Brookline Labrador Retriever Rescue
Helping Labs Find Their Fur-Ever Homes
June 2007
1. Brookline Lab Rescue is an all volunteer group. That means no one gets paid. Can you imagine that? People working that hard
and not expecting any cash? All those super volunteers work really hard and give up their free time just because they love Labs and
want to help. Pretty cool, huh? Since they're all volunteers, each person can do as much or as little as he wants. If someone wants to
do a little of everything, great. If someone only wants to do certain things, that's okay, too. Amazingly, they all work together to get
everything done and everyone has fun doing it.

2.
Brookline volunteers check out all the dogs. Some Brookline dogs come from families who have to give them up. Others are saved
from the lock-up, I mean shelter. Others come from those awful places called "puppy mills". But no matter where a dog comes from, a
Brookline volunteer evaluates him to learn as much as possible about him. This is really important to the families that adopt from
Brookline. They love the detailed Petfinder write-ups. They love having information about the dog's medical history, personality,
obedience level, and likes and dislikes. This really helps a dog get matched with the right family. Imagine if an active, party guy like me
had been placed with a couch-potato family. That would spell T-R-O-U-B-L-E. But that's the kind of thing that could happen if no one
evaluated me before putting me up for adoption. A family would just see a young - and really good looking - dog and they'd want to
adopt me in a heartbeat. But they just might get more than they bargained for! Hee-hee. Luckily my new family got the whole scoop on
me before I was adopted so things worked out swell!

3.
Brookline volunteers check out all the families who want to adopt. Okay, so the Brookline volunteers want to make sure the dog is
a good fit for a family. But they also want to make sure the family is a good fit for the dog! After all, they love us Labbies and want to
make sure each and every one of us ends up with the best family possible. So, they visit each applicant and do the same kind of
evaluation on them. Okay, it's not exactly the same. They don't feed the family and try to take toys from them. And they don't touch them
all over and make them "sit" and "stay". (I'll tell ya - we dogs are a lot more tolerant than people are!) But they do ask the family lots of
questions about their lifestyle, their activity level, how a dog would fit into their lives, how they plan to exercise and train the dog, and all
that good stuff. They write up evaluations of the families just like they do on the dogs. That really helps when the time comes to match
up a dog with his new family!

4.
Brookline dogs get to live in homes with families while waiting to find their new family. Some dogs stay with their owners until
their new family is found. Other dogs stay in Brookline foster homes. But all of the dogs get to stay in a warm, comfortable home with
people. Kennels can be stressful and frustrating places. Plus, sometimes when dogs stay in a kennel for too long, they "forget" things
like potty training and house manners. Not good. Humans are very particular about which room is used as a bathroom. Brookline likes
to keep all their dogs in real home environments to avoid those problems.

5.
Brookline has greatly expanded their coverage area and continues to grow. Brookline covers lots of areas in PA as well as
sections of NJ, DE, and MD. As they add volunteers in new areas, they can open more areas. They are always looking for more
volunteers and more foster homes. Spread the word! Spread the love!

6.
Brookline provides training for all of their volunteers. New volunteers train with senior volunteers to learn how to do home visits,
dog evals, introductions, and finalizations. They hold a yearly training session for all of the volunteers. And, of course, they share
information and ideas all year long. Believe me, with over 70 volunteers, there is a lot of talking…especially since most of the
volunteers are women. Hee-hee!

7.
Brookline is a great resource for adopting families, families who need to surrender their dogs, and families who are working to
keep their dog.
Brookline offers tips and advice to families who adopt a Brookline dog. But they also offer advice and support to
families who need to surrender their dog….and to families who really want to keep their dog but are having problems making it work.
The Brookline folks have lots of experience with all kinds of dog issues. My foster moms were lucky. But not all dogs are as easy as
me. Hee-hee! So the Brookline folks are pretty good at helping other folks through the rough times.

8.
Brookline raises money to help Labs. They sell t-shirts, cookbooks, and all kinds of goodies. They hold yard sales. They take
pictures with my good pal, Santa. And don't forget about the big Paws Across PA event which is coming up soon!!. Every penny they
make goes into supporting the rescue and helping the Labs. Remember when I said no one gets paid? Nope. Not a penny. It's all for
the Labs.

9.
Brookline dogs are forever part of the Brookline family. Once a Brookline dog, always a Brookline dog! That means a Brookline
dog's family can contact the Brookline folks at any time - even years later - for help or advice. The Brookline folks will always be happy
to hear from you and they are thrilled when you visit them at a Brookline event. You should see my foster moms when I walk into a
room. They squeal and run to me. Silly girls! It's a little embarrassing. But, it's pretty cool, too. And can you blame them? After all, they've
never had another foster dog as memorable - or good looking - as me!

10.
Brookline Lab Rescue is way cool! Okay, you probably already knew that by now. But I just had to say it anyway!

Yes, Ladies, Brookline's 10th anniversary is a big thing and it's time to celebrate! So put on your best collar and meet me on the dance
floor!

Anyone else have a question? The Great Sparkdini has the answer! Hee-hee! Drop me a line at
AskSparky@verizon.net.
Hugs and Sloppy Kisses,
Sparky  
Hey Ladies!

Of course I can tell you. I am, after all, the Great Sparkdini! An anniversary is a yearly celebration of
something really special. It's sort of like a birthday. Yep, Brookline is 10 years old. That's 70 in dog
years - so it's a BIG deal!

A birthday celebrates the day someone was born. I'm sure you've all had birthdays - with presents
and party hats and special treats and dancing on the table and….well, maybe your parties aren't as
crazy as mine, but you know what I mean. Hee-hee!

An anniversary celebrates the day something really special happened. In this case, it's the day
Brookline Lab Rescue was started. Brookline started 10 years ago with just a few volunteers
saving one dog. Ten years later Brookline has over 70 volunteers saving a bunch of dogs - about
100 dogs in the past year. How cool is that?! Speaking as one of those rescued dogs, I can tell you
it is way cool!  I hate to toot my own horn, but I'm sort of an expert on Brookline. So, in honor of
Brookline's 10th anniversary, allow me to tell you
10 way cool things about Brookline Lab Rescue.
Dear Sparky,

Our "mom and dad" have been talking about Brookline celebrating its 10th anniversary but we're not
sure what an anniversary is or why Brookline is celebrating it. Can you tell us, Sparky?

Ariel, Kelly and Callie
See Sparky's Other Columns: