Thank you for considering Lab Rescue to help you find a new, loving home for your Labrador Retriever. We know that you’re making a difficult decision and everything can feel a bit overwhelming. This page will explain the process of finding your Lab a new home.

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How to Get Started

If you have a Lab that needs to be rescued, call our Lab Line at (301) 299-6756. Please leave a message with your full name, phone number, and some information about the Lab you’re giving up to Lab Rescue. One of our volunteers will return your call.

 

During our first call, we will ask you for information about your Lab. After that call, we will send a volunteer to evaluate your dog. During these two interactions, we are trying to learn as much as we can about your Lab, including:

• your dog’s temperament and training

• whether your dog is a Labrador Retriever

• his/her level of general health

 

We do not accept dogs who are aggressive towards dogs or people.

 

If we accept your Lab, you will need to complete the Owner Give-Up Form. This form transfers ownership of your Lab to Lab Rescue LRCP. It protects new owners who are looking for a Lab to join their family forever and confirms that you are committed to giving your Lab to a new home.

 

 

Give-Up Fees and Donations

While Lab Rescue is committed to helping your Lab find its new home, it does cost us money to do this. While there is no formal fee for giving up your Lab, we ask that you make a donation to Lab Rescue to help us cover costs associated with providing needed veterinary care.

 

 

What Happens Next

We will list your Lab as available for adoption. We keep a database with information about your Lab and we also list all available Labs on our website.

 

Lab Rescue has volunteers who regularly receive and review applicants who are looking to add a Lab to their home. The more we know about your Lab, the easier it is to share his/her best qualities. You can help us do that by:

• having great photos of your Lab at play

• sharing his or her likes and dislikes—does he retrieve, does she play with toys, does he love to sleep in the bed with your 10 year old?

 

 

If You Foster the Dog During the Adoption Process

If you can foster the dog during the adoption process, that helps us help another dog in need. When an approved  adopter is interested in meeting your Lab, an Adoption Coordinator will reach out to you to confirm that it is a good match. If the qualities of your Lab and the adopter are a good fit, then the adopter will reach out to you next to schedule a time to come to your home and meet the Lab. If more than one Adoption Coordinator/applicant calls, the first appropriate adopter to contact you gets first chance.

 

Please note that any potential adopters who call have been approved and are considered by Lab Rescue to be a good match for the Lab. While they may not meet the vision of the future family you’ve had in mind, remember that our process works so that nearly 1,000 Labs in the Mid-Atlantic region find new homes each year.

 

When the potential adopter arrives at your home to meet your Lab, help them learn as much as they can about his/her likes. After the initial greeting, taking a walk or going into the yard to play is a great way to find out how well everyone gets along. If they already have a dog in their family, they will bring it with them and will want to see how they get along as well. Playing off-leash is the best way for them to meet each other.

 

Applicants who come to meet the Lab will likely spend over an hour with the Lab to get a feel for how they will fit in their home.

 

If it is a good fit, they will take the Lab home with them and you can pass on any toys, beds, or personal item that you want to make the move easy for the Lab. Please offer to send any remaining food so that the dog can have it while it makes a transition to a new food.

 

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If Lab Rescue Fosters the Dog

If your Lab is approved to come to the rescue, you will be asked to sign a form releasing legal ownership of the dog to the Rescue and transport the dog to one of our partner vets.

 

You can take comfort in knowing that the family adopting the Lab are interviewed and approved by Lab Rescue and that the Lab you’ve given up is in good hands.