Midnight #9 Black Labrador Retriever Female 1 Year Old ID#3684

Midnight #9 Black Labrador Retriever Female 1 Year Old ID#3684

Meet Midnight, a precocious, sweet and happy 1 year old petite female labrador.  She began her life as part of a breeding operation which focused on breeding for small size, which is why she will only weigh about 40 pounds and about half the size of most American labs. She and her pack were rescued by a group of volunteers when it was discovered that the dogs were being neglected and Brookline was able to help out by fostering several of these “mini lab” sweethearts to find their forever homes.  She is now here in a Brookline foster home and on the road to health and happiness.  Once ready, Midnight will be placed with adopters and bring her sweet loving personality to her new family!  To learn more about her, please read this blog from the bottom up.

July 29, 2026

Midnight’s new life as a house pet continues to agree with her as she settles into her foster home’s routines and rhythms.  After a few weeks with us she is showing us that she feels safe and ready to express herself in new ways.

She still shows us the adorable, cute and cuddly side of her personality which is so easy to fall in love with. But as she has relaxed into her new lifestyle she has also turned up the level of puppy exuberance and mischief making quite a bit.  As an energetic 1 year old, none of this is unexpected behavior, but she has become quite a handful when she’s fired up.  We’re sure that she can learn to better channel her energy with good training and she will certainly grow out of her impulses to go over the top once she is with her forever family.  Those interested in adopting her should know that she’s going to have her moments and will need outlets for her excitement. Here’s a quick video of her chasing her tail:

And this is her new favorite thing to do when FM or FD are on the stairs and stop to play though the spindles:

As you can see she’s more than just a cuddly pretty face!

Another part of her personality which has emerged over the last few weeks is her noisy side.  She’s not shy about barking and generally making noise to celebrate a happy moment, entice her people or other dogs to play with her, or to register her displeasure with something she doesn’t want to do.  For example, now that she has had a taste of crate-free living, she gets pretty loud and cranky when we need to crate her.  This can also be improved with training, but it’s good for any potential adopters to know that she’s has a bark to go along with her play-bites (and we feel that she might not be a good fit in a home which shares walls with neighbors who wouldn’t find her quite so charming).

Puppies will be puppies, we suppose, and even when she’s not being a complete angel, she can still melt your heart with cuteness like this: Last weekend, Midnight attended the annual Brookline volunteer pool party and was a huge hit with all the BLRR friends she met.  There were 20 dogs in and out of the pool and just as many people enjoying the fun afternoon.  Midnight loved meeting all the dogs and the people and was very well behaved all day. When we first arrived she saw other dogs swimming and went to investigate. Unfortunately she didn’t quite understand how water works and she stepped off the pool deck and fell face first into the water then scrambled back to dry land.  She seemed to think that was enough swimming for her and didn’t want to go back in again. Even when FD tried to ease her into the water.  Her forever family can likely teach her to swim and we hope that will end up being something she enjoys. Up next is a trip to the Brookline Foster Field Day event on Saturday, 8/1, in Slatington, PA.  Please check out the BLRR social media feeds for details and come out to meet Midnight and many other wonderful adoptable dogs.  It’s going to be a great day and she can’t wait to meet you!

July 17, 2026

Cute and sweet little Midnight has now been in Brookline foster care for 4 weeks and continues to do very well as our house guest.  Now that she has learned all about life as a pet and is fully comfortable, she has been showing us more of her playful/mischievous/puppy side.  She’s a super energetic dog who loves to run and jump and play, so we’ve been doing our best to keep her well-exercised and engaged.  This petite little girl definitely knows how to enjoy life!

Last week we took advantage of a rare cool summer morning and took Midnight to a nearby hiking trail to see if she enjoys the Big Outdoors.  She was a natural on her hike and explored all the new sites and smells with her usual full speed ahead attitude.Along the way we got to a stream crossing and she waded right in to see what the water was like.  It wasn’t deep enough for a true swim, but we suspect she will enjoy playing in water if her forever family wants to take her swimming. She had the nice clear stream water all muddied up as she kicked up the silt, so after a bit of fun and before she got too dirty, we continued on our hike to let her dry off. When we got home Midnight got a rinse-off in the kiddie pool. And then she got a proper bath to wash off the stream.  She was a bit squirmier than was ideal, but FM and FD kept her still for a shampoo and rinse.  Towel off time was much more enjoyable than the actual bathing part of the adventure!

The big event of this week was a trip to the vet for Midnight’s spay surgery.  Everything went well and after one day of feeling confusingly wonky from the anesthesia, she was back to her usual playful self.  Like most dogs she was not a fan of the e-collar cone, but with the help of a surgery recovery suit which prevents her from reaching her sutures, she’s healing up successfully. Keeping her calm and quiet is certainly a challenge, but so far so good!

This is Midnight giving a little smile to tell you all that she’s feeling great and looking forward to meeting her forever family after she has fully recovered from surgery: She’s also very excited to attend the upcoming Brookline Foster Field Day on August 1st in Slatington PA where she will get to meet a bunch of other foster dogs as well as interested adopters.  Please check out the details for the event on the BLR social feeds and come out to meet her and all the other amazing foster dogs who are in search of their forever families!  She can’t wait to meet you!

July 6, 2026

Sweet and petite Midnight has been doing very well as a foster dog in our home.  The weather has been either super hot or rainy lately so we haven’t been adventuring out with her much.  However, that has allowed her to rest up and heal from a minor urinary tract infection, which is a common issue with many foster dogs who come to us from breeding operations.  She is an excellent patient and gobbles up her daily antibiotics (which are hidden inside a ball of American cheese – so no wonder she likes them!).  Her vet visit also revealed that she is up from 31 pounds to 35 and her bloodwork has improved across the board.  We will be planning her spay surgery next since her health has improved. As the hot weather rolled in we have filled the wading pool and Midnight enjoys dipping in and out.  The other day she checked out the sprinkler and seemed totally unfazed by the spray.

We mentioned previously that she loves to find sticks in the yard and chew them to bits.  Over the last 10 days she has showed us the she REALLY LOVES those sticks!  It seems like every trip outside includes at least one stick chomp.

The other thing that Midnight is devoted to is trying to get her older foster sister dogs to play with her.  Our resident lab Autumn is the most amenable to her frisky puppy powered playfulness and each day Midnight seems to make progress winning her over.  Autumn is a good sport and endures the affection, even if Midnight gets a little more rambunctious than preferred.  “What’s personal space?” seems to be Midnight’s frequent thought.

When playtime is over Midnight does settle down and relax.  She is brimming with puppy energy and freely shows you her playful side as a default setting, but nap time comes for everyone eventually and she has learned that downtime is nice too! She is doing great with her house training (we now trust her to sleep outside of her crate, which she appreciates) and is making progress learning the “sit” command.

Midnight is adjusting to life as a house pet easily and we’re confident she is going to be a wonderful addition to an adoptive home!

June 25, 2026

We have now had a full week with adorable Midnight in our home and she has been a delightful burst of sweetness and puppy energy which brightens up each day.

Her batteries rarely seem to run low so we have been keeping her busy.  She absolutely loves meeting people and dogs and has a terrific sociable personality which has allowed us to jump right into lots of activities out and about.

Last weekend we took her shopping at the Dogs And Cats Rule pet store and she won the hearts of everyone she met. The store manager was giving out doggie ice cream samples so Midnight got to taste her first Pup Cup!  She gobbled it down so quickly that she got a second helping. The next day she got to meet some new friends at the park and then we spent the beautiful day enjoying outdoor time in our yard.  Midnight enjoyed playing with some tennis balls, although it was more of a run-and-pounce game than a true game of fetch.  We’ll see if we can teach her to bring the balls back.

She is very curious about everything she encounters and when our nextdoor neighbors could be heard in their yard Midnight would race over to the fence to check them out .  Like we said earlier, she looooooves to meet people!

She is also curious about discovering new things around the house.  FD needed to get the garden hose out to water some grass seed and as he was dragging it out he suddenly the hose felt lighter. Midnight had picked it up and helped dragging it.  We got a quick video but had to take the hose away when she sat down to chew on it.  That’s not a chew toy, little girl!

It was a warm day so we brought out a bowl filled with ice cubes.  Our two resident dogs love to chomp on ice when it’s hot and Midnight loves it so much that she must’ve had a gallon of water in icy form.

Later in the day all that melted ice came back to haunt us when she had a potty accident inside the house.  Poor girl simply had too much liquid and we didn’t give her enough trips outside to relieve herself.  We take the blame and the good news is she hasn’t had any accidents since.  We’re close to giving her the official Housetrained seal of approval!

While we are teaching her that garden hoses are not chew toys, Midnight has discovered the assortment of Nylabone hard chew toys around the house.  She now spends plenty of time

chewing on them, which is great to help her clean the tartar build up off her teeth.  Her adoptive family will have to stock up on chew toys for sure!

Our biggest adventure of the week was a trip to see the Trenton Thunder baseball game at their “Bark In The Park” event.  Midnight had an absolute blast exploring the stadium, meeting people and the other dogs who were out for an evening at the diamond.

She got to meet the team mascot Boomer and even a huge bombastic bird costume didn’t intimidate her!

After the game got started Midnight watched the action from FM’s lap and behaved perfectly.

The Trenton Thunder are famous for their golden retriever “bat dogs” who fetch the players’ bats and carry them back to the dugout after they hit the ball.  One of them, Rookie, was celebrating his retirement and his son, Dash is taking over the family business.  As we were heading out, Rookie and Dash came around the corner and Midnight got to meet them!  What a thrill!  Her first doggie celebrity encounter! We met lots of people who showed interest in Midnight and in Brookline so it was a good thing that we remembered to bring the QR code laminate that one of our fellow Brookline volunteers created.  Wveryone was able to scan it and have instant access to the website to learn all about our fosters and the adoption process.  Hopefully we might get some new adopters from the night out!

June 21, 2026

Sweet little Midnight has been through many changes and experienced several new places over the last few weeks but she has handled all that change with a pep in her step and a happy, friendly affectionate personality.  She greeted her new Foster Mom (FM) and Foster Dad (FD) with loads of kisses and a wagging tail.  We boosted her into the car and she rode home with FM cuddling her in the back seat. Upon arrival at her new home, Midnight explored the backyard and found the water bowl for a refresher. We then introduced her to Ruby and Autumn, our resident dogs.  Everyone seemed to be best friends from the jump and Midnight behaved very well with these new friends. It was warm that day and Midnight showed some interest in the wading pool to cool off.  There was no actual “swimming” yet but plenty of hopping in and out of the water with Autumn.

She found a couple of sticks to chew and showed us how cute and photogenic she looks lounging in the grass. After some fresh air (and many friendly kisses from this tiny pup), we brought Midnight inside and gave her a tour of the house.  We were very happy to see her confidently cruise around the house, including up and down the stairs as if she had been doing it her whole life.  She has a perfect record so far with avoiding any potty accidents indoors and is quickly earning our trust with her good behavior.

At night she is sleeping in a crate in our bedroom and sleeps soundly without a peep until we get up in the morning.  We head right outside for a bathroom break first thing and then it’s time to eat… and boy does she love to eat!  We will be feeding her generous servings with the goal of helping her get to her healthiest weight and she gobbles her kibble with abandon.  After seeing that over-enthusiasm chomping her food we’re now trying a few different types of slow feeders bowls to keep her from overdoing it.

On day 2 we tried another car ride to visit the vet.  Midnight needed a boost into the backseat since she’s still a bit unsure of the car, but once we got her in she rode in the back seat all by herself like a perfect little lady. At the vet she wowed everyone with her adorable cuteness and the staff even asked us if they could take her for a tour of the office so all the employees could meet her.  She wagged her way around the facility and we think she may have even inspired a little “love at first sight” along the way! Health-wise her blood work shows a few slightly abnormal levels but those are probably due to the malnutrition which is now being addressed.  She tipped the scales at 31.4 pounds (which is 0.9 pounds above where she was just 4 days prior!) and our vet felt she should eventually weigh 40 to 45 pounds once she fills out her petite little frame.  Her wavy coat is hiding it well, but she is very skinny.  We will work on her nutrition for a bit and then recheck her blood work before considering timing for her spay surgery.

We also discussed her age with our vet.  The original rescue group were told that she was about 10 months old, but when examining her teeth, it seems likely that she is over a year in age.  We’re be calling her a one year old since we don’t have an exact record of her age.

After the vet visit she got some napping done and seems to already be perfectly comfortable and happy in our home.  She is as adorable asleep as she is awake, in our opinion. Midnight hung out with FD while he was preparing dinner and entertained herself by stealing dish towels and playing with a Kong.

After another peaceful night sleeping soundly in the crate, we took Midnight and her foster sisters for a leash walk around the neighborhood.  This might be a new experience for her (it did take a long time to complete our usual route since we had to stop so she could smell every telephone poll in town) but she was confident and responsive on the leash and approached the new sites, sounds and smells with a spirit of happy adventure.  She’ll definitely be a great dog to take on a walk! Midnight is off to a wonderful start as a Brookline foster dog.  We’ll be updating this blog often to share the cuteness with all her fans as we prepare her for life in her forever home.  See you back here soon!