These dogs need YOUR help!

Indi Lab Rescue tries very hard to save the lives of all kinds of Labs. But medical costs are never able to be covered by our adoption fees so the only way we can afford to help some of these deserving dogs is with YOUR help!

Sometime a Lab is older, infirm, or simply unadoptable. We do not simply kills these dogs. We hospice them in our homes and let them live out there lives in love with a family. The cost of food, flea medication, other medication such as anti-inflammatory drugs, insulin and other drugs, vet visits, baths, and all the other costs of owning and caring for a dog add up! We can only help as many dogs as we can afford to.

Won't you consider helping these dogs? Any amount helps no matter how small. Medical costs are through the roof and we desperately need your donations to help these babies.

Contact ILRR if you would like to sponsor a dog, hospice a dog in your home or if you would like to adopt one of our hospice dogs without an adoption fee. A hospice dog can provide wonderful companionship sometimes for years and is a lovely way to give back. Some of these dogs just need a little help to be on their way.

Finn Update!

REHAB

Now that Finn has had his bilateral ACL repair surgery, we are working hard to help Finn recover.

Finn is now in week 5 post-op and started rehab with his new therapist, Sarah. He spent some time on the underwater treadmill, where Sarah said he was a star! It takes some dogs up to four sessions to get the hang of it, but Finn figured it out right away! What a smart boy.

He was in 18" of water on a treadmill that was moving a little more than a mile per hour. The goal is to keep all four feet on the treadmill with just the right combination of buoyancy and resistance. Finn spent about 6 minutes total on the treadmill, a great first session. Afterwards, he got 20 minutes of cold compression using the fanciest ice pack (huge understatement) imaginable!

What a lucky boy. After suffering in pain for far too long, Finn is now on his way to a healthy and happy life! Thanks to Indi Lab Rescue, his loving and dedicated foster, his doctors, and Sarah for helping him get there!

And thank you to everyone in Finn's corner who donated or will continue to donate to help Finn recover!

If you can help, please consider a tax-deductible donation to help us complete Finn's rehab!
No amount is too small and every donation helps!

Cost for surgery and rehab have exceeded $5,500

Please if you can donate to help these boys, any amount will assist.
Please click the paypal button at left.
If you prefer to send a check, please mail to

Independent Lab Rescue
c/o Christine Borkenhagen
1222 Amherst Ave # 301 Los Angeles, CA 90025

No amount is too small. Without donations we cannot give this boy the chance he deserves.
Please consider skipping your Starbucks or a movie and helping Finn get the surgery he needs to be well.

PLEASE Help Finn

Finn is a loving and sweet wonderful purebred Labrador male who is in dire need of medical help

When we took Finn into rescue it became immediately apparent that he could not walk properly and was in enormous pain. After a full and complete vet visit we learned that Finn has 2 torn anterior cruciate ligaments and his knees are severely damaged. He has been living in horrible pain for some time and no one bothered to do a thing about it.

Finn must have sustained injuries to his knees in his past and whoever owned him did nothing, letting him simply hobble around in pain for so long that he just learned to get around on his own though constantly suffering. Because his injuries were never addressed, he developed significant and serious injuries to both his knee joints.

Finn's only option if he is to live on and become an adoptable dog is to have surgery to correct the injuries to both knees. But this is only the beginning. He will need a dedicated, loving foster home to recover in for a minimum of 6-8 weeks.

Without this surgery, Finn will not be adoptable and will have to be euthanized. He deserves a chance.

Please help us help Finn and give him a chance.

We estimate the costs to exceed $5,000

Please if you can donate to help these boys, any amount will assist.
Please click the paypal button at left.
If you prefer to send a check, please mail to

Independent Lab Rescue
c/o Christine Borkenhagen
1222 Amherst Ave # 301 Los Angeles, CA 90025

No amount is too small. Without donations we cannot give this boy the chance he deserves.
Please consider skipping your Starbucks or a movie and helping Finn get the surgery he needs to be well.

A Thanksgiving Miracle!

Honey has been with us as a hospice dog for almost a year now. She has become an incredible dog in the Santa Barbara community where she is in every parade and works to help young children learn how to read.

Recently the tumor on Honey's spleen burst and instead of euthansing Honey we opted for emergency surgery. What we found was a true MIRACLE! After removing Honey's spleen and an additional mammary tumor to the tune of almost $3,000, it seems Honey is CANCER FREE and HEALTHY!!!!! This is something we never expected for this gorgeous 6 year old purebred Lab.

Honey is doing so well and is back on the job of helping young children read. Please read her most recent letter to her class of youngsters while she was away and in recovery!

Please help us cover the cost of Honey's surgery so that we can continue to work to save other Labs.

See this great video montage of Honey made by her foster mom!

Honey's letter to her Kindergartners!

The kindergarten class has a wall of Honey's photos so they can look at their friend while they write her get well letters. They have also been decorating the letter "d" for Honey when she returns. The children in the Santa Barbara kindergarten class love Honey so much and she is sorely missed while recovering from her recent surgery.

Thanks to a true miracle, Honey is fully recovered from her Cancer and can live a long, healthy, full life working with the children she loves and enjoying her loving hospice home that will now become her forever home.

Here is Honey's most recent letter to her kids after her surgery.

Dear Kindergartners,

Thank you so much for your letter d's and the other nice gifts you sent me. I wagged my tail for about 10 minutes looking at all of those beautiful letter d's in Halloween colors! And I just LOVE the letter "d" because "d" is the first letter of the word dog! I just learned that word - dog - dog - dog - dog - DOG! I just love it when I hear that word because it usually means someone is saying nice things about me or talking about giving me a treat!

Now that I have been learning about letters, I have been thinking a lot about words. It is like magic to me how people can write these symbols called letters and string them all together and make these things called WORDS! It is amazing that humans can understand what all the funny symbols linked together mean.

And those words sure are powerful! Has someone ever said words to you that hurt your feelings? When I hear words that hurt my feelings I go to my mom to get a hug. I really like hearing nice words, like my name, "Honey Bear!" said in a really nice way. Or when I do something right and my mom says, "Good dog!" and I can hear in her voice how proud she is of me. And can you guess what my very favorite three words are? C'mon, try and guess! My very favorite three words are "I", "love", "you" when my mom and dad say it and give me a big hug at the same time. That's the best!

I love words that make me feel really warm and fuzzy all over and make me want to wag my tail a whole bunch! I want to start a list of all the good "tail wagging" words! Here are some good "tail wagging" words that I like - "good job!" - "you're terrific!" - "I love you!" - "I'm so glad you are my friend!" What are your favorite words that make you feel warm and fuzzy? What is the nicest thing that anyone has ever said to you?

I just love words, don't you? I can't wait to see all the wonderful words all of you are going to write!

Lot's of love and hugs,
Honey Bear

Honey

Honey wasn't supposed to be a hospice dog. Honey is a truly beautiful 6-7 year old BEAUTIFUL white female Labrador. As lovely in temperament as she is on the outside.

Honey came to us from a shelter up north. She was really loved by one of the volunteers there who thought she was special. How could we say no to this girl? The volunteer though Honey might need some medical care due to very large and distended nipples. Honey was clearly used by someone for breeding and this caring volunteer wanted to see her safely into a rescue that could be sure Honey was healthy.

As soon as Honey came to us, we knew we had a gem. The just don't come any sweeter, gentler, or more loving than this beautiful girl. But we knew she had to be seen by a vet right away. We were optimistic!

At the vet's office, everyone fell in love with this girl. It's hard for anyone who meet Honey to not fall in love.

Honey had what appeared to be masticular cancer on both sides of her nipples. The surgery to remove this particular cancer is a big deal because only one side of milk ducts can be removed and the dog must heal before the next side of milk ducts can come out. It is a very painful recovery for a dog but if all else checked out ok, there would be a great chance of recovery for Honey. We decided we would do the surgery if she was otherwise healthy.

Sadly we found that the cancer had metastisized to Honey's spleen where there was a good sized tumor. We were heartbroken. The cancer was too far along to be helped.

We were told that the tumor could rupture at any time and that Honey would surely die. That as a rescue, given our limited resources, the best option was for us to go ahead and euthanize Honey. We carefully considered doing this because we knew we couldn't help her or ever find her a home.

But Honey just sat there smiling and wagging her tail. We couldn't put her to sleep yet. It wasn't time. The vet told us that if she were an "owned" and "loved" dog they wouldn't recommend euthanasia yet. But since she was a rescue dog, we might consider it. Well we realized she WAS an owned and loved dog now!

We were given between 3 -12 months for Honey to live before she began suffering. It has been about 5 months now and Honey is doing so wonderfully in her hospice home.

Honey enjoys daily trips to the dog park where she fetches her tennis ball and has loads of friends, human and dog alike, and she is very, very loved by the family that is hospicing her. They adore her and consider her their dog.

We are only happy Honey came to us so that we could give her the time to enjoy what's left of her life. Used as a breeding dog, she possibly didn't have the very best life before, and was obviously dumped into the shelter when she was no longer useful. We feel truly blessed to have gotten to know and love this gentle soul!

Recently Honey was in the unofficial Santa Barbara Dog Parade as a fire captain! Every day Honey experiences fun, love, and happiness. See some of the photos of Honey at this year's parade!