Towards the end of May, we were taking one of our dogs in to the vet for a procedure and as always, I looked on the bulletin board for any labs that were lost or needed homes. I saw a business card from a supposed "reputable" breeder that said FREE LABS. I was horrified that someone we are supposed to TRUST are doing the RIGHT thing with their dogs was just giving their dogs away.

    I immediately called right there in the vet office. The guy wasn't too pleasant to say the least, but we made arrangements to go meet him and the dogs. He had three available, but only brought out this sweet yellow girl. She was 7 years old, hadn't been fixed and you could tell by looking at her, was used as a puppy mill. We instantly agreed to take them. We went home, made arrangements and the next day, went to get them. The chocolate and the black REFUSED to come out of the pen. Poor things were beyond scared, as they had been locked out there for years, they wouldn't BUDGE. We tried going in, leashing them and coaxing them out, but they just messed all over themselves and pulled back. We physically could not get them out of the pen.

    Nikki was a different spirit though, she very happily and willingly came out. After much struggling, we had to leave. This girl has such a will to love and survive and you could see it from the first minute. Immediately we took her to bathe her and clean her up. On the way home, we stopped by my parents house, who currently had a yellow lab and 2 chihuahuas. They both were very set, that they would NOT be getting another dog, as they were at their max. Well, spending about 20 minutes with Nikki, my dad (Who can be a TOUGH cookie) asked if they could foster her. We very happily obliged and so we left her there. That week we took her to get her spayed and up to date on her shots. Our VERY wonderful vet not only spayed her, but also removed a lump in her front right shoulder, cleaned her teeth, cleaned her ear, where flies had began to eat away at it and gave her all her shots. We were so grateful for her taking the extra steps, but then we got her bill and almost cried. She had done most of that work for free. She is just amazing.

    So, after her vet day, we took her back to my parents house where she spent the next 3 days just hanging out and recovering with them. Saturday was our first Petsmart Adoption Day, so that morning, I went to go pick her up and my younger sister (17) just started CRYING. I felt awful, but I knew my parents were not wanting to keep another dog. Surprisingly, she called them (They were out of town) and after promising to clean up the dog poop once a week, they agreed to keep her! (Come to find out, my parents both had become equally attached to this sweet girl!)

    Since my sister is technically who "saved" her, I had her write the story on her experience with fostering/adopting Nikki.

    When Lisa brought home Nikki as a rescue, we were supposed to keep her for the week until she could take her to be adopted out.  We all fell in love with her.  She was so sweet and gentle. Towards the end of us having her, my parents were out of town and I was watching her. Nikki was supposed be picked up that Saturday.  I didn’t want her to leave, at ALL. So I called my parents and told them we just had to keep her. :)  My dad and mom loved her because they knew she was a good dog and deserved a great home but it was hard to have more dogs. Not much convincing later, they agreed. As long as I cleaned up the dog mess every Friday.  =)  So we kept her and we were both beyond happy. Since we’ve had her, her health/appearance has not only improved, she’s also opened up to us a lot as each day goes by, we see how happy she is. She runs and plays with the other dogs and gets to go on vacations to Utah almost every weekend.