Rocky Mountain Lab Rescue Newsletter October 2009

Happy Howl-o-ween Month Everyone! Last year an estimated one in ten people (or 7.4 million households) donned their beloved pet in some sort of costume. Many people who own pets think of them as family members and will go all out to include dogs, cats and other critters in their Halloween festivities. This includes trick-or-treating, handing out candy, costume parties or even celebrating at a friend or family member's house. Nothing quite says Halloween than having your pet running around dressed as Superman, Zorro or even Buzz Lightyear!

So this year, don't just dress up your kids, dress up your dog as well. It's a fun and inexpensive way to make Halloween a night for the whole family!

October: Adopt-A-Dog Month!

Having a dog rocks! It promotes exercise, helps lower blood pressure, helps fight depression and lonliness. Millions of dogs are put into shelters every year by owners who simply can't care for them any longer. They aren't bad dogs – they simply aren't with the right family yet. October has been named the month to promote and spread awareness about adopting these precious pups. We at the Rocky Mountain Lab Rescue are doign our small part by rescuing as many good adoptable lab and lab mixes, from the places where they are most likely not going to be given a chance to be adopted out to a great family. We challenge you to spread the word this month! Tell your friends and family about the need to adopt from rescues and shelters. Spread the word about spaying and neutering your pets - there wouldn't be a need for rescues if everyone was a responsible pet owner. Share your stories about your own rescued or adopted dog. Let's get the word out to support your local shelters, rescues and most importantly, the dogs for National Adopt-A-Dog Month!

Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the United States, aside from skin cancer. According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), an estimated 192,370 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed among women in the United States this year. An estimated 40,170 women are expected to die from the disease in 2009 alone. Today, there are about 2.5 million breast cancer survivors living in the United States.

The Rocky Mountain Lab Rescue is doing their part to recognize and help support Breast Cancer Research this October by attending the Bow Wow Buddies Foundation K-9s Against Cancer 5K on Saturday October 10th at Stapleton's Central Park. This event is a 5K fun run/1 mile walk, which is open to all humans and their canine companions. This family-oriented day of festivities will feature music, food, games, giveaways and demonstrations. Funds raised with support animal welfare programs, canine caner research and breast cancer research and treatment.

There will be an area designated as the Rescue Round Up where several rescues will be in attendance. We would like this event to be really huge! It's for a great cause and will be an awesome opportunity to get a bunch of Rocky Mountain Lab Rescue dogs out there! If you adopted a puppy from RMLR, do you ever wonder how his/her siblings are doing? This is a great opportunity for everyone to meet up, hang out, and play fetch together :) We'd like all RMLR Dogs to meet at the booth before the walk and then walk together with the RMLR banner! It's a great way to rally around the rescue for a great cause! 

Location:  Stapleton's Central Park - Martin Luther King and Central Park Boulevards

Time:  Registration starts at 7:00am, 5k starts at 9:00am, 1 mile walk starts at 9:30am

October's Dog of the Month: Jade

Jade hasn’t met another dog or person she didn’t like! She’s eager to share her abundance of love and energy with her forever family. Her ideal forever family would enjoy all kinds of energetic activities – running, hiking, walking, playing with other dogs, toys or kids. Because she’s a lively pup, she’d do best with older kids (7 years & up). Jade is a personable puppy that will blossom into a great dog with some training and medical attention. She has an itchy skin condition on her chest that’s being treated with weekly baths and medications. We suspect it may be an environment or food allergy. With the proper care it can be managed and kept under control. Jade doesn’t let it interfere with her life. As a one-year old puppy, she is curious, intelligent and a quick learner. She knows basic commands (sit, down, stay, heel), but is still learning to be consistent. At times, Jade’s curiosity gets the best of her and she can’t resist the tempting smells wafting in the air or on the kitchen table. With gentle but firm training, she’ll quickly learn to mind her manners. Jade is house trained when she’s regularly let outside. She’s still working on letting someone know when she needs to go potty. With some attention, she’ll also master this in no time. Jade is a happy, playful pup that enjoys being around her people and is eager to please.  She loves to love and be loved. Can you be Jade’s forever family that can give her the love and attention she deserves?

Check out more information about Jade and our other Labs for Adoption under Adopting

Success Story of the Month: Macee

This little girl needed knee surgery (most people would have put her to sleep) and had a paralyzed face and is 9 mos old but because of her injuries is progressed to about 4 to 5 mos old is now the princess of the house. Thank you for letting me be Macees foster. Her new mom loves her so much. For more success stories please visit the Success Stories tab above.

Upcoming Events:

Saturday October 3rd 17132 W Colfax in Golden: PetCo Rescue Adoption Event from 10AM until 4PM : Elaine is the store manager and years ago she rescued a dog and came up with the idea to host a rescue adoption event at her store. The event has grown, it’s put on in the spring and the fall. This is an amazing opportunity for RMLR, so please plan on attending if even for a short time. Dogs are welcome to attend, either foster dogs or your own.

Bow Wow Buddies Foundation K-9s Against Cancer 5K Fun Run/1 Mile Walk :See event information to the left and visit http://www.bowwowbuddies.com/

A Story About Sammi (an extra success story this month)
 

Every dog that we're able to pull from a shelter, save their life, and find a forever home - we consider a success story. However, every once in awhile there are those extra special stories that really warm your heart and bring tears to your eyes. Sammi (formerly Minty) is one of those stories.

Sammi came to the Rocky Mountain Lab Rescue as Minty in February 2009. She only had three-legs, being a recent amputee from a severe infection in one of her back legs. She also had undergone treatment for heart worm. Needless to say, none of this ever slowed her down! Her foster family adored her and couldn't say a bad thing about the sweet loving girl. Here is a recent story that her family emailed us to share.

Hi all - I just wanted to send a quick note about Sammi. She is doing well. She had a busy summer. Sammi was the mascot for Camp Freedom. Camp Freedom is a camp for children with disabilities. The disabilities are wide ranging. Sammi did so well that we had to arrange for her to be a part of camp even when my husband and I were unable to participate.

I think the best Sammi camp story was from a session that my husband and I were unable to help out with. She went a long with our friends who normally watch our dogs when we are unable to take them with us. Anyhow, there was young boy attending that session who was terrified of dogs. His parents kinda cringed when they saw Sammi. Well, the boy became interested in Sammi because he had never seen a dog with 3 legs. The boy kept his distance and Sammi would just sit smiling at him as to encourage him to come closer.

Well, by the end of his 3 day stay at camp, he was best buds with Sammi. He would lie on the ground and let her lick him from head to toe! What is even better about the story is that this particular camper's siblings wanted a dog, but mom and dad were hesitant due to this boys fears. I heard that the family adopted a dog from one of the shetlers and everyone is doing great! My husband was particularly moved because he understands the impact of having a disabled child can have on other children in the house.

Thank you for doing your part and saving these wonderful dogs!

Sincerely,
Ann Wiemert-Slater (and Sammi, Ollie, and Dan)

Thank you for sharing such a great story! Rescue life can be trying at times to say the least - hearing updates about RMLR Alumni really makes it all worth it! Send all your photos and stories to us and we'll update your pups success story on our website!

New Rocky Mountain Lab Rescue Gear
 

Keep your eyes and ears peeled - we're going to have a plethora of brand spanking new RMLR gear up on our website very soon, just in time for the holidays! Sweatshirts, t-shirts, fleece vests, blankets, stainless steel water bottles........

Remember, when you buy anything from RMLR, ALL PROCEEDS go right back to the dogs. 

2009-2010 RMLR We Love Our Rescues Calendar

Want to save on shipping costs? Can't wait the shipping time to get your paws on the new Calendar, visit Paw-Wares in Broomfield. 

Catching Up with RMLR

We wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their many hours of dedication, tanks of gas, endless love given to our foster dogs - and of course every donation from a quarter to thousands of dollars. You all are really what keep this rescue afloat. Without everyone's help we could not rescue these deserving dogs.

We wanted to let you know where your money goes. 93% of last year's revenue went directly to the dogs. Revenue consists of adoption costs recieved, donations and grants. 7% of last year's revenue went to administration costs (internet costs, computer costs, paper copies, telephone, etc). 66% of our revenue went to vettings/surgeries! The remainder went to fuel for transports, the cost of insurance, and into our bank account to save for future doggy saving. 0% went to salaries!

A Call for Foster Parents

Attention potential foster family:

Daily, we are forced to turn away great dogs, mostly from high risk shelters, because we don't have enough foster homes to accommodate them.  We feel that many of the dogs would be highly adoptable and would probably be placed quickly, but without the foster openings we must turn them away.

So many dogs are in jeopardy right now because people are losing their jobs and their homes.  Please consider fostering, and please help us to come up with ideas for getting new foster homes. Please fill out a fostering application today on our website and give one of these pups a second chance!