Bethany Boonstra enjoys an afternoon of fun with the nine puppies she and her family foster at her home in Calgary on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2020.
By Jessica Dezall
Bethany Boonstra and her family raised their tenth litter of dogs this fall in their Calgary home — a mother and nine puppies.
Boonstra, a third-year nursing student at U of C, heads the fostering operation, but the entire family of six pitches in. The family started fostering about a year ago with the Calgary Humane Society. This was their first with the Cochrane & Area Humane Society (CAHS), and their first with puppies so young.
Boonstra thought it would be fun to have a litter after seeing her cousins raise puppies but she didn’t want all the licensing and registration that came with breeding. With fostering, the humane society takes care of the paperwork, rehoming and supplies so she decided that was their best option.
“When else can you just have puppies for the puppy stage, and get all the fun out of it and then not have to worry about finding them homes or the cost?” she said, adding she did the research and pitched the idea to her parents. Her mother said “OK maybe,” but her father’s reaction was, “I don’t think so.”
“But you know, if my mom was on board, my dad had to be,” she said. “It ended up going through, and we did our first foster a couple months later.”
Boonstra took an orientation class and a canine class with the CAHS before picking up the puppies on Tuesday, September 15. She said the most challenging aspect is the time it takes.
“They make a fair share of messes, and it takes time to stay on top of all that,” she said. “The cool thing with COVID-19 is there are people that are home more. It’s really important that they’re not left at home all day by themselves.”
For Boonstra’s mother Genevieve, the biggest struggle is the puppies early schedule. Previous fostering experiences also left their couches in rough shape. This time, Boonstra’s father and brothers built a makeshift pen around their kitchen to keep the puppies from getting to the carpet or furniture.
“They do take over a little bit,” she said.
When the puppies come inside from the backyard on a muddy day the house is totally crazy.
“I think everyone gets a little overwhelmed. But we know it’s also temporary. We work through it. We all help each other out.”
Fostering, Boonstra said, is on a volunteer bases — for their enjoyment. To make money, she would have to breed the dogs herself. Her advice for those considering fostering is, “go for it.”
“Get ready to get a little bit dirty, and for your house to get a little bit dirty,” she said. “Do it. Just be ready for a mess.”
With puppies so young, the family does not worry much about training, but they do discourage bad behaviour like biting. Giving them back is bittersweet, they said, it’s a bit like babysitting.
“After we have a really crazy litter, we’ll take a month off of fostering until we’re recuperated from all the excitement,” Boonstra said.
Bethany Boonstra enjoys an afternoon of fun with the nine puppies she and her family foster at her home in Calgary on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2020. The Boonstra family began fostering the mother and puppies from the Cochrane & Area Humane Society in September and returned them to the CAHS for adoption on Oct. 22.