Ashli Smukler and volunteer Marli van Tonder with a few happy Labs
Written by Ashli Smukler – Operations Manager
Professional photography by Warren Nicholas Photography
Labradors, with their soulful eyes, even-tempered natures, and family-friendly reputation, top the list of most popular breeds worldwide. Unfortunately, with such popularity comes an increase in dogs in need of rehoming and rescuing. That’s where Labrador Rescue South Africa comes in – and they need your help to keep going.
Helping Labbies in need
Labrador Rescue South Africa (LRSA) was started in 2009 as part of the Labrador Retriever Kennel Club (LRKC). But, as the need rapidly grew, a decision was made to separate the two, and although still affiliated, LRSA would operate as a separate entity.
LRSA is a registered NPC (Not for Profit Company) as well as a PBO (Public Benefits Organisation), and we’re tax exempt, which means we’re able to issue tax rebates for donations we receive. We hope this will bring us many more much-needed sponsorships and donations.
We operate nationwide with area teams of dedicated volunteers. Although LRSA is a breed-specific rescue, we rehome many Labrador cross breeds, as well as their other breed family companions, which includes the odd cat! LRSA works in close cooperation with other rescue organisations as well as SA Guide Dogs, and many of our rescue dogs have been trained and work as qualified service dogs.
Matching homes to dogs
We have an active Facebook page, Labrador Rescue South Africa, with over 30,000 followers, and an interactive website, www.labrescue.co.za,where you can see which dogs are looking for homes, fill in an adoption form and even surrender your dog via the website.
All queries are followed up by our dedicated team of volunteers who try to match dogs looking for homes to the right home. We also have another Facebook page – Labrador Rescue Network South Africa – where we post pictures of Labradors in shelters and Lab-mix dogs, as well as posts for other shelters.
The popularity of the breed often leads to us being asked if we have Labs available for adverts or PR strategies. We’re very proud that one of our rescue pups is the new Baby Soft Labrador. We also had a rescue star in the Pieter Toerien theatre production, “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time”.
Why are so many Labradors in need of new homes?
On average, LRSA rehomes between five to 10 dogs each week, or over 500 per year. This number is increasing as more dogs are looking for homes due to changes in family circumstances such as divorce, job loss, illness, retirement, emigration or economic restraints forcing people to downscale.
Labradors are consistently voted the most popular breed in the world, but often people don’t research the breed before getting a puppy and then find they cannot cope with an untrained, boisterous, landscaping, chewing, demolition machine.
People want a cute little Lab puppy “like in the toilet paper advert”, and they see the stunning dog leading and assisting a visually impaired person, and then think that this miraculously happens.
Also, Labradors are known to be fantastic family dogs and are great with children. So they’re often the first choice for a young family that doesn’t necessarily have the time or experience to train what is, essentially, a working breed. Labradors need training, lots of it. They’re very intelligent dogs and very high-energy, so if that energy isn’t channelled… big problems!
And they shed. They seriously shed hair (or “magic fibres of love and light”, as we like to call it), which not everyone will tolerate.
Very often we advise a young family not to get a puppy but rather an older dog which is used to children and has learnt how to behave around children so as to minimise the knocking over of toddlers, snatching of food from little hands and chewing all toys left within reach. We seldom get purebred puppies at LRSA, but we do often get Lab-mix pups and young dogs. It goes without saying that we have a strict set of rules when it comes to selecting homes for puppies.
The cost of rehoming
We do request an adoption fee to try and cover the costs of sterilisation, vaccinations and other costs incurred. The adoption fee is higher for puppies as there are generally more vet costs with young dogs. All our dogs are vet checked, vaccinated and sterilised before going to their new homes, if this has not already been done. A number of vets countrywide support us with special rescue rates, but we are battling financially and often donations from present and new owners aren’t enough to cover these costs.
LRSA doesn’t have its own kennels and has to rely on a few special kennels that give us reduced rates when they can, but, even so, kennelling is expensive but necessary when we have to find a safe space for dogs that cannot stay in their homes until rehomed.
Some of these dogs have been abandoned, neglected, abused or need some rehabilitation work before finding a new home. We have a number of qualified behaviourists who work at the kennels and who offer special rates to help dogs become more re-homeable or those with problems settling into their new families.
During the lockdown period, it was really difficult to rehome dogs and our kennel bills where sky high, as we were still taking in dogs that had nowhere to go. Thankfully, we’re now able to rehome dogs and are trying to get as many dogs as possible settled in their new homes.
How you can help Labradors in need
We’re completely reliant on donations and volunteers. All money donated is used to care for our rescue dogs. None of our volunteers receives any compensation for their time or expenses.
LRSA desperately needs more special people to offer foster homes, or help with home checks, admin or transport. If you’re not able to help with your time, please consider making a donation, preferably on a monthly debit order basis, to help us have a predictable fund base to cover costs and allow us to plan ahead rather than operating on a “wing-and-a-prayer” system.
Right now, our future is in jeopardy as our monthly expenses often exceed our income, so we appeal to all our supporters to help us keep this work going and help us save as many dogs as we can.
We’re also always looking for fundraising opportunities and at the moment are selling facemasks and buffs to raise some much-needed funds. We’re in the process of establishing an online store.
Please see details and updates on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Labrador-Rescue-South-Africa-272787116094225/
Should you wish to sponsor, donate or offer any services to LRSA, please contact Ashli Smukler on ashli@labrescue.org.za or 064 659 7464.
Our banking details are as follows:
Labrador Rescue SA
Standard Bank
Branch: Rivonia
Branch Code: 00 12 55
Account No: 22 00 26 610
