HAPPY NEW YEAR

All of us at Atlanta Lab Rescue want to wish our friends and supporters, fosters and volunteers a Happy New Year!  We hope 2010 finds you in good spirits and optimistic for the coming year.  Our inaugural issue of  The Real Labs of Atlanta Calendar was and continues to be a great hit.  Sales are strong and as a fundraiser, we've managed to satisfy some of our outstanding veterinarian costs. But, it wouldn't have been successful without the many supporters, contributors and consumers who helped by promoting, disstributing and purchasing calendars throughout Atlanta and surrounding communities.  The dogs would like to give everyone a well deserved scratch behind the ears and a tummy rub.  You Rock!

Although we are an all volunteer organization, we do have overhead;  which consists mostly of medical care and treatment of our rescues, including spaying/neutering, vaccinations, heart worm treatment and urgent care needs when we bring in animals.   As the dogs are on the mend, our costs then turn to fostering, housing and finding forever homes for those in the program.  On average it costs $600 to bring a dog into our program and vet them for adoption.

We are proud to report as of December 31st, 2009 we rescued, cared for and took in more than 325 dogs. This year we hope to raise the bar and save 400. I know together, with your continued support, we can we reach this goal!  

Becky Cross

Atlanta Lab Rescue

Wish List

• Large & Extra Large Travel Crates to Transport Dogs
• Online Database to Manage Adoption Records
• Frontline
• Heartguard

Urgent Care Required for New Rescues

Blue

Meet Blue, a wonderful 2 year old yellow lab mix who caught the attention of one of our volunteers when she picked up Clementine at a local shelter. She noticed how sad and forlorn he looked in his kennel and went back on Christmas Eve to pull him. Unfortunately Blue was not up-to-date on his vaccinations and developed a serious upper respiratory infection while at the shelter. Upon x-raying his lungs it was discovered he has pneumonia. Medical costs for Blue have exceeded $2000 to date. If you would like to make a contribution to Blue’s medical care here is the link for Online Donations.

Though Blue is spending his holidays in the hospital, his prognosis is good and a wonderful foster family is waiting for him to be released. To learn more about Blue please check out his profile on Petfinder: Blue’s Profile

Duke
This gorgeous boy is a pure bred male Black Labrador Retriever. His name is Duke. He is a year old and he is very friendly. He was shot in the leg. His owner took him to the emergency vet. However he could not or would not pay to have his dog repaired so he brought him to the shelter on 12/28/2009 and surrendered him. He has a temporary wrap on his leg and is on medication. The emergency vet stated that he will most likely need surgical repair or amputation. Duke's former owner stated that Duke is housetrained and good with children. Duke is a very nice and very beautiful dog.

Atlanta Lab Rescue is working with vets to determine the best corse of treatment to address Duke's injury. It is estimated that his medical care could exceed $5000.  If you would like to make a contribution to Duke's medical care here is the link to make an Online Donation.

Hershey Makes A Love Connection

Hershey is great, we've learned he is quite a chicken!! He has this big, deep, intimidating bark, but will barely go outside!

He is definately a home-body. Though he enjoys walks, he definately picks up the pace when he knows we're homebound.

Miranda's game with Hershey is to throw one tennis ball, he will go and fetch it, then she will hold up a second. Immediately, he'll drop the first and be interested in her ball. He gets LOTS of snuggling and belly-rubs each evening from Duncan. We've renamed Magnolia "Sheriff Magnolia" bc she continues to "cuss" him out if she thinks he's out of line.

Rob laughs at Hershey regularly, because he goes away for just a bit (even upstairs) and returns, Hershey will act like he's not seen him in months! It is very sweet.

The ice dispenser brings 85 pounds bolting to the kitchen, and we've used it on occasion to get him downstairs at night (he's up with the kids).

He is a wonderful dog, and we all love him more every day. It is really cool how the dynamic continues to change (and get better, as he gets acclimated). For a while, we thought he was growling at Duncan at night. We've learned he has a kind of "purr" sometimes, and means nothing ugly about it.

Anyway, thanks again for being such a great person to change lives of dogs and people! We just love our Hershey....the kids will tell the neighbor kids they can play after they scoop "Hershey bars." That gets a laugh in the cul de sac!

In gratitude,
The Lehmans