Anytime a dog walks by, Pooja Kini’s (12) face lights up with joy regardless of the situation. A dog lover her entire life, she decided to help out the canine community in seventh grade and began volunteering at the Humane Society Silicon Valley (HSSV).

“I’ve always had a passion to work with dogs,” Pooja said. “Since my family was never entirely supportive of owning a dog, we made a compromise and started to foster dogs from HSSV.”

When fostering, HSSV contacts Pooja and her family when a dog is available. The dog stays in Pooja’s home anywhere from a week to over a year, and she takes care of it until someone comes to adopt it.

“Dogs that go into foster are usually either sick, have separation anxiety, are old or are just exceptionally stressed when they are locked up in the shelter, so they don’t stay in the shelter like most other dogs do,” Pooja said. “Every Saturday, foster parents take their dogs to the shelter for a showcase from 12 to 2 p.m., so that people interested in adopting dogs in foster care can actually meet them. Usually, they can’t see or interact with them like they can with the dogs staying at the shelter.”

Pooja described her typical responsibilities when fostering a dog.

“We take them for at least two walks a day and feed them twice a day,” Pooja said. “Sometimes I do some basic training with treats, and I teach them to do things like sit down and lay down. I pet them a lot, too. If the dogs are sick, HSSV gives us medicine to put into their food, or wrap it in some treats so they eat it. But my mom always feels super sorry for them, and ends up not using the dog food and gives them warm chicken and rice instead.”

Pooja’s favorite dog to foster was an 8-year-old black, long-haired dachshund mix named Duke, who stayed at her house over Thanksgiving break of last year. 

“He was so loyal and would literally follow me everywhere,” Pooja said. “Whenever I’d go to the bathroom, he’d sit outside and whine, and he would sleep with me on my bed. My favorite memory with him is when he heard a fire truck siren and howled along with it. I got so excited. But even though that only happened once, every time he heard a fire truck he would listen very carefully.”

Despite loving dogs so much and feeling saddened when they finally get adopted and she no longer is able to take care of them, Pooja loves when a foster dog in her care finds a permanent home.

“It’s not sad for me because dogs should get adopted,” Pooja said. “I’m happy for them because they have found a loving home. My home is not permanent for them, and while they don’t know that, and while it’s hard for them to leave me too, it’s for the best because they have a family to call theirs. The more foster dogs that get adopted, the more room there is for new dogs to come into our home to be given a second chance just like all of the others.”

No matter what breed of dog Pooja takes care of, she feels that taking care of dogs, especially shelter dogs, improves the mood of everyone around.

“People may think a dog is just added responsibility, but honestly, they give you so much more in return,” Pooja said. “Most of the shelter dogs have been hurt so much, whether physically or emotionally by previous owners, or they’ve had to bear very bad conditions if they were strays on the streets. But as a foster carer, within a few hours, dogs will learn to trust you and give you all of their love.”