Success Stories

Willy, January, 2001

Willy, along with another Lab puppy, was rescued from a shelter in North Carolina by Northeast All Retriever Rescue. This group does not usually rescue dogs from out of state but made an exception in this case because of the bad conditions at that particular shelter - several dogs and puppies had frozen to death the week before Willy was rescued.

While in transit, Willy and the other puppy got very sick. Their foster dad took them to the vet immediately when they arrived and they were both diagnosed with Parvo. Treatment was started at once and both dogs responded well. NEARR needed help with the bills though; they started fundraising immediately and asked LABMED to fund treatment for one of the puppies - Willy. Both puppies had improved a lot and by the time LABMED contacted the vet were ready to be released to their foster home. LABMED was happy to fund Willy's treatment.

Willy will stay with his foster dad until he is complete healthy and will then go to his forever home.

We received this note from Willy's rescuer:

Here is the newest photo of Willy, who arrived into foster care this past weekend. When we first picked him up, he literally shied away into the back of the crate. Clearly the trauma of traveling 7 hours in a crate, being passed off to several transporters, and the disruption of every day life had put poor Willy into shock. His sister Nickie was the same way. It took some careful squeezing of a squeaky to bring these two pups into focus.

We took them to the vet to get their shots and both pups did well. We did have to carry them everywhere as they didn't seem able to move their legs...it was a sad sight. As they had made so much progress under the wing of Foster Dad extraordinnaire NICK, we were anxious to get them into foster care and settled down.

We brought them to their foster homes, where they have been getting plenty of socialization and exercise- with help from older Labbies and Goldens to show them the ropes! On last report, it took the pups no less than 24 hours to perk up and really let loose! Apparently, Willie has taken quite a liking to big foster brother Jake (a 4 year old Golden who is also a NEARR alum) and plays non stop with 2 year old Keiko (also a Golden). Nickie has settled wonderfully into her routine, and spends her days playing with the two young labs in her foster home, along with some human friends, aged 4 and up! All in all, these two Labbies will have the best homes possible once we are comfortable with their initial socialization. I'm attaching a photo of Willy on his couch in his foster home, and will continue to send updates.