Labrador Friends of the South

A non-profit organization dedicated to the rescue and adoption of homeless Labrador Retrievers in Georgia, Alabama and the entire Southeast region

The Labrador News

Vol. 8, March 2008

I am always asked where our dogs come from, how we know which dog is in which shelter and how we can do what we do while having full time jobs. So in this issue of our newsletter I am going to try to describe how life in rescue works, at least for us, how we choose the dogs we take into our program, the difficult decisions we face every day and the many rewards that keep us going.

News and Events

A day in Rescue

Dog of the Month

Dog Tips

Deals of the Month

Last Months Adoptions

 

 

 

12 lucky Labradors found their forever homes last month including: Nelly, Gabby, Kona, Justin, Bowen, Dave, Elsa, Honey G., Chance, Millie Chocolate, Mater and Cypress all have a new permanent home.

 

Go meet he new additions on our available dogs webpage.  We have new adorable puppies, some low maintenance seniors, and some high energy dogs for anyone looking for a running partner. Tell your friends: we have a dog for everyone!

A Life in Rescue –Special Issue

In 2007 we started the Friends Fund to recognize all the people that are helping us saving more and more dogs and finishing paying Lisa’s vet bills. We thank the following people for their generosity in February:

 

Bronze Bone level: Shelley Regan, Deborah Palmer and The Murphys for Lisa.

Silver Bone level:  Sheila Henderson, and Judy Updike for Lisa, Carol Smith on behalf of Lainey (aka Goldie C.).

Gold Bone level:  Janice Riccio and Connie Bishop for Musso.

Platinum Bone level: Ike Goodvin, Shawn and Mary Sims, and Frank Morris for Lisa.

Diamond Bone Level: Jeff Stephens

We also thank everyone who bought tickets for the raffle. It was a big success that allowed us to raise over $1200. Read more on our home page.

               As little as $10 can make a difference! Donate today.

Is your dog suffering from joint or muscle problems? The new Dolce Vita Pets Beds use advanced engineering to deliver veterinarian recommended low level heat and therapeutic memory foam padding to help reduce pain and improve mobility. In addition to helping older animals, low level heat is ideal for reducing stress and anxiety. After a good playing session, Lisa surely enjoyed resting her sore leg on the bed. The beds come in all different sizes and they look really cool too.

From now to May 30th, the company is offering a 15% off to our friends. Just use the code LABFRIEND.

 

Wiley is a great 10 month old chocolate lab. He is smart, fun, active without being crazy, and well trained. He loves to play fetch and enjoys walking. Wiley has been living for a few months in a training facility so he is extremely well trained. He is used to the remote collar and doing very well with it. The person who will adopt him will be given a free training lesson to learn how to correct him. He also

Princess was not with us long but her story fits well into this newsletter. Last week Jenny walked into animal control but the dog she had gone to see had just been adopted.  She was about to walk out when the officer told her that an owner had just surrendered his 6 month old yellow lab and asked if she would like to see her. As an owner surrender she was already in the back to be put down within a few hours. Jenny said “I'll take her!” The officer reached into the trash, took out the papers the owners had left and gave them to Jenny together with Princess. Had Jenny not walked in there right at that time, Princess would have never been given the chance to be adopted to a new family who is already in love with her! Who says a few hours cannot make a difference?

Usually our LFS day starts as soon as we turn on our computers. A large group of volunteers is out there going from shelter to shelter to take pictures of dogs in danger and sending emails around. We know most of them not by name but by their email address. On rare occasions a shelter's director will email us directly about a special dog. Other times, owners email us to surrender their dog. By the time I wake up, I have at least 30 emails, half of them about dogs in danger. Only one shelter in Atlanta is 100% no kill, and animal control shelters give the dogs anywhere between a few days to one week, in rare cases more, before putting the dog down.  So, I drink my coffee while reading the LFS inbox and screening pictures. Not a fun way to start a day, but very rewarding when things go well. If we are full, we don't even look at the emails as it is too hard to watch without being able to help. If we know we have a few spaces, we all try to find the Labradors in danger of being euthanized soon. By the time I get to my real job, I have already answered at least 20-30 emails.

Lance is a sweet chocolate boy rescued at the very last minute from a kill shelter by an angel in Texas. She sponsored his vetting, paid for his boarding and then contacted us to help her place him in a new home. He was terrified of everything at first. After a few weeks in a foster home he was adopted by Denise and her family. This is an email I have received from Denise. Letters like this one is what keeps us going every day despite all the hard work. Keep sending updates!

How long have you been involved with dog rescue?

My first experience with “rescuing” a dog was in 1995 at the Gwinnett shelter where I went in search of a “lap dog”. There was a cocker spaniel there that I kept seeing…he had those big sad eyes. Driving home, I kept seeing those “eyes”. I called and put my name on the list if no one claimed him. Several days later, he became mine and ended up being my “heart” dog. We had a bond that was like no other I had with any other dog. Nine years later and 2 more labs later, I decided I wanted to try fostering with a lab group. I remember driving up to the adoption event and saw this big yellow boy with a grin on his face that seemed a mile wide. He ended up being my first foster that lasted all of about a week. Two weeks before Christmas in 2004, Dutch became my first foster failure and is now a big ole momma’s boy. The following year, I helped do intakes for the lab group and ended up fostering 13 dogs, of which I adopted four more. 

What do you like the best about this job?

Getting updates from the families on how the dogs are doing. It’s so rewarding to see a dog come out of their shell, a puppy grow into a mature dog that is loved and cared for properly, or a senior dog that is being spoiled with all it deserves after many years of neglect. I still get Christmas photos and cards and email updates from some of the families of dogs I fostered several years ago. 

 

The National Council on Pet Population Study & Policy summarizes the results of a large research study on why people relinquish their dogs and cats to shelters. Here are the top 10 reasons:

1. Moving

2. Landlord issues

3. Cost of pet maintenance

4. No time for pet

5. Inadequate facilities

6. Too many pets in home

7. Pet illnesses

8. Personal problems

9. Biting

10. No homes for littermate

To these I would add

11. Allergies

12. The arrival of a new born baby

 

We are always in an emergency situation.

We always try to give the dogs a chance to get adopted from the shelter (a dog adopted is one space we can use to save another one). This means that by the time we decide to take a dog in (pull a dog is the "technical language") it is an emergency situation with very little time to get everything done before his time is up. Thus begins the rush to find someone who can go pick up the dog and drive him around town, a veterinary office who can vet and fix him for a decent price, a place where we can put the dog after that...and of course, all along we hope that the dog does not have any major issue that will cost us a lot of money. This means many emails sent in between job duties, phone calls during small breaks, and pleas for more time while walking from one place to the other.

Who to choose?

Choosing which dog is extremely difficult. There are so many good dogs out there and we know that every time we choose a dog, another one will not get saved. This knowledge is sometimes overwhelming as you would really like to save all of them. Every day we have to make choices and it is hard. But then it is important to remind ourselves that we need to stay here for the long run so we can only pull as many dogs as we, and our foster homes, can handle. Once the dog is in our hands….well, he is a lucky dog! That fraction of a second in which we chose him, just changed his life!

And it starts all over again tomorrow.

Once the dog is safe, we can start working on the routine emails: Reply to people interested in adopting, check on the dogs we have and the ones who have already been adopted, fund raising to pay for the vet bills, recruiting volunteers, transporters, and foster homes .... This is what I do first thing in the morning, on my lunch breaks, and often the last thing in the evening. Finally I turn my computer off, give a hug to my own rescued dog to tell her how lucky she was that day and to remind myself why I do this. It is a lot of work but it is worth every minute of it!

Go to dolcevitapets to order a bed...don’t forget your coupon.

likes to play with other dogs of all sizes. He is cute and very affectionate. Wiley is looking for an active family to cuddle with that will not let him loose all that he has learned. Don't think

this will be hard: Keeping up with his training will be fun and easy as he loves to work. Due to location and transport issues, Wiley cannot make all the adoptions so he is not getting the exposure he deserves.  Help us spread the word or email us to make an appointment to see him.

Is your LFS dog coming to work with you? Does he have a job or does he just supervise? Does he help clean the house? Walks the kids to school? Or is he simply the best bodyguard a kid can have while sleeping? Send me a picture of your dog at work, any job! Just email the picture to labfriendinfo@gmail.com with his job title and description! 

The least?

Knowing that you can’t help every single one of them. I’ve spent many a day or night crying over a dog that I never met but wanted to help and couldn’t. 

 

What keeps you going year after year?

I actually had to take a break for a few years due to burnout and personal things going on in my life. That was and is hard. They say once you have done rescue you always come back to it, and that is very true. 

Do you have a story you would like to share with us?

I wish I had the time and talent to write a story about all the labs that have crossed my path in rescue. They each come with their own unique story. I have a lot of memories, both good and bad.  I wish that the dogs could tell us their story. If you’ve ever owned a rescue dog, you will always wonder about it’s past. I look at Dutchie every night and wonder what he and the others looked like as puppies and wonder how they ended up in a cold shelter. There is something special about our rescue dogs; they seem to know we saved their life and their devotion to us unconditional.  I just thank them every day for being my dog. 

All about food

More Dogs Pictures

Ryleys Run Recruiting