Thank you for considering Lab Rescue to help you find a new, loving home for your Labrador Retriever. This information will explain the process of finding your lab a new home.
If you have a dog who needs to be rescued, please call our lab line at 301-299-6756. Very soon after your initial contact with Lab Rescue, we will send a volunteer to evaluate your dog. We check all dogs before accepting them for adoption, and we check for things such as temperament, level of obedience training and whether the dog is in fact a Labrador Retriever. We do accept Golden retriever-Labrador retriever mixes that look like labs and, most importantly, have the lab temperament. We do not accept either dog-aggressive or people-aggressive dogs. If we do accept your dog, and there is any question as to its temperament, we will not adopt it to applicants with kids. Either at the time your dog is evaluated or upon your receipt of a "Give-Up Form" in the mail, you must sign a give-up form before we can adopt out the dog. We have to protect the new owners from claims by past owners and we must know that you are committed to adopting out the dog before we expend efforts to adopt out the dog.
In addition, we request a $50.00 fee from owners giving up a neutered/spayed dog. We will accept a crate in lieu of a monetary fee, as we always need them for our foster homes or to loan to new homes. If you found the dog as a stray and provided a temporary home for the dog while trying to find it a home, we do not require a fee. We also ask that the dog be current on its rabies and distemper shots and tested for heartworm. We cannot accept any dog that is not current on its shots. With respect to heartworm, we need to know whether the dog has heartworm because if so, we have to inform potential adopters of the condition. We do not refuse dogs only because they may be heartworm positive. Indeed, we have successfully treated many dogs for heartworm.
After your dog has been evaluated, and assuming that the dog is accepted into our adoption program, we will list the dog on our adoption list. Our adoption coordinators use this list to match approved applicants to the appropriate dog. The adoption coordinators may refer approved applicants to you, to call you and then to come see the dog if the applicant thinks it may be the dog for him/her/them. Only persons who have been approved to adopt will be referred to you. Often, the adoption coordinators will call you to get more information about the dog for discussions about the dog with their applicants. The more we know about the dog up front, the better we can match the right person or family to your dog. Please tell us if the dog chews or digs or fights with other dogs -- otherwise, we end up with unhappy new owners with unwanted surprises from the dog that they were told was "perfect." Sometimes, other Lab Rescue members also may approve applications and refer persons to you. It is always important to ask the applicant who approved her/him. You may then call and confirm that the person has been approved and find out more about them if you wish.
When the approved applicant comes to see the dog, that applicant is approved to take the dog home with them at that time if they like the dog and you feel comfortable with the applicant. If you do not feel comfortable with the applicant, please call the adoption coordinator who approved and/or referred them to you with any questions or reservations you may have. You may not put off giving your dog to an approved applicant with whom you have no serious concerns simply because you want to "choose" from among all potentially interested adoptive parents. Among qualified applicants, it is first come, first served. All Lab Rescue applicants pay a fee to Lab Rescue and sign a contract upon adopting a dog. Through the funds we receive from applicants, we will save other dogs. Through the signed contract, we obtain compliance from the adoptive parents with Lab Rescue required care procedures.
How soon can you expect your dog to be adopted? The answer depends on several factors, including the number of applications currently pending, the age, sex and color of your dog (we have numerous applications for the perfect 3 month old AKC yellow female labrador), your dog's temperament, whether your dog is housetrained, and the time of year. We try to have Adopt-A-Lab Days at least once a month at a local pet supply store, where we try to bring all the dogs for adoption to one place for approved applicants to see them and adopt them. You will be notified of these events in ample time for you to arrange your schedule so that you can attend and bring your dog. We are most successful adopting out owner give-up dogs when the owner personally can talk to potential adopters. In rare instances, we may be able to arrange transportation of your dog if you are not able to attend. These events are hugely successful in adopting out our dogs. Therefore, we usually say that 6 weeks would be the outside time that it would take to adopt out dogs under 6 years of age.
If your dog has not been adopted by some deadline that you are facing, e.g., moving, divorce, allergies, Lab Rescue may be able to place your dog in a foster home until it is adopted. Please let us know upfront about any such deadlines for adoption. If you'd like to talk to Lab Rescue about placing your Labrador Retriever through us, please call our Lab Line at 301-299- 6756.
Do you really have to give up your Lab? There's a big difference between being forced to give up your dog and wanting to "get rid of him.” Search your heart for the real reason why your dog can't live with you anymore. Be honest with yourself. Your answer will probably fall into one of two categories:
People Problems or Dog Problems.
The Most Common People Problems:
"We're moving and we can't find a landlord who'll let us keep our dog."
Many landlords don't allow children either but you'd never give up one of your kids if you couldn't find the right apartment. Affordable rental homes that allow pets are out there if you work to find them. Many people give up too easily.
"We don't have enough time for the dog."
As a puppy, your dog took far more of your time than he does now. A lab, especially a young lab, may require a certain amount of exercise but it is usually not overly burdensome. Labs require far less grooming than other dogs. Often a walk a day or a fenced area to run in can be sufficient exercise for your dog. Are you really that busy? Can other members of your family help care for the dog? Will getting rid of your lab really make your life less stressful? When they look closely at their lives, people often discover that the dog isn't cramping their style as much as they think.
The Most Common Dog Problem:
Behavior problems
If you got your dog as a puppy and he now has a behavior problem you can't live with, you must accept the fact that you are at least partly responsible for the way your dog is now. You have 4 options:
- You can continue to live with your dog the way he is.
- You can get help to correct the problem.
- You can try to give your problem to someone else.
- You can have the dog destroyed.
Obviously the first option is out or you wouldn't be reading this article. You're probably most interested in Option 3, so let's talk frankly about that for a moment ...
If you were looking for a dog and could select from all kinds of dogs and puppies, would you deliberately choose one with a behavior problem? No, certainly not. And neither would anyone else. To make your dog desirable to other people, you're going to have to take some action to fix his problems.
Most behavior problems aren't that hard to solve. We can help you with them if you'll give it a try. Think hard about Option 2 before deciding it won't work for you, because the only option you have left is number 4, having the dog destroyed. That's the bottom line. If you, who know and love the dog best, won't give him another chance, why should anyone else? Think about that.
If your dog has ever bitten anyone ...
If your dog is aggressive with people or has ever bitten anyone, you can't, in good conscience, give him to anyone else. Could you live with yourself if that dog hurt another person, especially a child? Can you deal with the lawsuit that could result from it? You stand to lose your home and everything else you own. Lawsuits from dog bites are settling for millions of dollars in damages.
Our society today has zero tolerance for a dog with a bite history, no matter how minor. A dog that has bitten -- whether or not it was his fault -- is considered by law to be a dangerous dog. In some states, it's illegal to sell or give away a biting dog. No insurance company will cover a family with a biting dog. And to be perfectly honest, no responsible person in his right mind would want to adopt a biting dog.
No matter how much you love your dog, if he has ever bitten anyone, you only have one responsible choice -- take him to your veterinarian and have him humanely put to sleep. Don't leave him at a shelter where he might be frightened and confused and put other people at risk. Don’t pass your problem off to a breed rescue or another family who will be forced to make the same decision you should have reached.
As hard as it is to face, putting a potentially dangerous, biting dog to sleep is the only safe and responsible thing to do. It's the right thing to do.