Most of our Labs come to us with just "the fur on their back" and are in need of a lot of help before they are ready to go to their forever home. While our Labs have a wide variety of medical needs, here are a few ways you can help a Lab pass "Go".

$12 for "A Ticket Home" including a microchip, a fresh new basic collar, a rabies tag and SHLR ID tag. Many of our rescues are abandoned strays with no ID. Labs are curious, active and friendly -- thorough identification is critical to getting back home to loved ones.

$25 for a Heartworm Test. All are tested for life threatening heartworms. Yes, there is heartworm disease in Colorado. Every year several Labs test positive and undergo expensive, lengthy treatment in our care.

$45 for Basic Vaccinations including rabies, distemper-parvo combination and bordetella (kennel cough). No one leaves Safe Harbor without them!

$100 Helps with a Spay or Neuter. We are committed to reducing pet overpopulation and promoting a healthy life by spaying or neutering all of our Labs.

One of the many remarkable things about Safe Harbor is that when a pair of dogs who has been together all their lives comes in together, everything possible is done to keep them together, even though it might take much longer to place them this way.

Meet our newest pair - Snowball and King. After six years as loyal family dogs, they were unbelievably left behind, with only quick visits from a friend for feeding and pottying, for 8 months! As affectionate as they are handsome, they eventually found their way to Safe Harbor, and are now together in one of our wonderful foster homes, waiting patiently for a new family to take them into their forever home. Apply now for the honor!

Among the four pairs of older dogs that were adopted last year from Safe Harbor are Windsor and Riley, and Chelsea and Hailey. The families that adopt not just one, but two of our senior dogs, have a special place in our hearts.

Huge thanks to Wendy and Laura at Rover Retreat for helping these guys get a good start on their diets. They definitely were not starving when they arrived!

Eleven gorgeous, healthy, and frisky Lab/Golden mix puppies (2 yellow and 9 black) at 8 weeks old were rescued by a caring neighbor from their much-too-long stay in a snowy and very cold rural yard and transported west by always-ready and committed SHLR volunteers.

Even if you believe Good Samaritans no longer exist, you need to know that this wonderful neighbor fed them, bought them a dog house, made plans to take them for their first set of shots, called Safe Harbor, and then drove these precious, squirmy fur balls 200 miles to the Colorado border to meet our transporter.


The fur balls, of course, were whisked to our vet at Alameda East Veterinary Hospital for their check-ups and passed with flying colors, then were transported to three Safe Harbor foster homes where they quickly settled in. This little one named Lola is busy chewing everything, according to her foster mom, Dianna. Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets!

Beautiful Chablis was adopted last month by Bobi who, after a few minutes of visiting with Chablis and marveling at her beautiful face and nice manners, produced a tennis ball from her purse. Chablis decided right then and there that she was going home with Bobi. Luckily Bobi agreed. After taking a photo of Chablis to send to her daughter, (who immediately texted back "she's so cute!"), papers were signed and off they went to buy dog beds, dog food and toys.

A few weeks after the adoption, Bobi wrote to us:

A note to let you know how we are doing. First, Chablis is now Macy Rose. Macy all the time. Macy Rose if she is in trouble:). I haven't had to say Macy Rose yet.

We have bonded so closely. All I can say is she is the best! What a beautiful little face to come home to every day. We have a lot of outside time and she has honed her fetching skills to a premium level. There must be some contest she can enter for catching mid-air. She can jump so high it is unbelievable!

I want to thank you for helping me find my very best friend. I think she feels the same!

Best wishes.......Bobi and Macy

Sabrina is one of our awesome fosters, and is often called on to foster dogs that require a special touch. She gently coaxes the timid ones out of their shells, and settles the wild ones down with her calm leadership.

Sabrina has been fostering for just over a year with Safe Harbor, and has fostered more than a dozen dogs during that time, including one that stayed for 6 months. Derek and Sabrina have a 13 year old Weimaraner named Sheringham who moved here with them from England, and a Safe Harbor alum-dog, Pepper, who they nursed through heartworm. When asked why they adopted Pepper, Sabrina replied, "After 10 weeks with us through what is a pretty horrific treatment, we saw she was sweet and loving and we couldn't resist. She is also a pocket lab and high energy which suits our lifestyle well."

Sabrina also volunteers on the Safe Harbor hotline, and often travels for her work as Marketing Director in the Resources group of Accenture, in the Oil, Gas, Utilities and Mining industries. We are grateful to Derek who keeps up the fostering while she is away.

When asked what she likes about Safe Harbor, Sabrina responded that she likes the "organized and committed people, and that the focus stays on the dogs and adopting families. I like that no one I have worked with has ever not kept up their side of their work, which is rare in all volunteer organizations."