Our Adoption Fee is $550. This fee does not cover the costs incurred from when a dog is rescued until he/she arrives in your home. Depending on where the animal is rescued, the shelter requires a pull fee ranging from $165 to $200 per dog. Vet costs now can cost up to $800 or higher depending on the amount of vet care required. This includes but is not limited to spay/neuter, heart-worm treatment, standard antibiotics, health certificates at the time of travel, etc. Then there’s the costs associated with boarding/kenneling until the dog is adopted or a foster home can be found. Finally, there is the transport cost to move the dog from the South (Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, etc.) to the Northeast. With today’s fuel prices the cost ranges from $180 to $205 per dog. Let’s also keep in mind certain states require additional health checks and/or mandatory quarantine when an adopted or foster dog enters that specific state. Overall, it’s an expensive process to do the right thing and rescue these dogs. Please read Adoption Fees for all details.

No. We Do Not Negotiate. Our Adoption Fee is $550. Our costs do not change due to a dog’s age, breed or personality. See above for a more detailed explanation of the costs involved in saving a dog.

Be advised our adoption fee is $550 on any dog.  This covers the following costs: pull fees, shots, heart worm tests, heart worm and flea prevention, de-worming, spays or neuters, boarding, transport to Northeast, etc.

Additional costs apply as follows:

Mass Quarantine (48 hrs) fee is $170

Any dog in foster care in CT is required by law to have a CT wellness exam within 48 hours of arrival in the state and also again if not adopted within 15 days of exam. This cost is passed on to adopters as we are a non-profit. These costs could range from $50-$100, depending on vet clinic used.

If you are a resident of a state other than Mass, RI, CT or NH but are adopting a dog from one of the states above, the adopter is responsible for costs as outlined above.

American Lab Rescue is an all volunteer group. There are no employees or staff members. We are a 501c3 non-profit. Everyone associated with American Lab Rescue is a Volunteer from the President to the Adoption Consultants. No person associated with American Lab Rescue receives any salary or payment for the time they volunteer. In addition to ALR, we all have full time jobs and/or have have families. That means sometimes we may not get back to your emails or phone calls right away. Please be patient and we will work hard to find your next 4 legged family member.

We and our Rescuers know our dogs better than anyone. Most have already displayed a pension for running. A number of dogs are high energy and require a lot of exercise that will not be burned off by walking on a leash. A fence reflects additional security for your dog to be safe in their new environment.

ALR rescues dogs in need. No one that rescues dogs for ALR is qualified to determine if an individual dog has the ability to become more than a family dog. Should you decide to adopt a dog from us and you recognize that your has a special talent than maybe you can train your dog for that purpose. We have been told by past adopters that their adopted rescue dog is a trained agility dog, a certified hospital or helper dog.

We will always be there for our furry friends. A paragraph in the adoption contract states that if for any reason you are no longer able to care for your dog, American Lab Rescue will take your dog back and find him or her his next forever home.

No, that is not correct. All dogs in the ALR program stay in the program until they are adopted. There is no clock that ticks that says a dog has to be moved or else. In some circumstances we may move a dog to another rescue group as they may be more familiar with the breed or have a potential adopters looking for a specific dog.

Everyone associated with our group is a dog lover and we all work toward the same goal. Reduce euthanization in the south and find homes for these dogs where we can. The work is challenging and sometimes overwhelming but the rewards of finding our dog’s forever home is heartwarming. Want to Volunteer? please check here.

Yes we do. Mission Statement.

The ongoing costs to run and support a facility are astronomical and unfortunately we do not have the funds to support one. We use foster homes and kennels through out the Northeast for our dogs to stay until they find their forever homes. If someone would like to donate or grant us a significant amount of money or land, we would be grateful and build and run a shelter.

The first time some adopters meet their new dog is right off the transport. They know nothing more about the dog than what the foster has told them. (click here to see a transport). This is a special time for them when they first see their dog in the fur so to say. But others are more comfortable seeing and meeting their dog before deciding to adopt or not. Some of our dogs are already in the Northeast. They are at foster homes or local kennel facilities. The more homes we have the more dogs we can foster locally. Please fill out an application if you are interested in foster. Click Here

Unfortunately the amount of funds required to maintain a facility is far beyond our means.  We do not have the financial strength to even consider a project of that size.  However if you are interested in helping American Lab Rescue find, build and support  a facility we would be happy to hear from you. Even in a shelter a dog does not always display their true personality.  That is why we try to move our animals to foster homes.  Foster Homes give our dogs the opportunity to receive individualized attention where they can work on their basic obedience training and socialization skills.  More importantly the get the love and attention from a family that will be with them until they find their forever home.  We can always use more foster homes. Interested? Click here

You may be visiting the wrong place. You want a toy store or gift shop. The one’s on the shelf are as close to perfect as you are going to find. Turn Key dogs do not exist. Each dog young or old will present his or her own challenges as they grow. Some dogs are not perfect. They don’t like cats, other dogs, small animals (rabbits, ferrets, etc) children, etc. and that may never change, no matter how hard you try to get them to. That is why a reputable rescue may guide you away from a dog who’s picture you “just love” and can’t live without. That dog may not be a right fit. ALR would rather lose a prospective adopter (that is insistent on a specific dog in our program that is not a right fit for your family) than make a bad placement where the adoption will most likely fail and force the return of the dog. We won’t to be your advocate not your adversary.

ALR does everything it can to assure your dog is healthy and well at the time of adoption. We run all the standard tests your vet does and sometimes even more. But that is not a guarantee your dog will not have health issues now or later down the line. Pet Insurance is for your peace of mind and you new dog’s benefit. We strongly recommend you do your due diligence and seek out many possible pet insurance carriers to compare plans.

You can foster a dog that needs a short term place to call home until they are adopted. Click here to complete a foster application. You can volunteer. We are always looking for people to help with various duties. Help at transport. Answer emails. Work to get the word out about rescue and it’s benefits, fill out a Volunteer application today.

If you are a resident of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and interested in adopting a dog from a Rescue Group outside the State, you need to be aware that your adoptive dog is required to be placed in a state approved quarantine facility for a period of 48 hrs prior to going to your residence. Please note: the cost for Quarantine is $170. This fee is in addition to the $550 adoption fee. Please follow this link for more info on the Massachusetts Animal Health Emergency Order.

Effective a/o December 19, 2020. We are currently not transporting dogs to NH as the Quarantine facility we normally use is no longer taking reservations due to current COVID protocol. Due to this change we are unable to adopt a dog currently in the south to NH Residents. Any questions, can be directed to info@americanlabrescue.com.

Under normal conditions…If you are a resident of New Hampshire and are interested in adopting a dog from an out of State Rescue Group, you need to be aware that the Department of Agriculture of the State of NH requires by law that your adoptive dog is required to be placed in a state approved quarantine facility for a period of 48 hrs prior to going home. This fee is not included in the $550 adoption fee. Please follow this link for more info on the New Hampshire Legislation or to contact them, New Hampshire Dept of Agriculture for more information.

Since American Lab Rescue is considered a Category A Rescue any dog going to a resident of Rhode Island is currently not required to go through the mandatory 5 Day Quarantine. However as a resident of Rhode Island you should be familiar with all existing State Laws. Our Adoption Fee is $550 plus any applicable vet fees prior to the dog going home. For more information on the current laws please follow this link for more info on the STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT Division of Agriculture

Fill out an application, click here.

Yes, you are correct ALR will “NOT” put any of our dogs in harms way. It is said “That A Picture is worth a thousand words. How about 4 of them. This should explain it all. BE WARNED VERY EXPLICIT!!!!