Chances are you’ve seen a woman walking in Rye Town Park or along Forest Avenue with an “ADOPT ME”-vested Labrador retriever on her leash and a smile on her face.
Chances are you’ve seen a woman walking in Rye Town Park or along Forest Avenue with an “ADOPT ME”-vested Labrador retriever on her leash and a smile on her face. Rye resident Angela Kretzschmar has been rescuing and fostering dogs for more than four years and she has helped find quite a few homes for her fosters right here in town.
When Angela and her husband Dan’s beloved rescue dog Max passed away after 13 wonderful years, Angela knew she wanted to do more for homeless dogs, so she became involved with both North Shore Animal League and Pet Rescue of Larchmont. But when she saw a list of dogs in need of a foster home by the rescue organization Labs4Rescue, she was hooked. Angela had a special fondness for Labs, since her amazing Max was a Lab mix.
She told us, “It was a good time to foster because there was no way I could ever, ever get attached to another dog that quickly after Max died.” But of course, and of absolutely no surprise to her family and friends, when an adoption application came through two weeks later for the dog she was fostering, she burst into tears,
re-named the dog Roux and became what is known in the rescue world as a “foster fail.” Roux just turned 5.
Roux was the first of eleven fosters, all through Labs4Rescue, which brings labs up from the South and finds them homes in the Northeast. Each week Labs4Rescue sends a list of dogs coming up on transport that need homes – many of these dogs are puppies, many are purebred Labs. They all need love and a home, and Angela gives them that while they wait to find their forever home.
Fostering takes a lot of heart, and can be hard work. Sometimes a puppy or younger dog has never lived inside a home and the foster has to help train the dog. Other times the dog might be older and just needs a safe and warm place to rest before moving on to his permanent home. While the workload varies from dog to dog, what is the same is the incredible sense that you are making a difference in that dog’s world – helping it on its way to a happy life. And that’s what motivates Angela to continue fostering. It is deeply rewarding.
Angela cries every time a foster dog moves on to his permanent home and stays in touch with adopting families. It’s a strong bond and sometimes such a close one that Angela will “dog sit” for the adopters if they go out of town (as she recently did for a dog named Sadie whom she fostered last summer).
One of Angela’s favorite rescue stories happened when she was walking in downtown Rye with her “ADOPT ME” foster and a man stopped her to ask about the dog, having fallen in love on the spot. When she sees them together at Playland Beach, that former foster dog runs up to her every time to say hello and perhaps say “thank you.”
As always, send your rescue stories to RyeRescues@gmail.com.
