Our Foster Dogs

Volunteering for Lab Rescue

Dave and I volunteer for Lab Rescue of the Labrador Retriever Club of the Potomac. This page is dedicated to dogs I've placed as an adoption coordinator, our foster dogs, our overnight guest dogs, the dogs I've evaluated for entry into Lab Rescue's program, and the dogs we have handled at adoption day.

If you live outside the Washington, DC metro area, there is probably another Lab Rescue organization that needs your help. Lab Rescue's site offers links to other rescue organizations around the country. Check them out!

Lucy

Our first foster dog was Lucy, a four year old chocolate girl. She was with us twelve days before going home with her new family. They're crazy about her and Lucy is crazy about them. Seeing them take off for home together made us feel great, as did the wonderful e-mail we got from Lucy's new mom the following week.

Sam

Our second foster dog was Sam, a six year old yellow male. He's a doll, as you can see! He and our dog Toni hit it off extremely well--so well, in fact, that we adopted him! We took a break from fostering while we got Sam trained and settled in, but we resumed fostering later. Since he's now a permanent part of the family, Sam has a home page of his own.

Chloe

Chloe came to us as an overnight visitor prior to the May 7, 2000 Adoption Day. Only ten months old, Chloe was abused--hit with a baseball bat and underfed--before coming to Lab Rescue. Chloe was very affectionate and fairly subdued the first evening at our house, but after a good night's sleep, she was up and ready to go at 5:30 AM. Thankfully, Dave and Sam were up, too. Chloe led them on a mile and a half walk before breakfast. Chloe attracted immediate attention upon her arrival at adoption day, and was heading off to Maryland with her new parents and yellow Lab brother less than thirty minutes after our arrival.

Winston

Winston was a sweet 3-year-old chocolate male found as a stray near Appomatox, VA. We fostered him for four days. After adoption day, he went to foster care with Linda, the woman who had rescued him. She'd wanted to keep him, but didn't think her other two male dogs would accept him. It turned out that they all got along, and Linda adopted Winston.

Bonnie

Bridget & Maverick

Coco

We fostered Coco for 5 days in May 2002 before she was adopted by a wonderful family in northern Virginia. She had been in various foster homes since October of 2001 when her owner died. She'd lost her other owner only six months earlier. The person who was seeking a new home for her on her late owners' behalf placed her with Lab Rescue in late April. Coco's original family had adopted the 4 year old from a shelter when she was ten weeks old. At six months of age, Coco bolted out the front door and was hit by a car. Her left front leg was amputated, but she adapted beautifully. She plays with other dogs, runs up and down stairs, and climbs in and out of the car. Coco has excellent house manners and got along great with Sam and Bonnie.

Annablle

Annabelle stayed with us for almost a month in the Spring of 2002. She was a 7 year old girl who was affectionate and got along well with our dogs. There were just a couple of problems. First, she pulled like crazy on the leash. Second, she went nuts in the car. While she was with us, we worked on basic obedience and on desensitization and counterconditioning with the car. When she was adopted, she had a one-hour car ride to get home. She left in a crate on a plush mattress in a large van working away at her stuffed Kong. She did fine on the trip home and settled right in.

Phoenix

Phoenix stayed with us for three weeks in the late spring of 2002. She was an eight-year-old chocolate girl whose owner had moved away and left her out in a fenced yard with filthy water and no shelter. Phoenix dug in the dirt to try to stay cool. She was covered with fleas and ticks and was positive for heartworm disease. On her way north from Richmond, we stopped at the vet and had the ticks removed and updated her vaccines as she had no records. When we got home, she got a thorough bath, which she loved. Phoenix was great with Sam and Bonnie and was well-mannered indoors. She was adopted by a wonderful couple from PA and their yellow male Lab. Phoenix's new mom is a veterinarian. We got an update on her in 2006, and Phoenix was still healthy, happy, and active.

Lucy Lucy has been with us since June 22, 2002. My sister Karen had hoped to adopt her, but her bunny Hazel didn't like having Lucy in the house. (Sage, the other bunny, and Merlynne, the parrot, seemed ok with Lucy.) Almost three weeks into her stay with us, Dave and I decided to adopt her. Lucy is a sweet girl who is a fetch monster and a smart girl who learns quickly. She's a very exitable girl, though. She works herself into a puppy frenzy with any hint that it's playtime and is slow to calm down. She also wags her tail so hard that she opened up a sore on the end of it. Our foyer looked like the set of a slasher movie. The toilet paper roll she wore in this photo allowed the sore to heal. It's been fine for a couple of years now, but we keep the Happy Tail supplies around just in case. Now that Lucy has joined the family, she has her own website. Visit Lucy's Home Page.

Be sure and visit the Lab Rescue home page for information on adoption and volunteer opportunities!
Visit NurseBobbi's home page.
Visit Dave's home page.
Visit Sam's home page.
Visit Bonnie's home page.
Visit Lucy's home page.
Visit Toni's tribute page.
Visit Levi's tribute page.