing these services totally free to the community. PLEASE consider sponsoring a dog for this event and allowing us to truly change the life of a dog and the people who love him/her. A donation of any amount will truly make a difference! 80 CATS WILL BE STERILIZED The second half of our Trails UP team will be heading to Buchanan County to do free spay/neuter and Trap-Neuter-Return for 80 cats. The number of cat lives that will be saved from preventing unwanted kittens is often totally hard to digest. It’s HUGE. Just last month, we spayed almost 25 early pregnant cats – you can see how many lives that saved through prevention. It also means the world to the human caretakers of these kitties who so often struggle to feed their own families let alone the dozens of cats they care for. We will spend 5 days in the field working with community members in this very under-resourced communities. We will set traps in trailer parks, in yards and barns, on decks and in gardens – wherever we can – to get 80 cats sterilized, vaccinated and microchipped.    This will require not only 36 hours of trapping but more than 10 additional hours of driving to and from our surgical clinic. Our van will be loaded up with 80 cats (the very most we can fit) to make the 3.5 hour one-way trip to the surgical center. This is a huge undertaking each time we do it. But with no affordable large-scale spay/neuter clinics close by, we take what we can get. Our team is so dedicated! And so over a short period of just 5 days, we will sterilize, vaccinate and microchip 200 animals in two separate but equally under-resourced communities. And we are SO EXCITED. Please sponsor a dog or cat at just $100 and you can be a winner of a $350 Amazon gift card, a custom dog or cat goody basket and 2 free tickets to our Chili Bingo event in the fall – winner to be chosen as soon as we meet our $ goal.