Soon, the 50th rescue puppy will arrive in our care – a number that still feels slightly surreal.
Almost 50 puppies have played in our garden, met our guests, joined us for puppy events and coastal walks, grown in confidence and eventually moved on to the next part of their lives.
Some arrived curious and ready to explore everything.
Others needed much more time.
We've cared for frightened puppies, puppies recovering from traumatic experiences, puppies young enough to need hand-feeding and puppies who suddenly became seriously ill.
And if fostering rescue puppies has taught us anything, it's that there really isn't such a thing as a typical foster puppy.
Every one arrives with a different story.
And every one teaches us something different.
Foster Care Is About Much More Than Food and Cuddles
When people hear the words foster puppy, they often imagine feeding, cuddling and giving a puppy somewhere safe to stay until an adopter is found.
That's certainly part of it.
But the time between rescue and adoption is also an important opportunity for a puppy to discover ordinary life.
Different people. New sounds. Walking on a lead. Travelling in a car. New surfaces. Being handled gently. Hearing the sea. Learning when it's time to play and when it's time to rest.
For a young rescue dog, many things we consider completely normal may still be completely new.
Sometimes progress happens quickly.
Sometimes it takes weeks.
And often the smallest moments become the ones you remember most.
Frankie Taught Us That Trust Has Its Own Timeline
Frankie was one of those puppies who needed time.
For almost four weeks, we waited for him to make the first real move towards us.
We fed him, spent time around him and gave him space to watch everything happening around him without constantly asking anything from him.
Then one day, he came towards us by himself.
Tail wagging.
No persuasion. No treat held out in front of him.
He simply decided that he wanted to come closer.
After weeks of waiting, something as ordinary as a puppy happily approaching you suddenly feels enormous.
Frankie taught us that progress isn't always about doing more.
Sometimes it's about creating enough safety for a puppy to take the next step in their own time.
Hooper Needed Somewhere He Could Feel Safe
Hooper came to us after an experience no puppy should have to go through.
He had been badly attacked by other dogs in the shelter and had almost died.
For an entire week after that experience, he slept beside me at night.
There wasn't a complicated training plan behind it.
He had been through enough.
What he seemed to need most was closeness, warmth and the feeling that he could finally relax.
Sometimes foster care is about teaching.
And sometimes it's simply about giving a puppy enough time to feel safe again.
Amber Learned That Walks Could Be Enjoyable
Amber was a hunting-dog mix who was frightened of going for walks.
For many puppies, seeing a lead means excitement.
For Amber, being outside initially felt much more overwhelming.
So we practised slowly and repeatedly.
Small steps. Time to look around. Time to become familiar with the experience.
Gradually, the outside world became less frightening and more normal.
Amber was a lovely reminder that socialisation isn't about showing a puppy as many things as possible as quickly as possible.
It's about giving them positive experiences at a pace they can actually cope with.
Sometimes They Arrive Incredibly Small
George and Frankie were so young when they came to us that they still needed to be hand-fed.
At that age, you notice everything.
How much they've eaten. Whether they're gaining strength. Whether today feels a little different from yesterday.
And then, remarkably quickly, the tiny puppy who needed help eating turns into the puppy racing around the garden as though they have never needed assistance with anything in their life.
Watching that transformation is one of the loveliest parts of fostering.
And Sometimes Everything Changes Overnight
Then there was Cupcake.
Cupcake contracted parvovirus.
Suddenly, our normal routine disappeared and was replaced by waiting, worrying and wondering whether she would make it.
There were nights when we simply didn't know.
Those experiences remind you that foster care isn't made up only of cute photographs and puppy cuddles.
There can be frightening days too.
And when a puppy recovers, completely ordinary puppy behaviour suddenly feels extraordinary.
Eating.
Playing.
Getting into mischief.
All the little things you were desperately hoping to see again.
What a Normal Day With Our Foster Puppies Looks Like
Fortunately, most days are much less dramatic.
At around 7 a.m., we bring the puppies out of their Puppy Room.
Breakfast comes first.
Then they spend time playing and exploring in the garden.
There is running, wrestling, investigating things that no human would ever consider interesting and, eventually, a lot of sleeping.
Puppies need plenty of rest, so quiet time is just as much a part of their routine as playing, learning and meeting people.
Afternoons Bring Food, Guests and Sometimes Puppy Yoga
Later in the afternoon, the puppies have another meal.
Some days are quiet.
On others, visitors join us for Coffee, Cake & Cuddles, giving the puppies the opportunity to spend time with different people in a relaxed setting.
And occasionally, they join us for Puppy Yoga.
These carefully managed interactions introduce them to different people, voices, movements and ways of being touched and handled.
For our visitors, it creates another kind of experience.
You're not simply looking at rescue puppies from the outside.
For a little while, you can become part of their story.
You might be the new person a shy puppy decides to approach.
The lap someone chooses for a nap.
The person holding their favourite toy.
Or simply another calm and friendly human who helps a puppy discover that meeting someone new can be a positive experience.
You Can Be Part of Their Story
This is one of the things that makes Puppy Yoga Retreat Cyprus a little different.
The puppies stay with us during an important transition between rescue and their next home.
During that time, retreat guests and visitors can become one small part of the world they're learning to navigate.
You may meet them during Puppy Yoga.
You might spend an afternoon with them during Coffee, Cake & Cuddles.
Or you may join one of our Puppy Beach Walks along the Cyprus coast.
You don't need experience with rescue dogs to contribute something positive.
Sometimes being calm, patient and kind is already enough.
Evening Walks by the Sea
Some evenings, we take the puppies to the coastline around the EDRO III Shipwreck and Sea Caves.
It's one of our favourite places later in the day, when the light becomes softer and the sea breeze picks up.
For the puppies, the walk brings another set of experiences: the sound of the sea, different surfaces beneath their paws, unfamiliar smells, people passing and an environment completely different from the garden.
For us, it's simply a beautiful way to spend part of the evening with them.
Around sunset, we return and the puppies settle back into their Puppy Room for the night.
And the following morning, at around seven, it all begins again.
Socialisation Happens in Hundreds of Small Moments
After almost 50 foster puppies, one of the biggest things we've learned is that socialisation isn't one particular activity.
It's hundreds of small experiences.
Meeting a new person.
Hearing an unfamiliar sound.
Walking over a new surface.
Travelling somewhere different.
Feeling the wind beside the sea.
Being touched gently by someone they haven't met before.
Trying something that felt frightening yesterday and discovering that today it feels just a little easier.
To us, these moments can seem ordinary.
To a puppy still discovering the world, they're anything but ordinary.
Fostering is made up of hundreds of little moments that may not look important from the outside – until one day you realise how far a puppy has come.
Why Rescue Puppies Are Part of Our Retreat
The puppies aren't part of our retreat simply because puppies and yoga make a cute combination.
We foster rescue puppies in cooperation with local animal welfare organisations and give them time, care and positive social experiences while they're preparing for the next chapter of their lives.
Our retreats and puppy events help us finance this work and continue taking in more puppies.
That means guests who stay with us or join one of our events can help in two ways.
Their booking supports the work financially.
And their interaction can become another small, positive experience in a puppy's life.
But the goal is always the same.
The best outcome is that eventually they leave us.
Because fostering isn't about keeping them.
It's about helping them reach somewhere permanent.
Saying Goodbye Works. Almost Always.
People often ask how it's possible to foster puppies, become attached to them and then let them go.
The answer is that you learn.
You know from the beginning that you're only one chapter in their story.
You watch them grow.
You watch confidence appear.
You help them prepare.
And then someone else falls in love with them.
The goodbye can still be emotional, but seeing photographs later of a former foster puppy relaxed in their new home makes it worthwhile.
One puppy leaves.
And eventually, that creates space to help another.
After almost 50 puppies, you'd think we'd have become very disciplined about this.
We almost have.
And Then There Was Balu
Balu was supposed to be a foster puppy too.
That was the plan.
He came into our care like the others and was supposed to stay temporarily.
And somewhere along the way, temporary stopped being the plan.
Balu stayed.
So when people ask whether it's possible to foster puppies without eventually keeping one, the answer is:
Yes.
Almost always.
Balu is our exception.
And apparently every good rule needs one.
What Almost 50 Rescue Puppies Have Taught Us
Almost 50 puppies later, there are a few things we believe much more strongly than when we started.
Every puppy is different.
What helps one puppy may not be what another needs.
Trust has its own timeline.
Frankie needed almost four weeks before he came towards us wagging his tail.
Safety sometimes comes before training.
Hooper needed time to feel secure again.
Confidence grows through small experiences.
Amber learned gradually that being outside could become something positive.
Routine creates security.
Meals, garden time, sleep, interaction and familiar rhythms give puppies something predictable while so much else in their lives is changing.
And perhaps most importantly:
Fostering is supposed to end.
The aim isn't for the puppies to need us forever.
It's to help them reach the point where they don't.
Puppy Number 50
We don't know yet what puppy number 50 will be like.
Maybe they'll arrive full of confidence.
Maybe they'll need patience.
Maybe they'll love everyone immediately.
Maybe they'll choose one particular person.
Maybe they'll be wonderfully easy.
Maybe they'll cause complete chaos.
Almost 50 puppies have taught us not to make too many predictions.
But hopefully, number 50 will follow the same path as almost all of those who came before.
They'll arrive.
They'll grow.
They'll learn.
Someone will fall in love with them.
And eventually, we'll say goodbye.
Because somewhere beyond their time with us is the part of their story we're actually working towards:
home.
Be Part of Their Story
Stay at our Yoga Retreat in Cyprus or join one of our puppy events and spend time with rescue puppies during an important chapter of their lives – while helping us continue fostering the puppies who come next.
