Foster dog failed adoption

We started fostering our dog when she was about 7 months old. She was born and raised in the shelter, so we really wanted to give her a chance at a normal home life. After about five months of fostering, we decided to adopt her — but within the week, we realized it wasn’t the right fit and asked to stay as fosters instead. The rescue was really understanding, but I’ve always felt guilty about it. I got so attached to her and since she wasn’t getting adopted was hoping we could adopt her, however I quickly came to reality it is/ was not a good fit long term.

Last month she finally got adopted, and I was so happy — it felt like such a long time coming. But now the adopter has reached out saying her reactivity is too much, and she’s returning her. We’ve done so much training with her, but since she didn’t start socializing until later, progress has been slow. The adopter took her back to us yesterday and we are continuing to foster her.

To make things trickier, we’re supposed to go on vacation in two weeks. The adopter had offered to watch her while we were gone but backed out, and with her reactivity it’s been really hard to find safe care. I just feel awful — I love her so much and want her to finally get the stable, forever home she deserves. At this point I’m wondering if she needs more eyes on her and it would benefit her to be back in the shelter for exposure. I just worry because some dogs from her litter are still at the shelter. We have posted her on several pages as well as the shelter posting on their main page over 6 months. I feel so guilty, and obligated to adopt her. I honestly would love to adopt her, but I have a lot of stress regarding reactive dogs and plan to have kids (which she does not do well with). Adopting was really never my plan. I just was hoping to socialize a dog and help them get adopted. Has anyone ever had it take this long. Any thoughts?