Fostering is not easy.but never the less an experience not to be missed!
On a regular working Wednesday, as the day was coming to an end and everybody in the Friendicoes office was winding up for the day, a lady walked in with the most adorable Labrador in tow. She said she found him on the roads near her home and he looked lost for a few days. He did look as if he could do with some meat on his frame.

Friendicoes immediately called up Aarti, a volunteer, to foster the dog till a home could be found for him. When Aarti first met the dog he greeted her with a boo and so she decided to call him Boo-Boo. Boo went home with Aarti, and everybody decided to wait for a couple of days before giving him up for adoption, thinking the owners may come looking for him.

Since the time Boo came to her life Aarti felt that she had grown a tail! The dog would follow her everywhere. She would go to the kitchen and he was there. She would go to the balcony and he was there. Even when she was in the bathroom, he would try to follow her in and on denied permission would sit outside the door till she came out of it! He even slept when she slept and stayed wide awake when she was awake!! Boo and Aarti developed a very close bond in those few days to the point that Aarti's husband complained to anybody who would listen that the menu at home would focus on Boo first and then him.

In the meantime Friendicoes started looking for a home for Boo. Frantic calls were made to friends and the volunteer network to find him a nice home. Aarti made efforts of her own to get Boo a home and she struck gold when a friend of her mother's offered to take him in even without meeting him. They had heard so much about him from her! They already had two other dogs and are avid animal lovers and to top it all has a huge garden where Boo could run and play around.

Of course, the idea of keeping him did cross Aarti's mind but being a working woman with no help at home the idea was not feasible and not fair to Boo-Boo. Aarti decided Boo deserved better and so Boo-Boo went to his new home in Bhopal to a family who fell in love with him the first time they saw him. Aarti cried buckets when she left Boo with his new family but at the bottom of all that pain was the joy of knowing that she helped a dog and was there for him when he needed her the most.

In Aarti's words "Initially the feeling was bittersweet. But now it's sweet as can be, as I realize he has the best possible care and he is happy. I know I can always visit him whenever I want. Every time I think of him my eyes still well up but I am happy with my decision. The experience of fostering for Boo-Boo has been something I shall never forget. It taught me just how amazing animals are ...you give them love and you always get back ten-folds of it!"

There are many more Boo-Boo's out there who have not been as lucky and are sitting in shelters waiting for some love and understanding to come their way. Be that some one. Foster an animal today.