She was rescued from a high kill shelter. She is the sweetest, most adorable and affectionate dog. I lost my Labrador 17 days ago, and I got her 8 days ago to foster to help me heal. She is beautiful and is attached to my hip. She follows me everywhere and has really bonded with me. We decided it would be a foster fail because we have a connection. In the 8 days she has been with us (my mum and I), she has absolutely flourished. She goes to pee and poop outside. She doesn’t cower in her crate (when the rescue got her, she cowered in the back of the pen at the pound and would not eat and was terrified of people). She plays with people and by herself. She is a serious snuggle bug and spoons with me at night. She has so many quirks my last dog (my soul dog) had and so many other ones that make her a new and loving dog. I think my last dog sent her to me.

She has had no seeming aggression toward other dogs. We have a small shihtzu x maltese who is gorgeous and has never been aggressive to any other dog. She’s 13. They’ve gotten along great and my dog has even responded to the foster wanting to play and barking at the foster when she play bows. Last night I was watching something on my laptop laying on my bed and the foster was at the foot of my bed on the floor. She sleeps with me in there and sometimes eats her meals in there, plus her crate is in my room. She has never shown resource guarding apart from a quick correction when my dog came too close to her food bowl while she was eating. We are able to feed them treats side by side and there is no aggression at all. She’s the sweetest soul. Anyway, she was at the foot of my bed and all of a sudden I heard the type of growl a dog does when they’re not happy and shaking something. I jumped up yelling and saw the foster had a hold of my dogs ear and was having a good chomp. She let go immediately when I yelled so I know this wasn’t with intent but it has still shaken me to my core. I think it’s considered a level 3 bite as it did leave a puncture/small gash but there was no intent to mutilate that I know of. Then again I broke it up within seconds. My little dog is okay, was just very shaken but both seem to have forgotten about it.

I don’t know if this was because my foster is very timid and would never approach my dog head on and always sniffed her bum and followed her when she wasn’t facing my foster and perhaps my dog has gone up to her while she’s been asleep and startled her awake and it was her first reaction. It’s also possible that the foster has grown possessive of my room because she sees it as her and her humans space. Either way, the foster is almost 24kg and my dog is probably around 6-7kg or smaller so there’s a substantial size difference and the foster could have done some serious damage if she wanted to or if I hadn’t intervened.

I called the rescue after it happened and said unfortunately I cannot adopt her and she needs to be moved because it’s not a risk I am willing to take. My dog was here first and doesn’t deserve to be attacked in her own home just for sniffing another dog. I love this foster SO much, and if we didn’t already have our dog, it wouldn’t be a question that we would take her. But it’s not fair to segregate them to certain parts of the house because I am not trained in this kind of behaviour with dogs and I simply just won’t risk losing our other dog 3 weeks after my soul dog passed, even if it’s a 2% chance.

She apparently took a while to warm up but warmed up to the last home she was in in the transition to my house and bonded with their son, and then she warmed up to me within minutes, so she will do the same with the next carer, right? I have to keep reminding myself that dogs are so adaptable. I’m so scared she will regress but I know this is best for her, no matter how much I will miss her.

We think we have found a foster home for her where no other animals are present so she can have the time to socialise in a neutral environment.

I’m just honestly wanting people to tell me I’m doing the right thing so I can stop feeling so horrible and like I’m betraying her.

It will be even harder because I will be alone in my house once again without a companion.