Adopt a Black Labrador Retriever / Irish Wolfhound / Mixed (short coat)

FYI~ If a dog is marked PENDING on our petlist, it means that the dog is currently in the midst of a 2 week trial period with an adoptive family.

FENCING~ If you own your own home, we will ONLY adopt to you if you have secure outdoor fencing or if you can commit to leashwalking your pet 100% of the time. We will NOT adopt to homes that tether dogs to outdoor lines or allow them to roam freely outside while unleashed. There are NO EXCEPTIONS to this rule!  Also, we do not adopt to homes with underground electric fencing. We will also consider (on a case by case basis) apartment and condo dwellers who have no yard but must rather leash walk their dogs 100% of the time.

HOME VISITS~ Because we require a home visit for our adoptions, we prefer to adopt to homes which are within a 2 hour's driving distance from the 17331 zip code. Please visit www.mapquest.com to see if your location qualifies. If you are located more than 2 hours from us, please email and we will share our long distance adoption requirements / policies with you.

Our ADOPTION PROCESS includes the following steps:

1~ You email us at [email protected] to chat

2~ We send you our online Adoption Application

3~ You complete and return the Adoption Application

4~ We check your vet and personal references, and if approved, we continue with the adoption process

5~ We schedule and conduct a home visit and you meet with the dog

6~ If both parties are in agreement after the home visit, you sign the Adoption Contract and start a 2 week trial period with the dog

7~ At the end of the 2 week trial period, the adoption is either successfully finalized or the dog must be returned to our rescue for a full monetary refund

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ADOPTION DONATIONS~

WE ARE A SMALL FAMILY~OPERATED RESCUE WITH 501(c)3 NON~PROFIT STATUS. OUR ADOPTION DONATIONS ARE USED EXCLUSIVELY TO DEFRAY VETTING AND RESCUE EXPENSES. SUGGESTED DONATIONS ARE BASED ON THE AGE OF THE DOG.

0 to 5 years ~ $350

5 years and older ~ $250

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If you should 
happen to peruse our dog list and find that you are NOT interested to 
the point of contacting us further for more information, please take a
moment and send a short email to [email protected] before you move
on to other sites to let us know why our dogs did not suit your situation. Was there something in our adoption requirements for which
you did not qualify, such as location or outdoor fencing? Were our pet
bios too vague with not enough information? Are you looking for better pictures or videos of dogs before making initial contact with a rescue?
Is our adoption donation out of your financial reach? Does our adoption 
process seem too difficult or confusing to you? Are you looking for a
smaller or larger dog? Older or younger? By sending us a brief 
explanation of your thoughts, you will be helping us to better   understand and serve the people who visit our website and are searching to adopt a rescue dog. We try our very best to help our adopters find the
perfect match for their families, so please assist us in better serving
you!!!! THANK YOU!

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*A Footnote to Adopters:*

"Lassie and Cleo and Rin Tin Tin and Toto don't show up in rescue. We don't get the elegantly coiffed, classically beautiful, completely trained, perfectly behaved dog. We get the leftovers. Dogs that other people have incompetently bred, inadequately socialized, ineffectively "trained," and badly treated. Most Rescue dogs have had it. They've been pushed from one lousy situation to another. They've never had proper veterinary care, kind and consistent training, or sufficient company. They've lived outside, in a crate, or in the basement. They're scared, depressed and anxious. Some are angry. Some are sick. Some have given up. But we are Rescue and we don't give up. We never give up on a dog. We know that a dog is a living being, with a spirit and a heart and feelings. Our dogs are not commodities, things, or garbage. They are part of sacred creation and they deserve as much love and care and respect as the next Westminster champion. So please, please don't come to rescue in the hopes of getting a "bargain," or indeed of "getting" anything. Come to Rescue to give, to love, to save a life -- and to mend your own spirit. For Rescue will reward you in ways you never thought possible. I can promise you this -- a rescue dog will make you a better person."

~Diane Morgan, animal lover and rescuer

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"Baggage" ~ A Poem

Now that I'm home, bathed, settled and fed, all nicely tucked in my warm new bed,

I'd like to open my baggage lest I forget.

There is so much to carry - So much to regret.

Hmm . . . Yes there it is, right on the top.
Let's unpack Loneliness, Heartache and Loss;

And there by my leash hides Fear and Shame.

As I look on these things I tried so hard to leave, I still have to unpack my baggage called Pain.

I loved them, the others, the ones who left me, but I wasn't good enough - for they didn't want me.

Will you add to my baggage?
Will you help me unpack?

Or will you just look at my things -
And take me right back?

Do you have the time to help me unpack?
To put away my baggage, to never repack?

I pray that you do - I'm so tired you see, but I do come with baggage –

Will YOU still want ME?

Evelyn Colbath
"Baggage" © 1995 Evelyn Colbath. All rights reserved.