The world's cutest foster puppy and the reluctant husband

By Stephanie Ladeira, Vice President of Development and Foster Puppy Enthusiast

I am an enthusiastic foster parent for Humane Society Silicon Valley, with an unenthusiastic foster-husband. When HSSV’s Regional Rescue Team approached me to foster a puppy, it was because all other seasoned foster puppy parents have current pups, or because the team is dealing with the hairy (pun intended) task of juggling foster parent vacation schedules. This is always the case in the summertime!

I’m a great foster parent (or so I think). I have 3 dogs and a cat…a bossy female terrier that makes the puppies earn playtime, a 16 year old big dog that will let puppies do anything to him and a boisterous 3 year old dog on springs. My cat is unflappable and is a super practice cat for puppies who have never seen cats before.

When Casaundra from the Regional Rescue Team stopped by my office this past week, she looked a little frazzled. “There’s a little 6 week old puppy with a soft fontanelle, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fontanelle that needs a place to stay until he’s old enough to be neutered. Can you take him? I’ve been trying to find him a place for about a week now and the shelter he’s at can’t keep him any more –he’s just too small and needs more time than they can commit. They just called me and said I’d need to pick him up today. He’s red – your favorite!”

Um, sure. Did I call Paul (the reluctant husband) to ask if he’d mind if I brought home a little one? Nope. He always adjusts and besides, why give him the opportunity to say no?

My first post that night on Facebook? “Tonka’s the name and screaming’s the game!” (We were starting our crate training!) Little, fluffy, brown (not red!), sassy, silly, soft, googly-eyed Tonka. We’re on day 7 with the little guy and he’s fitting in just right. Crate-trained, potty-paper trained, knows his name. What a smart little guy. Watch his video! He just loves his kong!

I’ll be darned if I can feel that soft fontanelle. I think Casaundra just tells me stuff like that to get me to say "yes" – and my god, I just love fostering.