Three boys, two girls, and an incredible team of lifesavers!
When five puppies needed help at the Carson shelter, Molly and Old Blue Inc. stepped in to cover their veterinary care, and our extraordinary foster, Teri, opened her home once again.
All five puppies tested negative for parvo, received veterinary care, and are now safe, happy, and enjoying puppy life.
This week, we’re celebrating Cathy, whose journey from volunteer dog walker to dedicated foster and event volunteer reminds us that one small YES can change countless lives.
Sometimes rescue begins with something incredibly simple: someone saying yes.
Yes, I’ll foster him. Yes, we’ll make room for them. Yes, I’ll keep sharing her story. Yes, I’ll bring him home.
Here’s what happened this week. 💗🐾
This week at Labradors + Friends, those yeses showed up everywhere—from a 10-year-old dog who needed somewhere to go, to two tiny puppies who made it safely into rescue, to a long-awaited Happy Tail and a volunteer whose commitment to LAF didn’t end when she moved out of state.
And one very special Rainbow Bridge story reminded us just how much life can fit between that first yes and a final goodbye.
Plus, we’re celebrating an incredible Pulls for Pups fundraiser, sharing new ways to join us at upcoming events, and asking for more foster homes so we can keep saying yes when the next dog needs us.
There are some dogs whose stories stay with you long after they leave rescue.
Apple was one of them.
In 2015, Apple was barely a year old and sitting on death row at the Baldwin Park Shelter. She was a 46-pound black dog with one blue eye, one brown eye, and an old injury to one of them. She had been passed over, sitting in her kennel waiting for someone to notice the sweet, gentle girl inside.
We noticed.
Labradors and Friends said yes.
And for me, Apple’s story has always been a little more personal.
I was the volunteer who pulled Apple from the shelter. I spent time with her before she became a Toliver, and over the years I had the privilege of spending time with Nicole, her family, and the dog who had once needed us to give her a chance.
So when Nicole recently told me they had lost Apple, this one hit hard.
Because I remembered the young dog we rescued.
And I knew just how extraordinary the life waiting for her would become.
From Shelter Dog to Family
On March 17, 2015, Apple went home.
Nicole remembers that young girl perfectly:
“One blue eye and one brown… a love propeller that wouldn’t stop… that shiny black coat and the velvet bat ears.”
What began as a rescue quickly became something much bigger.
Apple became family.
The Toliver daughters grew up with her beside them. There were cuddles and swimming, homework sessions, dress-up and dancing. Apple joined them on family adventures and was there through the ordinary days that, looking back, become some of the ones we treasure most.
Nicole’s favorite memory of Apple is beautifully simple:
“Coming through a door and being greeted by her.”
Anyone who has loved a dog for a lifetime understands exactly why that can be the thing you miss most.
She Knew What It Meant to Welcome Someone In
Apple’s rescue story didn’t end when she was adopted.
Over the years, the Tolivers opened their home to foster puppies, too.
And Apple—the dog who once sat in a shelter waiting for someone to make room for her—became part of welcoming other dogs who needed somewhere safe to land.
Nicole remembers watching Apple with those fosters and seeing a side of her that she didn’t share with everyone.
“Seeing her with fosters and how she loved!!! That wasn’t anything she shared with many…”
There is something especially beautiful about that circle.
Someone saved Apple.
Apple found her family.
And then Apple helped other dogs along their own journeys home.
Quietly, Gently and Fiercely
Nicole describes Apple as a dog who “loved quietly, gently and never let you doubt where you stand in her circle of trust.”
She also protected fiercely.
“She was always where she was needed and more.”
And when Apple needed her family, they were there for her, too.
Over the years, she faced several medical challenges, including ongoing eye care, two eye surgeries, and surgeries on both knees. None of it was easy for her.
But her family surrounded her through every recovery—day and night.
Nicole says Apple answered all of it “with a grateful heart.”
That’s what family does.
Until We Meet Again
On September 17, more than eleven years after Apple first walked into the Tolivers’ lives, they had to say goodbye to their Ladybug.
Nicole shared a beautiful vision of where she hopes Apple’s next journey has taken her:
Chuckit! balls. Endless grilled salmon. Sir Matty, Mr. Bean, Monty, Sugar, Frankie, Delta Chance—and a comfy resting place in a corner with a view.
Until they meet again. ❤️
Nicole began her tribute with something that will resonate with anyone who has ever truly loved a dog:
“If you say it was just a dog…”
Apple was never just a dog.
She was the puppy pulled from a shelter.
She was a little girl’s best friend.
She was a protector.
She was a patient.
She was a traveling companion.
She was a foster sister.
She was the familiar face waiting when someone walked through the door.
She was family.
And perhaps that’s one of the greatest gifts of rescue: we may be there at the beginning, when a dog desperately needs someone to say yes, but sometimes we’re lucky enough to watch what happens afterward.
I pulled Apple from the shelter in 2015.
The Tolivers gave her the life we hoped was waiting for her.
And for the rest of her life, Apple never had to wonder whether she was loved.
Rest easy, Ladybug Apple. 🌈🐾❤️
With love to Nicole Toliver and family, and with gratitude to everyone who was part of Apple’s life—her veterinary team, trainers, dog sitters, fosters, volunteers, and the entire rescue family who loved her along the way.
Some rescue stories take you through fear, uncertainty, and a lot of waiting before you finally get to write the words you’ve been hoping for.
Tara is home. ❤️
When we first shared Tara’s story, she was a confiscation case who had already endured too much. After months in the shelter, she was red-listed and running out of time.
On August 26, Tara became a Labradors and Friends dog. That was the beginning of her next chapter—but it wasn’t the ending.
Today, we finally get to share the ending we wanted for her: Tara has been adopted.
Tara’s journey has been one we’ve shared from the beginning. If you’re just meeting her, you can follow her story here:
Once Tara was safe, she headed into foster care, where she finally had a chance to settle in and show everyone who she really was.
And Tara began to shine.
She loved everyone she met. She was house-trained, good on the leash, and quickly showed us what a friendly, happy girl had been waiting underneath all that uncertainty.
Meanwhile, another kind of waiting had been happening.
Tara’s future adopters had submitted an application with Labradors and Friends back in February. Friends of longtime LAF adopter Terry Deacon, they weren’t looking to rush the process. They were simply waiting for the right dog to come along.
When we got to know Tara better, we started to wonder if she might be that dog.
The Meet & Greet That Changed Everything
After Fran began fostering Tara, she took her over to meet the family. And because the grandkids were there too, it gave everyone the perfect opportunity to see how Tara would do with children.
Tara passed the family test. ❤️
What started as a meet-and-greet became the beginning of Tara’s forever.
This Is What Home Looks Like ❤️
Tara isn’t just settling in—she’s embracing her new life.
Her family recently took her to a birthday celebration at Lazy Dog in Orange, where she did great. She’s happily meeting extended family, friends, and neighbors, greeting new people with a wagging tail.
And after her walks? Backyard zoomies. 😂
She loves meeting the neighbors while she’s out walking and seems very happy to make new friends wherever she goes.
From a confiscation case, to months in a shelter, to a foster home where she could finally exhale, Tara’s journey took time.
But somewhere else, a family was waiting too.
They were waiting for the right dog. Tara was waiting for the right family.
Sometimes rescue takes a village. And this week, we saw exactly what that means. ❤️
Bob needed a village to help him fight pneumonia. Harold and Maizy needed a chain of people willing to say yes. More new faces arrived needing their own second chances, while Fremont and Mimi reminded us what can happen when those chances are given.
And at the Rainbow Bridge, we honor Grandpa Cody—a senior boy who found safety, family, and so much love, and who did it all his way. 🌈❤️
And through it all, one thing remained true: rescue is never just one person or one organization. It’s a community coming together for dogs who need someone in their corner.
