STARTING YOUR OWN LAB RESCUE.

Given the number of great Labs that need help, starting a rescue devoted to Labs can be very rewarding.

Rescue can work at least two different ways:

METHOD ONE: You find Labs in need, take them in, care for them with the plan of adopting them out. For this type of rescue you need to be legally able to take in multiple dogs, to have the room and facilities for Labs, to have the emotional and physical energy, along with financial backing to feed and vet the Labs, and a method of letting public know about your rescued dogs. This is a very rewarding, hands-on type of rescue, but there are not many people that can muster all that is necessary. The biggest obstacle to this approach to rescue is having the room and facilities.


METHOD TWO: If you can find your way around a computer, like to talk to people on the phone and love Labs, there is no reason you cannot "rescue" hundreds of these fine dogs a year while sitting in your underwear in front of the computer. LODESTAR Dog Ranch has placed more than 550 homeless, or soon to be homeless, Labs using the Internet (also several additional hundred using Method One above). Using method two, you can be retired, handicapped, or a trust-fund baby. You might live in a small apartment or your parent's basement.

If you would like to discuss either of these ways to save God's gift to the canine world, the Lab, email me, Tom Payne, @ the Lodestar Dog Ranch. We can help answer questions and get you started.

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If being either kind of a rescue doesn't work for you, we can always use official foster homes - those folks willing to take in a Lab or two until they can be placed. The LODESTAR Dog Ranch will cover the food and medical expenses. Ideally the foster home would be able to take the Lab(s) into the family and thus be able to evaluate them in a home situation. (If the foster home already had dogs and/or cats, all the better.) The rescued Labs at the ranch were kept outside, so if that's what you can do, that would be OK.

Being a foster or a rescue is a lot of physical and emotional work, but when you watch Labs you have saved go off to a home with someone who will love and care for them the rest of their lives, the work is all but forgotten.

If you would like to discuss being a foster, email to Tom Payne @ the Lodestar Dog Ranch.