The Journey Begins..

Our First Foster

Charlie the Brown Spotted Dalmation

Today, I will tell you a bit on how we got involved and the initial formalities involved. At first when we arrived in our new country Australia, I went to RSPCA to obtain information on how we can get involved as volunteers and/or foster family. When I called them up, they were very enthusiastic and requested me to go to the shelter.

And so, I got in the car and drove there. My first impression was, WOW, so nice and clean and big! There was a large space for the dogs where they all had individual kennels and then big play kennels. On the site there was also an animal hotel and a memorial park for the fur kids, really beautiful indeed. But once I had spoken with the person in charge and got all the information I needed, it wasn’t that great any more.

You might be wondering, why? Firstly children under the age of 18 years are not allowed to volunteer. If I wanted to volunteer in the shelter, I would need both medical insurance and liability insurance! If I wanted to foster, I would need medical and liability insurance for the whole family and household insurance too!

All I wanted was to help and not to become an insurance broker. �You may wonder why I did so after living 15 years in Malaysia… Now, it is a western country and therefore it’s all about public liability… So I decided to put the helping part on hold until we were more settled and had sorted out the issue with all the various insurances. With Christmas just a few days away, I was busy with all the preparations to celebrate our festival.

Christmas is always a wonderful season and this was our�first�time celebrating it without the extended family. Therefore I went on Facebook to wish all my friends… and there was a post from South Australian Dog Rescue (SADR), a group I had befriended when I was still in Malaysia: “URGENT foster carer needed“. I did not hesitate to contact them and got an�immediate answer, and guess what – all they needed was for me to fill out the foster carer agreement and a yard check.

WOW – not only did that sound easy, but it actually was! After a few clarifications on their side and mine, the Lady came the very next day to our house. She gave me the forms to fill out while she did a yard check. You may wonder what a yard check is. As a foster carer, you are responsible for the health,�welfare�and�safety�of the fostered animal.� So what they did was to ensure that your yard is fully enclosed and the fences are strong and high enough so that the dog cannot escape. All went well and two hours later, our first foster dog arrived.

Charlie the brown spotted�Dalmatian – What a wonderful Christmas!

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Guni Gomez

I grew up in a beautiful German country side, with lots of farms and animals surrounding my parent's home. In our home there were always animals from Budgies to Parrots, Dogs and Cats, Rabbits and we had a permanent resident in the old barn a Hedgehog with its family. I count myself lucky with all the farms around, I was able to witness natures most pressures moments the start of a new life from mating to birth. I saw Chickens hatch, the birth and cleaning of Piglets; I was even able to witness a caesarean on a Cow. Until today I treasure these beautiful moments and wish my kids would have the same chance of experience it.
I am married with 3kids & some furry kids as well. I have spent the past 15 years of my life in one of the most beautiful countries "Malaysia". Where, I started my journey as a volunteer in PAWS.
Now we are Down Under and we continue the journey as volunteers and we became a Foster family for the most needed Fur kids.

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