Labradors need your time and talent! There are many ways to volunteer. Some absorb very little time. Here are some ways to get involved:
Fostering
Fostering is at the top of the needs list. Fostering can be a very rewarding experience. While in your care, veterinary expenses are covered. You can play an active role, if you want, in selecting the home for your foster dog. As a foster home you will help your foster dog learn new skills and get ready for their adoptive home. Some of the things that foster homes may help foster dogs with:
- Love and care, many times fosters have not had these before they arrive in our homes.
- play
- petting & affection
- potty training
- basic training
- leash skills
- health issues
- behavioral issues
Need time away for vacation? Go and don’t worry about a pet sitter. TLC will care for your foster dog while you are gone. On any given day in a lab rescue, there is a long list of labs waiting to come into rescue. Many will be euthanized without our assistance. Even though it would be impossible to keep on top of the demand to save labs if you help us by fostering that is one more lab who was saved through the efforts of volunteers like you.
Home Visits
Home visits are extremely important. Each application we receive requires a home visit by a volunteer prior to placement. The more home visits completed, the more labs adopted. The more labs adopted, the more space we’ll have to take in others. Home visits can be very rewarding. Especially when you watch a great family get a great lab.
Transportation
We have to get our labs out of the shelters or from owner’s homes. Some of the shelters we work with in Illinois are as far as 8 hours away. This means there is a lab 8 hours from safety. Volunteers pull together and make arrangements to get the labs from point A to point B. The more volunteers we have scattered throughout Wisconsin and Illinois, the easier it is to get these labs to safety.