Adoption days are mammoth undertakings for a rescue group, but they offer an opportunity for many of our dogs to be seen by potential adopters who may fall in love with them.  About half of our dogs are adopted on Adoption Days – the rest are adopted through the services of the Adoption Coordinators who arrange for individuals to see the dogs at foster homes or kennels. Adoption Days are really helpful for getting older dogs and special needs dogs adopted.

There are many ways our volunteers help us on Adoption Days: transporting  the dogs to and from the event; handling and showing the dogs at the event, acting as greeters, belly rubbers and dog waterers, and just being doggy knowledgeable people to help everything go smoothly.

Lab Rescue’s biggest problem is getting those of our labradors sitting at vets, kennels or fosters to the adoption day. We are always glad to have willing transporters! Many transporters either bring more than one animal or they have another job once they arrive at the adoption day and cannot handle the dog(s) they bring. That leads into our next biggest need: handlers to show the dogs at the adoption day. The handlers are very important because they are interacting with potential applicants, so the handler needs to know as much about the dog as possible, and be able to converse about the environment that might be best for the dog, all the while holding the dog on a leash and trying to keep it in control and quiet, but looking adorably happy and waggy. We provide the information about the dog to the handler, so potential adopters can talk with the handlers about a dog they are potentially going to adopt. Given the importance of these responsibilities, our handlers have to be 18 and over.

There are lots of rules that we try to follow at adoption days to minimize any disagreements among the recently neutered males (primarily); for example, we try to space handlers and dogs apart from each other so the dogs cannot go nose to nose, we ask that small children not approach dogs other than the dogs we know are good with children, and we ask potential adopters to first pick out a dog they may be interested in and arrange for their dog to meet that dog some distance away, so they are more relaxed. We have further information available about adoption days for anyone who is interested.

On really hot days in the summer, we have dog pools where we dunk the dogs or sometimes give baths as well. At every Adoption Day, we need dog waterers and belly rubbers. Seeing some of our wonderful dogs encourages our own volunteers to help by fostering a dog. Adoption Days are a very gratifying experience – there’s nothing that feels better than being of a part of helping those lucky dogs who get adopted find their “forever homes.”

If you would like to help us at Adoption Days, please call our Lab Line at 301-299-6756 or contact Linda McGuffey, our Volunteer Coordinator, at info@lab-rescue.com.