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All Retriever Friends (ARF)
is a Public Benefit Nonprofit Corporation (501 (c) (3) federal level tax
exemption) dedicated to the rescue and placement of all breeds of
retrievers. These most often include Labrador Retrievers, Golden
Retrievers, Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, Flat Coated Retrievers, Curly
Coated Retrievers, and some mixes of these breeds.
Retrievers, especially
Labrador Retrievers and Golden Retrievers, are some of the most popular
dogs in America today. Retrievers are a highly energetic,
enthusiastic, instinctive sporting breed that are characterized as being
loyal companions to people. Due to behavior, most retrievers fit
well into homes which include them in their family. Sadly, due to
these traits, there are many unscrupulous breeders who breed these dogs
excessively in order to make a profit. These breeders do not take
the time to find a proper home for the puppies nor do they take the
responsibility of ensuring that these puppies are spayed or neutered to
prevent pet overpopulation.
A retriever puppy is
one of the cutest things in the world…until he reaches a year and is
over 70 pounds and is still just a puppy! Retrievers maintain
their puppy temperament until 3 or 4 years of age, much beyond that
initial tiny puppy cuteness. Many families who take in a retriever
puppy are not prepared for the trials of that puppyhood period and give
up after the first year or two. That is why young retrievers form
a large percentage of the population of local animal shelters.
Our primary mission is
to take in those retrievers that have been abandoned or lost and help
place them into loving and caring homes. Many of these retrievers
suffer from emotional or physical effects of their abandonment or time
during which they were lost. We take these retrievers into our
lives and, whenever possible, our homes, and give them the love and
attention for which they are starving. We care for them, evaluate
them, and prepare them for their new lives with their new Forever
Families. We carefully screen all applying families, matching up a
dog and a family as best as possible. We support the families
post-adoption, always being there for a quick question or a more serious
problem. The retrievers that we take in are part of the ARF Family
for the rest of their lives, and we love them all for always.
Another big part of our
mission is to educate the general public regarding proper animal care.
All retrievers who are part of our family are spayed or neutered,
without exception. Too many wonderful animals are put to sleep
each day due to pet overpopulation. All retrievers who are part of
our family are microchipped so that they will always be able to come
back to our family if they were lost. We also offer to microchip
an adopting family’s other animals, as permanent identification is one
of the few ways that a shelter will always be able to return an animal.
We educate about the proper care and training of retrievers. We
strongly believe in humane training and do not consider any other
methods acceptable for our dogs.
When we are able, we also help to rehome
those retrievers for families that have the misfortune of having to give
up their dog. Unfortunately, due to the sheer volume of dogs out
there, we are not able to do this as often as we’d like. When we
are unable to help rehome the dogs ourselves, we direct the families to
other methods by which they may be able to rehome their pet.
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