A shelter puppy developed the most adorable of habits every time her foster carer went for a shower.

Grace the golden retriever took to napping outside the shower door on a nearby mat while Katie Balla was inside. It was an indicator of just how close they had become over the course of Grace's stay and influenced a major decision Balla would go on to make.

Balla has been fostering dogs almost non-stop since September 2021 through The Animal Pad in San Diego, California. "I mostly foster puppies and have done a few mama and babies. I honestly inquired about fostering after seeing an acquaintance post on her Instagram about it," Balla told Newsweek. "Since then I've had over 50 pups through my home."

Grace came into her care in early June in the worst kind of shape. "She was incredibly sick," Balla said. "Her first owners bought her from a scammy breeder who was selling sick puppies. They could no longer afford her care as she seemed like a medical mystery at the time. The ER vet called our rescue to see if they would take over her and help her through."

The original plan had been for Grace to stay with Balla for a couple of months until she got better, but things ultimately took a different turn.

"She ended up staying with us a lot longer than expected because she had distemper, which is a very deadly virus if you get it as a puppy," Balla said.

The weeks that followed Grace's arrival were not always easy but, with Balla by her side, slowly but surely the brave golden retriever began to show signs of recovery.

"There were so many ups and downs and she was so very sick, but after months of supportive care she made it through," Balla said. "We ended up being very bonded after all."

The impact a foster carer can have on a shelter dog can be significant. In 2018, a study published in the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science highlighted how just 15 minutes of one-on-one petting was enough to boost the overall well-being of a shelter dog.

Extrapolate that over a foster stay and you can only imagine the positive benefits this kind of care can offer. In the case of Grace, she developed a sense of attachment to Balla: she felt loved.

Proof of that can be found in a video Balla posted to her TikTok account fosterpup_tales, showing how Grace had taken to napping outside the shower door while she was inside.

"She also likes the cold floor but she pretty much prefers to be near me as often as possible," Balla said. Balla has fostered any number of dogs but there was something particularly special about the bond she had developed with Grace through her illness.

So Balla decided to do something differently this time. "Our family decided to adopt Grace," she revealed. "We signed the papers last week."

Though Balla knows not every foster will have this result, just by volunteering to care for a shelter dog in this way can go a long way to ensuring they get a happy ending of their own.

"Fostering is a way to give the dogs a home to decompress in, get them out of a shelter or kennel environment and begin to heal/let their guards down. It also makes them more adoptable, and frees up space in the rescues to save another dog in need," Balla said.

"It is a hugely important part of rescuing and it's extremely rewarding to love these dogs in their 'in between' and then see them off to their forever homes when the time is right."