We incur significant expenses in paying shelter redemption fees, veterinary fees, transportation costs, occasional behavioral evaluation fees, and so on, so we ask for an adoption fee for each dog. While some dogs cost less, others cost far more. If we are ever so fortunate to wind up with a surplus of funds on a given dog, those funds automatically go towards rescuing another dog or help offset expenses of existing dogs.

Unless there are special circumstance involving health, there are absolutely no refunds of adoption fees to an adopter if the dog is returned to us for any reason.

Dogs may have potty accidents, bark,  jump, counter surf, chew or require a lot of exercise simply because they are dogs. We ask that you consider what is involved with dog ownership before you adopt a dog. No dog is perfect and even the most mild tempered, obedient and trained dogs create stress in the home initially. This is all part of welcoming a new dog into your life. It is a serious commitment and one that should be exhaustively explored before making. It is therefore very important that the adopter feels that they can commit to the dog they adopt and work with that dog through the myriad training issues that came with any dog that is rescued.

Please do not adopt a dog if you are not prepared to commit to working with that dog. We hope that our no-refund policy will encourage adopters to more seriously consider their decision and will avoid the needless stress a dog must endure when it goes to an adopter and is returned. This is not easy for any rescue dog and our no-refund policy allows us to help adopters avoid creating this kind of stress for a dog in need.

While the fees to adopt a rescued Labrador retriever may be higher that those for a backyard breeder, these fees are significantly lower than the cost of a reputably properly bred dog and serve to promote the rescue of other Labrador Retrievers. Additionally back yard bred dogs tend to develop illnesses and behavioral problems not common in dogs purchased from reputable breeders. Please do not purchase a back yard bred dog or a dog from a pet store. Pet stores only carry puppy mill dogs. These dogs are often sick and purchasing one of these dogs contributes to the cruelty and neglect rampant in puppy mills across the country.

We hope adopters will understand that their adoption fee is not the purchase price for their adopted dog, but rather the fee for the service we provide. That fee is used to care for all of our rescue dogs and not in any way a reflection of our costs related to the animal adopted nor to any specific animal. All proceeds go directly to the care of our rescues Labradors.

To cover expenses, Indi Lab Rescue requires a donation at the time of adopion of:


$450 Baby puppies under 6 months (very young puppies require a spay neuter deposit of $150 which is refunded upon receipt of a spay/neuter certificate. Spay and neuter of young puppies is the financial responsibility of the adopter

$400 Puppies 6 months to 1 year

$350  Dogs 1-4 years

$325  Dogs 5-7 years

$250  Dogs over 7 years

(fee includes DHLPP and Rabies and spay/neuter for dogs over 6 months of age. Spay and neuter of all puppies is the adopter's responsibility and proof of spay and neuter of all puppies must be shown to ILRR within the specified time frame.) Fee usually includes a microchip. If a microchip is not implanted at the time of adoption, doing so is the adopters responsibility and a chip must be implanted withint 2 weeks of adoption at the adopter's expense. The adopter must provide the chip number to ILRR at that time.