It’s been such a long time since I provided you with an update on Brody. So I thought I would take some time to get you caught up. :-)

You know as well as we do – Brody is a great dog. He has been an absolute joy to have! It took a couple of months for him to really bond with us but once he did, there is no question that we are his “people.” As he’s settled in here, it’s been fun to see his personality come out… like how he loves to sit outside and watch people go by, and how he stomps his front feet with excitement when it’s time to go outside, or how much he loves pepperoni and how when he lays his front feet curl under like a lamb. He’s mellow when he’s supposed to be, but has that fun puppy energy when it’s time to play – he’s just all-in-all a great companion.

A couple weeks ago we finished a Beginner dog training class with him. He really grew through that. I think he got frustrated at first when he started to have to follow our rules more strictly than he had before, but now that he knows the rules he is pretty good about doing what he’s supposed to. So now he’s a rock star at sit, down, wait, stay and leave it (the instructor was especially pleased with his “leave it” skills – she even had him demonstrate in front of the class!). He still has a lot to learn in regard to recall, but on August 25 we start another dog training class that focuses on getting and keeping your dog’s attention. We’re hopeful that this class will be helpful.

There is a dog park just two miles from our apartment, and he loves playing there. It’s not that huge, which is great because he’s so fast. Almost every time we go there someone comments on his handsomeness, speed or his happy, wide alligator smile. I attached a picture of him from early spring; we made the mistake of taking him to the dog park after we got some rain. What resulted was a very muddy (but happy) Brody. He loved splashing through the muddy puddles (but didn’t really like the bath that followed). Oh, that dog… :-)

We took Brody in for his vet appointment last week. Brody got a clean bill of health – good weight, blood work, coat, etc.

I attached a few other pictures; I hope you enjoy them.

Calhoun (CAL)
 
We adopted Cal about 2 months ago from LEARN (Super Bowl Sunday, YEAA for Cal) and we could not be happier with our new “baby”. Cal is 9-10 years old; but a puppy at heart and is the perfect addition to our family. Cal is our third LEARN adoption; as we also have Luke who is about 10 years old (adopted 2007) and Stanley who is about 7 years old (adopted 2009).

We fell in love with Cal the first time we met and feel very honored to have been chosen as his new family. I know his foster mom loved Cal dearly and wanted only the best for him; so we are especially grateful for Lisa’s blessing. Cal
has an abundance of white hairs on his face, chest and all four feet (plus his butt). I really believe all those white hairs are angel hairs that are sprouted with age :))) and this big boy really is a gentle giant.

Cal does have some old fears to overcome, but is very willing to try. Luke and Stanley accepted Cal immediately and have become a happy furry pack (that take up most of our bed at night). Cal has some very big feet; but he is most gentle and polite with those big feet. Good thing; because his favorite game is pushing something under the couch/table/bush etc. and then digging that same thing back out. Cal loves his tennis balls; but also enjoys most any squeaky toy (the louder the better). I was really not sure if Cal would more enjoy resting on the cots in the sun with Luke; or perhaps a quick romp with Stanley – seems he may try both!  Cal has already joined Stan on “critter patrol”; and all three snuggle in a pile on the couch.

Senior dogs are my favorite…. Puppies are cute; but there is something about the wisdom, love, and trust in an older dog’s eyes. Cal has started wagging his tail more and joins in on every family activity.  I look forward to earning his complete trust and love as we experience more together. Obviously Cal has found an instant place in our home and hearts and we all owe a big thanks to LEARN and especially Lisa who patiently saw Cal for his sweet honest self. Without the LEARN saints and angels (rescuers and foster homes) we would not have met any of our loving “boys”. The pics show the 3 boys in the snow,  Cal showing off his angel hairs and his happy self. Plus some snuggling and a group shot with mom and dad.

~Cindy & Bill &  Luke, Stanley, and Cal Sites

Calhoun was adopted by a family with two other LEARN alum, way to go Cal!!
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Happy New Year, Lab Lovers!

My name is Calhoun, and I am a 9-year-old gentle giant. In my former life, I was badly neglected, but I sure am soaking up all the TLC here with my foster family now! I am SO GRATEFUL to LEARN for taking me and my brother (Calvin) into their care. Since I arrived at my foster home, I’ve put on some much-needed weight, and I’ve learned many good manners and commands, including: sit, watch, come, down/lay down, on/off, easy, drop it, and how to walk well on a leash. I am LOVING my daily walks with my foster mom, and these walks are also helping me to build up muscles in my back legs. When I meet new people, I like to offer one of my paws for them to shake. I am a quiet boy, and after my daily walk I like to take a nap. When my foster parents are gone for a few hours, they do not need to crate me. I am happy to play with my peanut-butter-stuffed Kong and hang out with my Labbie foster sister and brothers.

Cal (on left) cuddling with his foster sister, Chels Belle

I get along fine with all of them, but I seem to prefer to snuggle with my foster sister because she’s so cute. Here we are on the couch, snuggling next to our foster mom.

At night, I do not need to be crated, and I sleep on a bolster bed next to my foster mom and dad’s bed. Every night when I fall asleep, I make a long, deep sigh. Outside I have learned that it is fun to chase tennis balls, and I have a pretty amazing trick: I can carry THREE tennis balls in my mouth all at once! With my big paws, I like to slide after the tennis balls in the snow, and my foster mom says it looks like I’m sliding for first base or for home.

Cal (on left) and foster brother, Ben, taking a break from playing ball in the snow for a picture.

Even better would be sliding into my forever home! Could that be you? I am looking for a human angel to love me, take good care of me, and continue with my daily walks and positive-reinforcement training, so that I can blossom even more. In return, I will love you forever and melt at your feet with the least bit of attention.

How about if we meet and shake hands?

Cal helping with the laundry!

Calhoun

It’s been a month since Jimi arrived and it has been a lot of fun. 
 
I’m Jimbo (now “Jimi”) and I arrived at the home of my forever family a month ago.  Waiting for me were new leashes, a harness, a feeding station, a new tennis ball, a king size Kong, a rope ball, and a variety of chewies.  Being the retriever that I am, I managed to find 5 other tennis balls in the yard that were lost for years !  My new family takes me out twice a day so I can run (see pictures) and tops that off by throwing me the ball a couple thousand times so I can fetch them.  OK…….I exaggerate……they throw the ball a couple MILLION times !  I really love it when they take me out on the trail and I get to do all the doggie stuff programmed into my DNA.  On one trek to the trail, I decided I had enough and I ran from my new “mom”.  She was worried I had run out into the road.  I didn’t do that…..I ran right to the van and was sitting there waiting for her to open the door for me to get in.  I have been bathed once and have seen the vet twice.  My new family was definitely worth the wait.
 

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Hey all,
My name is Jimbo and I would just love to play a game of fetch with you or curl up at your feet. Hmm,…what can I tell you? Well, I know sit, stay, come, and shake and I have played in the water but didn’t swim a lot. I behaved beautifully in the tub for my foster dad as I was pretty dirty from the shelter I came from. The ball is my ultimate toy but my foster mom has learned to take the tennis ball away after play time because I have tendency to break the balls and tear ‘em up – I don’t get what the problem is,… it is a toy, right? My foster mom says that I probably shouldn’t go to a home where there are small children because I am only 2 and am still a child myself, so when I get really excited I tend to jump and that’s a no, no. So far, my foster parents have slowly been letting me off leash and I have been doing good, but due to my youth they are being careful. I am crate trained and will go in without a peep, all my foster parents have to do is point into the crate and say, “in” and there I go. I chill out nicely in the house and know playtime is for outside but I will occasionally entertain myself batting a toy around inside. Oh yeah I almost forgot, I have a foster dog brother here and he is alright but he sure does get grumpy when I try to take the ball from him so I leave him alone. Ok, I have to let my foster mom type now as she says there are other things to say. One last thing, just give me the opportunity to show you my belly and how trim I am and you won’t want to leave me behind.

Jimbo is a young guy and housebroken, he hasn’t shown any tendencies to play with other dogs but will check them out. We know nothing about his history with cats and we have found that he will walk good on a leash as long there isn’t another dog right there to be in competition with.

Dear L.E.A.R.N.,

We received our newest issue of The Retriever Newsletter and were we surprised to see our Lady on the second page! We adopted Lady in the beginning of 2008 when she was one years old. She’s come a long way in the past 2 years. So our family thought we would give an update on how she’s doing.

When we visited Lady for the first time, we were warned that she was very shy of men. However, she responded positively to my husband right away. Her foster mom said he was the first man she was comfortable with this quickly. From that point she knew we were meant to be her forever family. As the article said, Lady was a sick pregnant girl when she was rescued, we knew she would need a lot of love and time before she felt safe. The first few weeks she had to be kept quiet as she finished healing from heart worm. But once she was healthy to be active again the true puppy came out of her. Although there where lots of challenges with her (almost 6 months before I could leave the room without her following behind) it was so rewarding to watch her become the silly, playful girl she is today.

She is almost 3 years old now and she loves to play at the dog park with her sister Sadie, a 6 year old yellow lab. Sadie loves to fetch a ball and Lady loves to chase her. Our family will joke about how Sadie is training Lady. All kidding aside it’s probably true. If Sadie is interested in it, Lady will be right behind her! They love to wrestle and play tug o war with each other. When we see the sassy face they make at each other, we know it’s game on!

Lady is a joy to be around and we want to say thank you to her foster parents for seeing her potential and L.E.A.R.N. for taking her in. We are so glad she is part of our family! We have attached a few pictures – enjoy!

Sincerely,

Joni and Michael Chmiel

Sorry it took me so long to write, but I have been so busy with my new family.  It is Ryno, formly known as Shadow and I am loving my new  home.   I was adopted by my forever family on St. Patricks Day 2009, so the luck of the Irish was really with me on that day. My new family is great! I love playing chase and wrestling with my older labby sister Reese.  We get along really well and when we are not rough housing together, you can usually find the two of use sleeping on the opposite ends of the couch or curled up under our parent’s bed. Not only do I have a labby sister, but I have a new human baby brother too.  I love laying on the floor with him when he is playing and I try to give him kisses all the time.  My baby brother laughs when I kiss him and loves to try and pet me too. 

My new mom and dad took me to training classes where I learned so many fun things.  My teacher said I was one of the smartest dogs she has ever seen and she could tell that all I want to do is make everyone happy. I even learned how to give high fives and to roll over! And all you have to do is tell me what a good boy I am and I will  just smile and wag my tail as fast as I can.

I really enjoy going for walks, playing with all the neighborhood dogs and chasing the frogs that live in the pond behind my house.  A few times I have even chased the frogs into the water and swam around for a while after them.  Another one of my favorite things to do is to go to the dog park where I can play with tons of dogs.  I love to run around and meet all of the new dogs, it is such a blast. 

I have to run, I hear a bag of treats being opened,

Hugs and Labbie Kisses,

Ryno Mattingly

Thanks for a wonderful dog L.E.A.R.N.  We really love Ryno, he is such a love. 

Warmest Regards,

Michelle and Kevin Mattingly

Hello L.E.A.R.N. ~

It’s been almost three years since I found my forever home, so I thought it was about time to check in and let you all know how life has been.  I can’t imagine life getting any better than this!  What’s better than having the run of the house, playing fetch every day, and a family that loves me to the end of the world!?!?!

I am so lucky to have an active family!  We walk or run daily and as soon as I hear the words “outside” I make a dash for the door.  My favorite thing in the whole world is playing fetch.  I have a nice, big yard to play in and the large field next door is the perfect spot to run, fetch, and show off my jumping skills.  I used to be real timid about taking car rides, but now I LOVE them!  Nothing better than a good gulp of fresh air from the back seat! 

My cousin Cosmo temporarily moved in with us about six months ago and as you can see in the photos (he’s the big white guy), we’re best friends!  We love all of the same toys, I taught him to run real fast and I really don’t want to see him leave.  Good thing he’s only moving a few blocks away!  I love the neighbor dogs too and hopefully my family will rescue another dog someday so I have a permanent playmate.

My mom says that I am the best dog in the whole world….my table manners are perfect (I never beg or sit under the table), I rarely bark except for occasionally at strangers, and I even wait at the door to have my paws wiped when their muddy or wet.  I’m a master at the sit, stay, drop, lie, and beg commands….and I’m pretty proud if I do say so myself!  Even thought I’m now 4 years old & not a pup anymore, I still have the heart of a puppy and love to play, cuddle and everyone I meet falls in love with me!

Thanks so much L.E.A.R.N. for finding me a home!  This has been the best three years ever and it all started with you!

Hugs and slobbery kisses,
Hercules

Hello my name is Oliver, formerly known as Alfie. I was adopted by the Koch family in July 2008 and they decided I needed a new name. Why Oliver? My human sister named me after a singer in one of her favorite bands. I must like it since I am answering to it. However, I think I heard them talking about renaming me again to “Lizard tongue”. Apparently I like to lick and my tongue moves so fast it reminds them of a lizard. Whatever they are?

I think I am about 9 months old now and I have the run of the house. And when I say “run of the house” I really mean run!! I do get crated if the family needs to go away for longer periods of time. I still like to chew on few things (rugs, chair legs, pillows) and chase the house cats. There fun to play with!!!

My family plays with me every day and gives me the appropriate discipline and loving as needed. Mom is especially nice and is easy to “get out of the doghouse” with when I have been bad. I am practically housebroken but do have an occasional slip. I just can’t master turning the doorknob by myself. May be it’s some of my family’s fault for not paying attention when I am giving them the signal. However I am doing great.

I have an 8 year-old canine step-sister Kasie (black lab mix) and three Cat step-sisters (Meggie, Ella and Lilly). As I mentioned before I like to chase the cats on occasion and for that I get in trouble (but hey it’s fun for me).

Although I like to play with, irritate and annoy my sister Kasie she is a good sport when it comes to being patient with me. She is not that energetic as me but it is nice to have her here and nice that she is mentoring me (barking at me). She does a lot of that at times! One great think that we do together is Mom and/or Dad takes us to the local park and lets us run free. We have a great time chasing the ball and each other and playfully fighting. This is great exercise for me and Kasie.

I have grown so much since I left my foster home and am taller than my sister Kasie. My Dad says I must be part hound by the way that I bark. I have learned quite a bit and I imagine I will continue to be curious for sometime.

I continue to be a curious dog and still trying to understand what all of this white stuff is outside. It’s fluffy, wet and cold but it’s fun to play in.

I sure like it here and want to thank my former foster mom, Robin, and L.E.A.R.N for all they have done for me and placing me in a good home.

Just a quick update on what the beautiful Georgia Peach has been up to since her adoption in October. We had wanted a lab for quite some time but were a little reluctant to do the “puppy thing” again. When we saw Georgia’s serious little face at Canine Classic, we knew we had to have her. Georgia is nothing short of a miracle dog. She is smart (too smart?), sweet, well-mannered, and the cutest little thing we’ve ever seen. Even Bella, the Princess Pug, has whole-heartedly welcomed Georgia into her kingdom. When we told our friends and family we had adopted a lab, everyone said how lucky she was to be adopted by people who are known to spoil their dogs. In reality, we are the lucky ones as Georgia is the most loving dog we could have hoped for. Thank you, thank you, thank you L.E.A.R.N. for taking such good care of our Georgie-Porgie. She really is a “peach.”

We have included a few pictures of Georgia and her sister, Bella. They are quite the pair.

Thinking of adopting a lab from L.E.A.R.N? Just Do It!!!

~Sheryl and Greg Lindmark

Hi LEARN,

Here are pictures of our sweet Sam who joined our family in March of 2008. Just a note to say she is doing great, has settled in to the routine of our family, and we can’t imagine life without her. Here’s Sam with her sister Bear.

~The Heistads, Andy and Kerry

Hi. It’s me Ollie, you used to know me as Farve. I’m living with my two moms and my sister Rudy, and brother Auggie…and our other sister Tasha, who is a C.A.T. (which stands for Chase And Terrify) I thought you might want to see some pictures of me in my finer moments.

Here I am with my big brother Auggie and little sister Rudy. Auggie likes having a brother like me, but he doesn’t play with me as much as Rudy does. She chases me around the house, but when she is tired she lays right next to me, and sometimes on top of me. She’s not heavy though, and I think she really likes having me as a brother ‘cuz she licks me a lot.

Here I am in our pool after we went to the dog park this summer. Boy, did that feel good to cool off. I always get the pool to myself!

Here I am with my “boy”, he sleeps in my bed with me at night, and I carry him around all day. My brother gave him to me when I came here to live…okay, I took my “boy” without asking, but Auggie doesn’t seem to mind too much.

My mommy says “a tired dog is a good dog”. I’m pretty sure that is why we go for walks and runs every day. My favorite thing is to chase the ball. Rudy and I race to catch it first. I usually win because I’m bigger, but sometimes she gets it first. She’s very tricky.

I also go to school a couple times a week. They call it Doggie Day Care, but I am pretty sure it is like school. I have fun at recess.

I just wanted to say hi and tell everyone that I am happy. I am finally learning to wag my tail, give kisses and ask for hugs. Thank you LEARN for helping me find my forever home.