Lab Rescue of the Labrador Retriever Club

As with most adoption places, the application form and process are tedious and onerous. They wonder why people just give up and buy from a breeder– it’s because it’s so much easier to do so than adopt a dog. Application forms? Approval process? Visits? Bleh. I’m sure the adoption places would disagree, but I think if a person is taking in an unwanted dog, they should be thanked for it, not hassled.

Wow! I can’t say enough great things about Lab Rescue of LRCP! If you are looking at adopting a Lab in the Washington DC area, this is the organization to work with. They operate off a network of dedicated volunteers to rescue labs and find them the right homes. Notice I said «right» homes, not just «new» homes. They strive to find the right match for both dog and adopter. Their screening process is pretty strict with home visits, interviews etc to help in the matching process and assure the person is ready to adopt a new member of the family. They don’t stop after the match and adoption as they continue with helping in the transition to the new home and offer lots of advice, recommendations for vets, services, products etc.
I worked with several rescue adoption organizations in the DC area in looking for a new dog. LRCP was far and away the best to work with. I worked with them in finding my recently adopted Lab and was impressed how dedicated the volunteers are and how hard they work to find the right fit. The volunteer adoption coordinator worked with me for nearly 2 months to find the «right one», keeping an eye out for new ones that fit what I was looking for. They were very patient during the process, understanding that finding the right match means turning down many referrals in the process.
Once we found the right one, they acted right away in setting up the visit and adoption. The volunteer coordinator worked me all the way through the process after I got my new Lab, checking up every couple days, offering advice on products, services, problem areas and really just making the adoption easier. When I started having problems with a separation anxiety issue, they referred me to a dog psychologist that does free services for LRCP adopted rescues.
If you are looking for Lab to adopt, this is the organization to work with. They rescue labs from all over the east coast and find them homes. Some are young puppies, some are older dogs near the end of their lives, and many in between. Check out their LRCP webpage, it is very good and offers a lot of information

The most valuable piece of advice I can give concerning Lab-​Rescue is to stay away from them!
Not long ago on advice of a friend who was until recently a volunteer with them, my wife and I went to one of their adoption events. My wife is handicapped spends all day at home by herself. She decided she wanted a new dog to keep her company so we started looking into possibly getting a lab. I grew up with labs and this seemed like a great idea. Lab-​Rescue seemed like the obvious choice. We kept track of the available dogs on their website and when one came up we had a particular interest in we decided to go to one of their events. We pre-​filled out all the adoption paperwork so maybe we could take a dog home that day and if nothing else shorten the wait time if a dog we really wanted became available.
So we arrive and turn in our paperwork, they gave it the once over and said everything looked good and soon we were taken away to speak with one of their case workers, She grilled us on all sorts of thing that I felt were not really important but we suffered through it and at the end of the interview she sang our praise as how we were such a great prospect for adopting. She told us they would contact our references and in the mean time we should go visit with the dogs from the event. So we went out to the visitation area in high hopes.
This is where everything went south fast. Disappointedly the one dog that we really wanted to see did not show up for the event despite being listed that she would be there. We had driven nearly 100 miles to get to this event so slightly dejected we started making our way around to see the other dogs. I have rarely seen a more pathetic operation. I had there cheat sheet that had a description of each dog and as I read each one I refused to believe the descriptions were for the dogs I was now seeing in the flesh. I have been around dogs all my life especially labs and I wanted to just start crying.
It was painfully obvious to me that either these people had no idea how to determine the age of a dog or were deliberately lying. One poor chocolate male was graying badly and had chronic Hip Dysplasia. He was desperate for attention and the person he was with couldn’t care less that the poor dog could barely walk. He was in serious pain and actually whimpered when I lightly stroked him on his hind quarters. It hurt him but he was so desperate for love he nuzzled against me anyway suffering through it. His age was listed as being aprox 3 years old. He was at a minimum 9 or 10 and probably much older and certainly he had little time left and none of it would be what I would call a quality life. It wasn’t just me that could see it, everyone walked past this poor creature. No one wanted to get involved in something that was going to be so short lived and problematic. There were many dogs with inaccurate ages but that may vary well not be the worst thing I saw that day. Dogs still undergoing treatments for all manner of ailments were there and they were happily licking the faces of young children as they and their parents visited with them. At this point my wife and I left before we saw any more.
To top everything off they never once called our references and when I called, out of curiosity, about the status of our application they acted like they never heard of us. We never once said a word to them about our feelings for them and were as polite as possible to them while we were there so I don’t think they lost our app on purpose but what did happen to it? It had private information on it and that’s a bit of a concern to me.
What of our friend who volunteers with them? Well she was denied the right to adopt a dog by them because «She worked». This after she spent nearly a year volunteering for them and even providing a foster home for at least one dog for them.
This operation stinks and should probably be shut down. I have actually made several inquiries about having them investigated but no one seems to care.
There is actually much more to there horror of this operation but thats all I can manage to talk about right now. I think there biggest problem is lack of knowledge and ability to mamage anything. A few people with them did seem like they knew what they were doing but most really didn’t.

There are two Lab Rescue organizations in the Washington area. Lab Rescue of the LRCP is the largest and most well organized. It is a non-​profit organization staffed solely by volunteers. After the demise of my last Lab, Thunder at the age of 13 from cancer, I waited as much as I could until I became convinced that my old boy would want me to have a new Lab. I started looking and came across the Lab Rescue folks. To make the long story short, I’ve got a new life companion, Tango, who fills my heart with joy.
Adopting from the Lab Rescue folks takes a little bit of time. After submitting an application, an adoption coordinator gets in touch with the applicant, and if successful, one can look at Labs or attend an Adoption Day event at numerous places in the DC area. There is a mandatory donation that serves to defray the incredible expense of running such an organization.
Dogs have to be neutered either before or after the adoption process. And normally, medical records come with the animal. In my case, I went to the adoption day with my BF and came out with a wonderful 9-​month old boy.
If you like Labs, this is a wonderful way to give a labby a new lease on life. Especially with the current economic climate, the number of dropped pets is large, and the adoption day may have 50 to 60 gorgeous Labs waiting to find a second home.
I had a home visit about 30 days after the adoption, to ensure that the dog was being taken care of properly. Since the adoption, we’ve totally bonded and he’s as much a part of my family as anyone else. Besides doing something really good, adopted dogs tend to look at their new parents as the people who rescued them. Deep inside, I know they understand. And their love is unconditional.
A wonderful organization that fulfills a much needed community service in the Washington area.