TULSA, Okla. — "He was in pretty rough shape, had skin issues, was underweight, and had just basically been neglected."
Life wasn't kind to Snickers.
He was abandoned after the family he loved moved away and left him behind.
It's a problem Lab Rescue Oklahoma sees way too often.
"People will take a dog to the pound or surrender them when they start getting gray in the muzzles," said Vanessa Sanders, the Marketing Director with Lab Rescue.
Sanders said other labs are surrendered because of a medical need, a behavioral issue, or just dropped off at a shelter with no explanation.
"It's every kind of situation you can imagine," she said.
For more than 20 years, Lab Rescue and its volunteers have found homes for Labs. They're first checked out for medical conditions, then placed with foster families who pay nothing for medical bills and dog food.
Snickers was placed with Wayne Clements, who usually fosters hospice dogs.
"Hospice fosters are the ones who aren't going to be with us long and just kind of need a soft place to land," Clements said.
"They're dogs that are let's say 12 years old and aren't really likely to get adopted," Sanders said.
GALLERY: Lab Rescue Oklahoma connects labs with their forever family
But Snickers wasn't ready to die. Thanks to Clements and his wife, he fought his way back to health.
"Basically just give him a little TLC, some care, love on him, and show him what a good home was like," Clements said.
Now, Snickers is waiting on his forever home.
That's the goal of Lab Rescue - giving labs, young and old, the lives they deserve with a forever family. But they can't do it without volunteers.
It's something that gives Karna Williams purpose.
"I don't know what it is about fostering," said Williams, a volunteer at Lab Rescue. "It just makes me feel happy and useful."
Williams is fostering Aspen, an eight-year-old Lab who thinks she's two.
"It makes her so happy," Williams said. "She just wants to fetch all day long."
Because there's nothing more thankful than a dog who's been rescued. Just ask Snickers, who's now 30 pounds heavier and loving his new life.
"They're forever grateful," Clements said. "They know that once they land in this soft spot in their forever home, that they're there to stay and they're just so loyal.
To learn more, go to Lab Rescue Oklahoma's Facebook page.
Want positive news in your email every Friday? SIGN UP for our Positively Oklahoma newsletter.
