A Foster Home, Not a Forever Home: How Rachel Marko Gives Dogs Their Next Chance

For about seven years, Rachel Marko has opened her home to dogs that have nowhere else to go. As a foster volunteer with Southern Paws, a local dog rescue, she has taken in dog after dog, not to keep them, but to get them ready for the family that will.

It started before Rachel had even met the dog who would change how she fosters. Arya came into her life during the first week of COVID, adopted sight unseen after another family’s plans fell through. Rachel didn’t get to meet her in person until she was already home. That leap of faith turned into a permanent bond, and these days it also shapes how often Rachel fosters. Arya prefers being the only dog in the house, so what used to be frequent fostering is now once or twice a year.

Where the Dogs Come From

Many of the dogs that land at Southern Paws travel a long way to get there. They come up from the southern United States, where free-roaming, unspayed, and unneutered dogs lead to litter after litter of puppies with nowhere to go. By the time they reach Rachel, they have already survived the hardest part. What they need next is visibility, structure, and someone willing to put in the work of getting them adoption-ready.

A Full-Time Job for a Few Weeks at a Time

Foster dogs are almost always high-energy, so a lot of Rachel’s time goes into exercise, often letting them run loose in her fenced yard until they finally settle. She brings them along wherever she can, not for convenience, but because every extra set of eyes on a foster dog is one more chance someone falls in love with them.

It is not simple work. New feeding schedules, vet visits, house-training a dog that has never lived indoors, managing a foster’s energy around her own pets. But Rachel has learned to see the hard parts as short-term. The dog in her house today will not be there in a month. That is the point.

The Reward Is in the Goodbye

Ask Rachel what makes seven years of fostering worth it, and it is not a single moment. It is the pattern repeating itself: a dog arrives unsure and overwhelmed, and a few weeks later leaves for a home that will keep it. She and her family have learned to be happy on the day a foster dog goes, because it means the work did exactly what it was supposed to do.

That is the kind of giving back that rarely gets noticed from the outside. No ceremony, no headline, just a family that keeps saying yes when a rescue needs somewhere for a dog to land.

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We nominate someone who gives back. BHGRE Green Team is proud to recognize agents like Rachel Marko whose commitment to community reaches far beyond real estate. Know an agent making a difference? Reach out to talent@greenteamrealty.com