Jordan Guskey, a Sports Reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal, is a regular at the Lawrence Humane Society. He has fostered several dogs for the humane society up until the time they get adopted. After graduating in 2018 from Indiana University with a degree in journalism, he worked in the journalism field right out of college at a number of different places. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Guskey began working with the Indie Humane Society in Indianapolis, Indiana, and began fostering animals as a means to have a pet around him while he wasn’t able to have his own dog around. Since he was missing his dog, he used the opportunity to foster dogs from the shelter in order to fill in the gap between his time away from his pet and his love for dogs. This allowed Guskey the opportunity to get to know quite a few dogs and take care of them outside of the shelter, also giving the animals a refreshing break until they were eventually adopted. 

When moving here for work in August 2021, Guskey wanted to remain involved in his support for the animals and reached out to the Lawrence Humane Society to begin fostering more pets. Fostering animals especially works in Guskey’s favor, as his job at The Topeka Capital-Journal involved much travelling and while he was away, the humane society was able to care for the pet he was fostering. He began with taking dogs out of the shelter for a day at a time and was loving how much joy it brought to the animals.

“Just seeing how happy those dogs were to just get a day out of the shelter,” Guskey said, “I think it was maybe like the summer of 2022 when I wanted to get back into full-time fostering.”

The first dog Guskey fostered long term from the Lawrence Humane Society was at the beginning of June 2022, keeping him up until he was adopted in August. Guskey recalled his first dog being Oswald, who he enjoyed fostering very much. He was also able to work with dogs who were in need of more support and were more “difficult” to care for based on behavioral conditions, their circumstances before entering the humane society, or needing more attention to their health. 

“The takeaway is that these kind of dogs, like really all they need is time and patience,” said Guskey, “Knowing that if there are going to be some bad days like that’s okay, and when you’re fostering you sign up for understanding that there aren’t always going to be perfect days.”

According to Guskey, every dog is different in this regard and some who have issues, over time begin to feel and behave differently just by receiving that extra attention they may be needing. In terms of long-term fostering, he has fostered approximately seven dogs and a few more he’s been able to foster for shorter periods of time. The longest dog he recalls fostering was Peanut, who he received in late June 2023 and adopted in September of 2024, which would be a little over a year. These extended fostering periods have allowed Guskey to grow quite the bond between him and whichever dog he is fostering at the time of their adoption. 

“Every dog that I’ve fostered has their own thing that I love about them, but it’s always tough,” said Guskey, “Those times where I get back after the dog gets adopted and then you open the door and you look down, because you’ve conditioned yourself to look down and see the dog being happy that you’re back, you get back from the adoption meeting and the dogs not there, I think that’s the toughest part.”

Although it is tough, he mentions that the good does outweigh the bad in those situations, because he knows that the dog has finally found its home with their new owners, which is the ultimate goal of fostering animals to begin with. There are times where Guskey has come close to adopting some of the dogs he has taken care of, recalling the last dog he fostered before leaving Indiana, but ultimately it works better with his lifestyle to continue fostering animals for now because of how busy his schedule gets in the spring and fall seasons. 

“I think my favorite moments are really when I take these foster dogs who have levels of things they need to work through, every single time I’ve gone to my uncle’s place, who has two kids, the dogs behave really really well,” said Guskey, “Going back to what I said about time and patience, it’s just cool in those moments to see that all these dogs need is an opportunity… you get them in these situations in a yard and they’re just like ‘this is the best life I could think of’.”

When asking Guskey about his favorite dog he has fostered he stated, “They’re all tied for first.” His current favorite being Howie, the dog he is currently fostering. He also gave some advice about those who are looking to begin fostering animals. 

“The first thing is don’t be afraid to foster fail, the worst thing that can happen when you foster fail is a dog gets adopted,” said Guskey,” The second thing is time and patience, just understand that for certain dogs it might take a little longer to get comfortable or get acclimated to a new situation, especially if they’ve been at the shelter for a while or maybe their past experiences… making sure you take that time with the dog even if they mess up.”