If you are thinking about adopting a Lab from L.E.A.R.N., here's some additional information about how our process works...

Step One – Talk with your Family

The first step is to discuss the potential adoption with your entire family.  Make sure you are all really ready to get a dog – committed to the responsibility and hard work, excited about the new addition to your family, and dedicated to a lifetime of commitment – No Matter What. After much thought and discussion the L.E.A.R.N. Board of Directors has adopted a policy, we will no longer adopt a dog to anyone with children under the age of five if they have no previous dog experience.

LEARN is a rescue organization dealing with hundreds of unwanted animals yearly. Therefore, in our efforts to help control animal overpopulation, we will not place a rescued Lab with someone who currently owns a pet that is not spayed or neutered.

Step Two – Educate Yourself and Your Family

The next step is to research the Labrador Retriever as a breed through written literature and/or online. There is a tremendous amount of information available on the Internet. Start your search at the official website of the American Kennel Club (http://www.akc.org). Investigate the strengths and weaknesses of the breed as a whole, characteristics of Labs, and talk to anyone and everyone who has a Lab to get their realistic view of the work, energy, and dedication involved.  Make sure all of these positives and negatives are in line with your needs and wants.  Be realistic with your expectations and be prepared to put forth a lot of time and effort if you desire to have a well-behaved canine member of your family.  Discuss what kind of dog you are looking for with reference to range of age, color, sex and whether or not the dog needs to be a purebred and come to an agreement. 

ABOVE ALL, make sure this is the right decision for the entire family and that everyone within the family is equally education, interested and committed for a lifetime.

Step Three – Complete and submit our adoption application

Make sure you read over all of the questions thoroughly and answer them as honestly and detailed as possible. You can download our adoption application from this website, or you can call us at (847) 289-7387 or send us an e-mail at learndogs@labadoption.org requesting that one be sent out to you via US Mail.

Step Four – Be patient

Once L.E.A.R.N. receives your application, our volunteer network receives a notice stating that we received a new application, and a home visit needs to be scheduled. A volunteer in your area will contact you to set up a convenient time to come to your home and meet you and your family. The purpose of the home visit is to discuss your expectations for a dog, and review the care, training, and exercise you are prepared to provide your new family member. Once your home visit is complete and you are approved to adopt a Lab from us, you will be placed on our open applicants lists. Our volunteers will "match" you up with one of our available dogs. Applicants are considered for dogs on a first-come, first-served basis.

Before we can discuss or answer any questions on any available lab, you will first have to complete an adoption application and have a home visit so you can be approved for adoption. Please do not phone or e-mail us on any available lab until you have gone through this process.

Step Five – Meet Your Potential New Family Member

After coming up with a potential "match," a meeting is arranged for you to meet a specific dog. In most cases you are required to come to the foster home to meet the dog. Foster homes are located throughout Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. This could potentially mean a substantial drive, depending on the location of the foster home. After meeting a dog, there is a 24-hour waiting period before the adoption can take place. We have found that this helps adopters avoid making impulsive decisions.

Step Six – Make sure your home is ready for a new family member

After you have found your perfect dog (or maybe the perfect dog found you), make sure that you have everything you need when you bring the dog home! Did you already buy quality food and water bowls? Did you make sure you bought the same dog food that the foster home was feeding, knowing that switching a dog's food too quickly can cause lots of tummy troubles (namely diarrhea)? Did you get any toys, maybe chew toys or tennis balls for the dog to chase? Do you have a brush, nail clippers, ear cleanser, or other grooming materials that are needed? Are you going to use a crate for your dog, or provide a doggie bed, or both? Do you have a leash and a collar? Have you thought about providing the proper ID for your dog?

Making sure your dog is properly identified at all times is crucial so that he/she is never lost or stolen.  Always make sure that you have a collar with an ID tag, local license registration, and a rabies tag properly attached.  However, realize if your dog is lost or stolen that a collar is the first thing to come off.  To ensure your dog has permanent identification, all of our dogs are microchipped and registered under L.E.A.R.N. before adoption.  If you already have a dog who is not microchipped, we highly recommend either getting this done at your Veterinarian's office or through our organization.  L.E.A.R.N. provides this service for $25 along with a certificate to have your dog registered nationwide.

Once you have adopted a dog from L.E.A.R.N. please make sure you keep us informed of your current address and phone number. In the event that your new family member should wander away from home, we need a way to contact you and get the dog safely back to you.

Important!

Please understand that because L.E.A.R.N. is an all-volunteer organization, it will take some time to process your application and for one of our volunteers to contact you to schedule a home visit (if we have a volunteer in your area).  Please also understand that once the home visit is conducted and if you are approved for adoption, it could take several weeks or even months to find the right match for your family depending on your preferences, the number of dogs we have in foster at that particular time and the needs of these dogs.