Rescue Needs 'Foster Folks' For Area Dogs

By: Joe Tennis | TriCities.com
Published: February 19, 2009

For weeks, you might say, I fostered a whole bunch of dogs.
I simply had to.
I had adopted a stray dog, Molly, who subsequently gave birth to nine puppies.
I gave away most of the pups, all within weeks of their birth, deciding to keep only one male.
But I sold the other boy – the last puppy – and not because I needed that $20.
I just took the advice of a friend, who said anybody who would have adopted a dog – and paid money for it – was obviously going to give it a good home.
And indeed, Howard the dog did have a good home.
He lived another 14 years and often spent mornings fishing with his master.
For Sharon Bryant, a Piney Flats resident and registered nurse at Johnson City Medical Center, finding good homes for dogs has become a personal mission.
Bryant, 51, has actually gone to animal shelters and brought home dogs. And she is encouraging others to “foster” dogs while they await permanent homes.
“It’s a terrible thing when animals get dumped in the shelter,” Bryant said.
“In my view, it’s like being thrown in jail. You know, your family leaves you. They walk away.”
Today, Bryant works to rescue animals from shelters in both Carter and Sullivan counties in Tennessee.
She has named her new dog-saving organization “Blackjack Rescue,” for a dog she had adopted but which has since died.
So far, she has helped save the lives of about 200 dogs, she said.
Kelli Musick, an accounts receivable clerk from Bristol, Tenn., has worked with Bryant in giving a foster home to an 8-month-old beagle.
“And the need is so great,” Musick said. “Her rescue group does not have an actual rescue facility. She pulls them out of the pound so they won’t be euthanized.”
Musick, 29, doesn’t want to keep that beagle forever.
“I want him to find a home so I can get another from a shelter and save it, too,” she said. “If I keep him, then I can’t foster another one.”
Bryant, meanwhile, has yet another project, “Puppy Promise Safe Haven.”
This project helps set up a network between people who can provide a foster home for puppies while waiting to send them to permanent homes in northern states, like New Jersey, where the demand for dogs is great, Bryant said.
“There is a puppy shortage there,” Bryant added.
Sheryl Hogan, of West Milford, N.J., is helping with the plan, Bryant said, to save animals from local shelters here while waiting to find them homes this spring.
“What we want here is we want people to donate,” Bryant said. “We want people to volunteer. We need foster homes, in that interim period. We need people who are willing to take an animal in their home and blend them in.”
For more information about fostering a dog, call Bryant at (423) 340-2138 or e-mail blackjackrescue@yahoo.com.

Rescue Needs 'Foster Folks' For Area Dogs

Share This:

More from this channel:

Reader Comments

Deal of the Day

Most Popular

Things to Do