Couple Who Fostered 59 Rescue Dogs Say the Best Part Is Watching Nervous Pups Unwind
Nicole and Gary Wordsworth have spent 15 years doing something many dog lovers say they could never manage. They welcome rescue dogs into their Buckinghamshire home, help them settle when kennels have become too much, and then watch them leave for the homes that suit them best.
A home that gives stressed dogs room to breathe
The Wordsworths are not keeping score in the usual way people do with pets. Their measure of success is not how long a dog stays, but whether that dog gets the quiet space needed to relax, reveal its habits and personality, and give Battersea a better sense of what kind of home might fit.
Over 15 years, that approach has added up to 59 foster dogs. Their house has hosted a wide mix, from Staffordshire Bull Terriers to Siberian Huskies. Some have stayed only a couple of nights. Others have remained for as long as 18 months.
For Nicole, 63, and Gary, the arrangement made sense from the beginning. Both were working full-time from home in electronics design, and fostering suited their lifestyle better than having a dog permanently. Their connection with Battersea began in late 2011, after they had been looking after friends' dogs and enjoying it. They saw an advertisement linked to sponsoring dogs, went in for a conversation, and came home with their first foster, a small Staffie named Marcel.
What followed was less about finding every dog a place with them than offering the right dogs a temporary stop outside the kennels. Nicole has said they know they cannot be the perfect match for every dog. What they can do is help dogs that are too stressed and need somewhere calm to settle.
That temporary role is also why letting go has never been the painful part many people assume it would be. Nicole has said the couple find it surprisingly easy, because they know the stay is meant to be short-term and that each dog is moving toward the best possible new home. What matters to them is being one part of that dog's story.
Gary says every foster arrives with a distinct character, even if it takes a little while for that character to show itself. One of the rewards, he says, is watching the nervousness fall away. Once that happens, the details start to emerge: which toys a dog likes, when it prefers to eat, how far it wants to walk, and how it behaves in a home. Those observations are valuable because they give Battersea a clearer picture of the environment that may suit the dog best.
That is part of what turns fostering into something practical rather than abstract. The couple are not only offering affection and a sofa. They are helping build a fuller description of each dog as an individual.
Gary has said choosing a favorite is impossible, although some dogs stay especially vivid because families keep in touch after adoption. Nicole has said hearing how former fosters are doing is always a joy. The updates confirm what they already believe: the dogs were only passing through, but the time in their home mattered.
The couple also make a point of saying that Battersea does not expect foster carers to arrive knowing everything about dogs. Nicole says the charity gives people time, training and pays for everything. Foster carers can also say no if a particular dog feels like too much of a challenge, and easier dogs are often the starting point. In her view, the dogs do not demand extraordinary effort so much as a steady presence while they work through their nerves.
The dogs they still talk about
After 59 fosters, the Wordsworths have plenty of stories, but a few dogs have become fixtures in family memory.
One was a 30kg American Bulldog who revealed a trick neither Nicole nor Gary had taught him. They were out in the garden, working through basic commands and trying to teach him to sit, lie down and give a paw. Nicole asked for a roll over, but nothing happened, which made sense because that had not been part of the lesson. Then they ran through the sequence again. This time, right in front of them, the dog completed a perfect roll, showing he already knew exactly what was being asked. The trick had come from his previous owner.
That story gained an even happier ending when the dog's original owner later spotted him in an advertisement, and the two were reunited.
A more recent favorite was Stormy, a Husky who stayed with the couple for four months. They remember her as very sweet, with a smiley face and a collection of endearing habits. The best known was her "happy food dance," a little side-to-side shift from toe to toe whenever her meal was being prepared. Stormy also broke the couple's expectations in another way. Rather than keeping her distance, as Huskies are sometimes thought to do, she loved curling up for a cuddle on the sofa.
Why they are still urging others to try
Now retired, Nicole and Gary say their own experience shows that fostering can work for people who are at home, including those who work from home. Their case for it is simple. A dog arrives tense. The dog gets quiet, routine and company. Then, little by little, the real personality appears.
For the Wordsworths, that transformation has been worth repeating 59 times. Gary says the years have convinced him there is a dog for everyone. Nicole describes fostering as deeply rewarding: a chance to do something useful while also having a dog by your side.
Battersea is currently looking for dog and cat foster carers across all three of its centres. For people who love dogs but are unsure about lifelong ownership, the Wordsworths' home offers a persuasive example of what fostering can be: not an ending, but the gentle middle chapter that helps a rescue dog get where it needs to go.
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