When I came home from school in May, I didn’t expect to miss school as much as I did. I also expected to have so many plans to hang out with friends and accomplish so much. As I get to the end, however, it seemed as if the summer slipped through my fingertips. With summer school at the beginning, which led to me unable to get a job, and then an injury that had me unable to train for soccer in the fall, I wasn’t able to accomplish the goals I had set at the beginning of the break. Because I was unable to accomplish my goals, I got very down on myself. My sister saw this change in me and decided she was going to make me feel better with a trip to the local SPCA to play with puppies and kittens. Little did we both know, but we were about to walk out of there with a little puppy of our own.

My sister and I fell in love with a puppy named Lucky who was perched behind the desk in a cage because they wanted to get her adopted so badly. We were asked by the amazing staff if we wanted to play with her and get her sillies out. Of course, my sister and I jumped at the opportunity to play with a puppy. We played in that room for so long but we knew we couldn’t adopt her. I still live with my parents and I go off to Wisconsin for school in the fall, so buying a puppy that would be mine would not be a smart move. It wouldn’t be far to me or the puppy that I took home.
The staff then told us that they needed someone to take her for the night to get her used to being in a home. My sister and I frantically texted and called our mom to get her permission, she was hesitant but she gave in. We got all set up with the paperwork as well as had a one on one conversation with one of the ladies in charge (McCain) who made sure we had all we needed in order to provide the best care. They were so generous and gave us everything we needed to take care of a puppy and more!

We had an amazing time with slight issues, but Lucky was just a puppy who couldn’t contain her own bladder. She was the best puppy to foster and made me forget all the goals I had set for myself that I could not accomplish.

When we signed up to foster we also put down that we could foster kittens as well because my sister has always wanted a kitten and it would be perfect if she could see what it was like for a few weeks and be a part of that kitten's life in a good way. We were asked, in our last few weeks in Reno, to foster two kittens for two weeks. My sister and I jumped at the opportunity mostly because we have never had a cat or a kitten ever and we thought it would be really good for us to learn how to take care of a kitten or just a cat for that matter. Once again, the staff at the SPCA were very helpful with making sure we had everything we needed to take care of two kittens. They even helped us out with any questions we needed answered as well as gave us numbers to call and even text if we thought something was wrong or just needed to make sure they were okay.

I would recommend fostering to anyone who is not in the position to actually have a pet for a long period of time. You get to have an animal when they are at their youngest age and be a huge part of their life. For me I love the fact that I get to take care of baby animals which I’ve never had, that’s when they are at their “cutest” (all animals are cute in their own way). The shelters are really looking for people to help them out and it's a great place to meet new people and establish connections especially at a college level. If you are ready for the responsibility, I would say to get in touch with your local shelter and help them out if you can, it will change your life as well as the animal’s life you are touching.