SCLRR Adoption

SCLRR Adoption - just how it works!

Thank you for applying to adopt a Labrador Retriever. We are always happy to hear of a potential home for one of our homeless Labradors! SCLRR is a non-profit adoption referral organization, dedicated to placing unwanted and abandoned Labradors in new homes. We are a 100% volunteer-run organization. We try very hard to match each of our rescued Labs with just the right family in the hopes that each new home will be a permanent one.

Most of the Labs who become available for adoption are black; in a typical week we find more males than females. We very seldom have puppies in need of new homes -- most of the dogs we place are between two and six years of age. We often have older dogs available. Yellow female labs are most frequently requested, although we seldom have any available. If this is what you want, be prepared to wait longer. We never know what will come up next.

We want you to be aware that we do charge a $225 adoption fee for most dogs in our custody. This fee helps us cover the following costs:

• taking a dog out of the shelter
• transporting it to a foster home
• "room and board" at the foster home (or temporary boarding at a kennel)
• spay/neuter
• microchipping
• immediate veterinary expenses such as vaccinations, worming, antibiotics for kennel cough, treatment of ear infections, etc.
• occasionally we provide very expensive procedures and diagnostics such as bone surgeries, skin grafts, x-rays, blood tests, etc.

Of course, not all dogs in our care run up $225 in expenses, but many others go well over this amount before they are considered adoptable.

Dogs being placed through their owners or directly from the shelters may involve their own fees and do not incur our $225 adoption fee.

Our mission, besides rehabilitating and re-homing Labradors, includes educating the public about Labradors, and any funds left over go towards meeting this goal.

While every effort has been made to evaluate the dogs we place for good health and non-aggressive dispositions, we do not have the manpower to assess each dog in all situations. Therefore, we cannot guarantee the temperament or the physical soundness of the dogs placed through SCLRR. Most Labradors have been examined by a veterinarian and evaluated in home-like settings. All should be handled carefully until their dispositions are better known to their new owners and until their reactions to stressful situations (such as thunderstorms, holiday fireworks, off-leash exercises) have been observed. In any case, no dog of any breed, age, or disposition should ever be left alone with a child.

You are under no obligation to accept any dog referred to you by SCLRR. If you feel a dog is not right for you, we will continue to refer other dogs that we feel may be suitable. We may also refer you to a local shelter to see a dog. You would then need to go through the shelter's adoption process, and pay any required fees. If you are notified about a dog in the shelter, please respond promptly. They don't keep them very long, usually less than a week.

There are 4 basic categories of dogs that SCLRR handles:

Foster dogs . We foster a limited number of dogs at a time. These dogs are typically from local shelters. We keep each dog for approximately a week, ensuring that the dog is spayed or neutered and vaccinated during this time. This period of fostering also allows us to evaluate the dog more thoroughly. These dogs are owned by SCLRR and have a $225 fee to adopt. We have limited funds for kenneling other dogs that we rescue. We try to move these dogs out from our kennels and into a foster home before adopting them out. Depending on the dog and his evaluated needs, he is either adopted out from the kennel or usually, fostered and then adopted out.

Listed Dogs - There are owners who wish to place their dogs, but need help in finding families. We refer only our approved families to these people for potential adoption. However, the adoption itself is a third party contract between the owners of the dog and the potential adoptive home, and SCLRR is not involved except to bring together families we believe are a good match. The dog is not an SCLRR dog and the SCLRR fee does not apply to listed dogs.

Courtesy listed dogs . There are other dogs with other agencies and individuals, private or public, that have Labradors available. This includes dogs at shelters, as well as dogs found by individuals willing to do the rescue themselves. SCLRR provides full contact details for these dogs, and is not in any way further involved. These .ads. are kept on the courtesy list for a maximum of two weeks at which they are then deleted from the site.

Shelter Listings . Our volunteers perform shelter checks throughout Southern California. Sometimes we have taken the dog out of the cage and evaluated to the best of our abilities and sometimes we can only make assessments from outside of the cage. Often times, there is some information available if the dog was an owner turn it, but most of the time, these dogs are strays without a known prior history. If you see a dog that interests you on our shelter listings, please act quickly as the shelter is only guaranteed to keep a dog for 5 days and then dog is on "borrowed" time.

Individuals who desire to adopt Labrador Retrievers must complete an application form and, upon acceptance after a quick home visit by your family rep (we like to make sure you have secure fencing), are ready to adopt, and be introduced to potential pets.

Some important facts to remember about the adoption process:

• It is important that you communicate as much about your family to the family rep as possible. Tell the rep what you want in a dog and why. The more the rep knows, the better the match . also, keep in mind, the more stipulations you put on color, gender, or age, the longer your family could wait for that .perfect. lab.
• Our volunteers are often overextended in their time commitment to SCLRR. As a result, you have to be assertive and actively looking to get a lab and not depend on your family rep to call you with every new dog. If you see a lab on our site that interests you, contact your rep ASAP to get the contact information and set up an appointment to meet the dog. We often only have labs in our group for one week, but it is not unknown for a desirable dog to be adopted in much less time.
• You have to be willing to drive, as you may be asked to go meet a dog located as far south as Orange County or as far north as Santa Barbara.
• Events are great ways to meet dogs, but many times there is a list of families that wish to see a dog at the event, so don.t count on the dog being available at that time. You need to contact the foster rep for a dog before you plan on meeting them at an event (your family rep can provide you with this contact information). This will ensure that you get your name on the list and it also gives the foster rep a chance to see your application and talk to your family rep if needed.
• If you meet a foster dog and both you and the foster rep think it is a good match, you are free to adopt the dog at that time. You do not need any further approvals for this process.

If you have any questions about our rescue program, please contact us. Otherwise, you can expect to hear from an SCLRR representative that lives in your area within 10 days of receiving your application. If, for any reason, you are no longer interested in finding a dog through our rescue, please let us know. Thank you for your interest in Lab rescue!