Meet Kate!
This adorable reddish-colored Lab was bred for hunting but after her original owner was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, she was returned to her breeder. When SDF recruiter Kirsten Fulk was called and evaluated her, it was clear that Kate had great potential as a Search Dog!
Unfortunately, after entering training, Kate began to show signs of digestion issues and following medical evaluation and testing, she was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome. This diagnosis meant that SDF’s canine care team could treat her symptoms and get her feeling much better but it meant the end of her career as a Search Dog candidate.
As part of our Lifetime Care promise to every dog who enters our program, we vow to care for each dog for the remainder of her life and find a different suitable career field or a loving home. Due to Kate’s medical condition, she was not able to transfer to a different working career, but there was a perfect home waiting for her… not too far away from SDF’s training center.
SDF Executive Assistant Serenity Nichols and her family had been looking for a family pet and when Kate was dropped from training, it seemed like perfect timing. After visiting the Nichols’ home, Kate was immediately part of the family and fit right in, just in time for the holidays!
An update from Serenity:
“Here are Austyn’s actual words when she opened up her last gift on Christmas – a note from Kate with an engraved dog tag with Kate’s name and our family’s name and info – ‘We really get to keep Kate – this is the best Christmas ever!’”
Meet Atticus!
When Atticus’ previous Northern California owner was no longer able to keep him, he advertised the energetic Lab online as available to a good home. Sacramento firefighters took a shot and brought the happy guy down to be officially evaluated by SDF’s trainers. Unfortunately, Atticus did not pass the medical evaluation required to make sure a dog is physically fit enough for this line of work. To ensure that Atticus would not end up in a shelter, SDF began to take the steps necessary to get Atticus as healthy as possible and find him a loving “fur-ever” family.
Now, he hasn’t lost any of his energy but he now directs it to swimming every day in his new pool and playing fetch with his new family, the Johnsons. Sometimes they even combine the two activities and Atticus leaps after the ball, landing in the pool!
But don’t think it’s all fun and games, Atticus’ new, very important job is to bring his new dad his shoes every morning – first one, then he goes back and finds the matching shoe to be sure he is coordinated and ready for his day! Good boy, Atticus!