Chardonnay Yellow Labrador Retriever Female 4 Years Old ID #3804

Chardonnay Yellow Labrador Retriever Female 4 Years Old ID #3804

Meet beautiful Chardonnay! She is a former breeder momma who is looking for a special home to spend her retirement. Chardonnay is 4 years old and a gorgeous dark yellow color.

August 23, 2026

We have some wonderful updates on Chardonnay!

Her recovery from her spay surgery went smoothly – as you can see from the picture below; she was quite relaxed with her recovery suit half on and belly out 😂.

Char reached a massive milestone: she is now going for walks. Up until 2-3 days ago, she wasn’t even interested in venturing down the driveway. Then one day FD was leaving on a walk with the resident dogs and I had Char on leash to try to get her out in the front yard for a little and she just kept following FD and the resident dogs down the street. I guess she just decided she was ready!  For two days, she closely followed her resident dog siblings on short walks around the block. She would get a bit nervous with a slightly tucked tail when cars or people passed, but we simply stopped and reassured her as she watched the cars/people pass before safely continuing on. Today I wanted to get a video to post to her blog, FD was filming us when I decided to try to continue our walk without the resident dogs. Char and I ended up walking about a mile around the neighborhood. We saw people, dogs, someone with a noisy trimmer, and a few cars. Char was definitely better with the cars coming toward us but still stops when she hears them behind us. Char was amazing – no resident dogs needed!

Aside from this huge brave step, Char continues to absolutely ace most aspects of her retired life. She is sleeping through the night, eating well, playing happily with the other dogs, showering her foster parents with affection, happy to be back splashing in the pool, and an absolute superstar with her house-training. She has discovered a love of frozen peanut butter Kongs and is taking treats from FD enthusiastically.

We will continue to work on walks in the neighborhood and exposure to the big wild world as we look for the right match for her. Char will need a confident resident dog, a fenced yard, and a quieter home. She will also need a patient family to help her when meeting new people and who are willing to slowly introduce her to her new life.

August 15, 2026

Beautiful Chardonnay is continuing to embrace her new life off the farm and is making wonderful progress every day. She is becoming much more comfortable inside the house (she started chewing on bones ☺️) and is eating well. At night, she sleeps soundly in her crate in our bedroom. When we are away from home during the day, she stays safely and happily confined to the laundry room with the resident dog, Kota. Here is a peak at them home alone from the security camera:

Although Chardonnay’s sweet personality is shining through, she has a few fears she is working to overcome. She is still a bit unsure about foster dad when he comes home from work or into a room after he has been gone for a while. She barks, but quickly warms up to him for snuggles and treats. We have had a few visitors lately – human and canine. Chardonnay has been fine with the visiting dogs, but new people make her nervous. She shows her anxiety by barking, but if given a little time, she eventually warms up. We had avoided having guests over at first to let her acclimate, so this is a new experience for her. We will continue to expose her to more people in the days to come without overwhelming her.

If there is one thing Chardonnay absolutely loves, it is water! She seems to feel most comfortable when she is splashing around in the baby pool or the splash pad. Check out this incredibly cute video of her playing in the splash pad:

Unfortunately, Char will be taking a mandatory break from the water for the next two weeks to recover from her spay surgery. Her surgery went very well, and she is now officially retired from the puppy business!

We are so proud of how much her confidence has grown. She did an amazing job walking right into the vet’s office for her surgery—a massive improvement from her last visit! However, when it was time to pick her up, Char decided she wasn’t quite ready to walk. She refused to get up, earning herself the royal treatment: the vet techs wheeled her out to the car on a gurney like the true princess she is!

After her recovery, Char will be ready to start looking for her forever home! Could Chardonnay be the right dog for you?

August 1, 2026

Chardonnay continues to settle in and is coming out of her shell more every day—we love to see her true personality shine through. She loves hanging out on the sofa and is always happy to cuddle.

Chardonnay is eating and sleeping well. We started leash training in the yard. While she is fine being on the leash, she really does not understand what she is supposed to do yet. We did, however, manage to walk around the house on a leash and into the vet’s office. We will continue working on this at her own pace.

Chardonnay was a model patient at the vet. Although she was a bit scared, she enjoyed the attention that the staff gave her. She is in great health and is scheduled to be spayed in mid-August.

We made a minor adjustment to her routine this week. After she staged a successful breakout from her downstairs crate, we moved her to a crate in our bedroom at night. She is sleeping well there. When we leave the house, she hangs out in the laundry room with our younger resident dog. They are doing great together. We believe Chardonnay will do best in a home with another dog she can learn from and feel safe around.

Speaking of other dogs, Chardonnay has officially started playing with our resident dogs. It is incredibly sweet to watch—please enjoy a few clips of their playtime:

Finally, in true Lab fashion, Chardonnay discovered her absolute favorite thing: water. We set up a baby pool, and she immediately started splashing around. You can see how much fun she is having here:

She is such a joy, and watching her confidence grow has been the best reward. Stay tuned for more updates!

July 26, 2026

What a difference a few days makes! Chardonnay continues to be a quiet house guest and still prefers the safety of her crate; however, she is starting to explore the house a little more each day.

She no longer needs to be coaxed and leashed to go outside; she follows foster mom right out the back door and promptly does her business. She follows FM around the backyard but is starting to explore further and further away before she runs back to FM to check in.

We introduced each of the resident dogs to Char separately, and everything went well. We had no issues or growling, and the pups are peacefully coexisting with each other outside and around the house. Char is definitely more interested in FM than the other dogs, and she is still a little nervous about FD. He is tall and scary, but when he sits down, she will approach him cautiously and allow him to pet her—this is getting better each day.

Char continues to eat well and sleep through the night in her crate. Today she followed FM and the other dogs upstairs and down again. She was cautious, but she has clearly done steps before. Good job, Char!

Chardonnay is quickly getting attached to FM. Since our other foster dog was placed this morning, Char has moved into her spot as my assistant when I do my computer work. It was good to see her lay down outside the crate and relax.

Here is a video of her cute little personality starting to shine through:

July 24, 2026

Chardonnay entered foster care yesterday. She had already traveled 2 hours by car when we met her. After we got her in our car, she rode very well on the 40-minute drive back to our house. She just laid in the back seat still and quiet—she had had a long day by that point. She was extremely nervous about the move from her only known life to two different cars to a strange house with 3 other dogs.

Once she was out of the car, she let me guide her by leash to her crate inside. She stayed there for the rest of the day and slept through the night without a peep. She is eating fine as long as I mix some canned food in with the dry, and she will take high-value treats from my hand. She is very shut down and needs some time to decompress. She did grumble at the resident dogs when they got too close to her crate initially, so we gated off a bigger area for her and are keeping our dogs further away to allow her the space she needs right now. She was reported to do well with other dogs on the farm, and the grumbling is not something that concerns us.

Chardonnay will allow me to sit with her and seems to enjoy being petted. She is very sweet and gentle. She just seems unsure of her new environment, which is completely understandable. She will come around once she gains some trust in us and confidence in herself. Stay tuned!