Adopting a rescue animal is a noble pursuit, but dogs who live in a stressful, chaotic shelter may not put their best paw forward when potential owners come to visit.

That’s where fostering comes in. It’s the often-overlooked step between rescue and adoption, and it can be transformative for many dogs. Even while young and broke in New York City, Isabel Klee took up this calling, and it changed her life forever.

Today, she educates her enormous online audience about the foster process through heartwarming videos of the pups that come in and out of her life. And while it’s not always glamorous, Isabel dispels the myth that aggressive or traumatized dogs can’t be rehabilitated. Often, it just takes a few calm days, lots of love, and a little ham(!) to get a sad or injured dog frolicking again.

Her big “foster fail” of course, is that she loved one of her guests so much, she had to keep him. Simon (now of @‌SimonSits fame) was the key that unlocked Isabel’s solo social media career.

Isabel joins Matt to discuss her work as an animal welfare advocate, why her videos are unique in a sea of cute Internet doggos, the surprising lessons she’s learned from fostering dogs in NYC, the messages she gets from families who are inspired to foster, and the complicated emotional baggage around the shelter system.

Follow Isabel’s work: https://www.instagram.com/simonsits

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices