Adopting a friend...

Margie is the contact in California who arranges all the adoptions of puppies and shipping from the southern states to the puppies new forever homes in California. If you would like to be considered for adopting one of the puppies listed here or for a puppy we may have in the future please send an email to carrelabs@yahoo.com and request an application.

The total costs of adopting one of the puppies generally is $225-$275, depending on the size of the puppy and how many we are shipping together in a crate. Little puppies of course are the least expensive to ship, with the bigger and older puppies costing more. C.A.R.R.E. is nonprofit, volunteer organization. This fee is calculated to recoup the money that we spend to prepare a dog for life on the West Coast.

The fee includes their vaccinations, sterilization if they are old enough to be neutered or spayed, and transportation. All puppies have received at least their first set of puppy shots, have been wormed, and are examined by a vet prior to being shipped to California. If the puppy is not old enough to be spayed or neutered you must be willing to sign an agreement stating you will do so by the time the puppy is 6 months old, otherwise the puppy must and will be returned to C.A.R.R.E. at the adopters cost.

Who We Are...

We specialize in the adoption of black Labradors. Shelters across the country report that big, black dogs have the lowest adoption rate (and, sadly, the highest euthanasia percentage). Please consider a black dogs because they have several advantages over lighter-colored canines:

--- BETTER PROTECTION. A black dog is 100 percent more intimidating to people than a light-colored dog of the same size.

--- EASIER TO ACCESSORIZE. Black dogs are attractive in a variety of bold (red, blue, purple, fuchsia, green, yellow, orange), neutral (black, white, gray, brown), and even pastel (lavender, rose, azure, peach) that are unflattering to light-colored dogs.

--- MORE INTELLIGENT. Black Labradors are more intelligent than their yellow or brown siblings, according to some experienced duck hunters and dog guardians. (These gentlemen will be pleased to share their opinions with you upon request.)

Why do Labs Need to be Rescued?

We are sometimes asked, "Why can't this puppy or dog find a family in Arkansas/Mississippi/Louisiana/Tennessee? What is wrong with him/her?"

The answer is that absolutely NOTHING is "wrong" with these lovely dogs. They were simply born in the wrong region! Labradors are not valued in the Southern states for four main reasons:

1) Spay/neuter laws are not strictly enforced (and many residents believe a dog loses his/her instinct and aptitude for hunting when they are sterilized.) The number of intact dogs is enormous, and many of them are allowed to run free and mate indiscriminately. These practices produce hundreds of Labradors and LabrAdorables (a breed created when a Labrador and another Adorable dog have a family).

Because Labradors are so numerous, dogs are discarded because they have small physical "flaws". Dogs are abandoned because they have a small white spot on their chest (which is allowed under the breed standard) or because their hair is slightly longer than many local dog fanciers prefer. Life in Arkansas is not easy for Labradors who do not meet the strict standards of local "experts".

2) Labrador females have large litters (10-12 puppies are not uncommon), and the number of deserving homes in the mid-South's small population is simply not adequate to accommodate all of the puppies.

3) Some Southerns hope to supplement their incomes by breeding and selling dogs. These "breeders" essentially operate small-scale puppy mills and refuse to acknowledge that the "demand" for their "product" is very low.

For example, one rural Arkansas woman recently decided to supplement her welfare payments by breeding Labradors. She traded some food stamps for the $10 adoption fee charged by the municipal shelter for a female Labrador. This woman already had a male dog chained in her front yard, so she expects this helpless female to produce numerous puppies. Economics 101 teaches that the outlook for profits is dim when "breeding stock" can be purchased for $10 at the local "dog pound", but she expects a good return on her "investment" in this new "business venture".

4) Some dogs lack the enthusiasm to plunge into icy waters after a hapless water fowl. The Labrador population booms in southern shelters when the duck hunting season ends as dogs with inadequate hunting skills are "surrendered".

Some Labradors do not get the opportunity to save their own lives by hunting. The operators of the small-scale puppy mills "liquidate" the dogs who were not purchased before the duck hunting season ends. Some of these breeders shoot their "excess inventory". Other breeders deliver these innocent dogs to local shelters where they have little chance for adoption (especially if they are black). Other unwanted dogs are simply abandoned in the countryside to fend for themselves.

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