In this episode of the Know it All podcast, Peggy Bunker discusses her experience fostering dogs and how it has changed her life and her family’s for the better. More importantly, it allowed her to help an innocent animal who needed it.
Peggy goes on to explain what fostering involves and why it matters amid a major shelter crisis, especially in Texas and California. Peggy cites 2024 statistics of about one million dogs euthanized and says 300,000 have been euthanized so far in 2026, noting underreporting by smaller shelters.
She describes how fostering removes animals from stressful shelter conditions, helping them decompress, become calmer, and more adoptable, typically over a one-to-two-week commitment. Peggy shares how she started fostering through Pets In Need in Northern California, offers practical tips like using a dedicated easy-clean space and initial confinement, explains “foster fails,” and emphasizes fostering is free with supplies and medications provided. And she gladly discusses some of the specific dogs that she had the pleasure of fostering over the years.
She encourages fostering older or larger dogs and urges adoption over buying from breeders. If you’re foster-curious, this episode is for you! It’s a small way to step into your social responsibility and animal rights activism and you aren’t likely to regret it :)
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