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Foster Spotlight: It’s Your Time to Shine, Julie Tristan!

Where do we even begin with this week’s foster spotlight, Julie Tristan? As an anchor on Show Me St. Louis, Julie has helped GPG greatly by getting our dogs TV coverage. Her GPG story began seven years ago when she started working at KSDK-TV and did a story on PJ and her efforts in East St. Louis. Julie was hooked and came home that afternoon with two puppies! She tried fostering, but immediately fostered failed with one puppy and didn’t let the other get too far by adopting that one to her mom. A dog from that same litter was returned later and Julie offered to foster that one too. She also became Julie’s foster failure. She gave it one more go after that, but fell in love and adopted that one too! That meant a total of three foster failures for Julie: Simone, Molly, and Champ. In total, she has fostered five dogs for GPG. She has no preference between fostering puppies or adult dogs because she just has a big heart for all of them!

Julie’s most memorable GPG moment is with her last foster failure, Champ. She told PJ she was going to try fostering one more time and asked PJ to find her a dog to foster. PJ rescued Champ the next morning and brought him directly to Julie’s house. It didn’t take long for Julie to know it was meant to be. She knew by that night that she was in love and that he was going to stay with her forever!

If Julie has any advice for foster parents it would first be to not adopt them all! On a serious note, she wants to let everyone know that they need to teach their fosters as much as possible. Show them to sit, stay, and kennel train them. Basically, teach them any manners that will help result in the smoothest transition to their forever home. Lastly, don’t forget to take lots of pictures! It will help you when you miss them. Plus, it’s always fun to share their journey with their new family!

Julie has a total of five dog children. Despite her busy life with her dogs, she still manages to pick up volunteer shifts at the GPG emergency shelter. She even volunteers at Stray Rescue too! Julie would classify herself as a crazy dog lady and could easily talk about them for hours on end. She gets more excited about dogs than humans. On the weekends she’s usually dressed in some kind of t-shirt with a dog on it and jeans. Last year she went to volunteer at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, UT and she couldn’t wait to go back this year. Who would have guessed that she was originally allergic to dogs?! Her doctor told her parents that if they kept their current dog, she would build up immunity towards dogs. Luckily this worked! We are eternally grateful for all you do, Julie! Thank you!!!

If you are interested in fostering, please visit our Fostering Page to learn more!

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