Los Alamos Friends of Shelter and Companion Animals
Los Alamos, New Mexico
Since 1999, Los Alamos Friends of Shelter and Companion Animals LAFOSCA (Formerly Los Alamos Friends of the Shelter LAFOS) has provided canine and feline foster homes, funding for catastrophic animal medical care and our spay/neutering program.
The redefined focus of LAFOSCA is exclusively on assisting privately owned companion animals and their families and private rescue organizations, including groups such as NM Dog, Stray Hearts, Dew Paws Rescue, McKinley County Animal Rescue, and Otero County Animal Rescue and many, many more!
While we are unable to take in animals, assistance of information is provided in animal re-homing and adoptions.
Assistance provided to private rescue groups and privately
owned companion animals is the priority of LAFOSCA’s work.
Our work alongside shelters and rescue organizations of
Northern New Mexico will help reduce the population of
homeless and at-risk companion animals by providing
assistance directly.
What is the FOSCA Rescue Calendar?
The FOSCA Rescue Calendar is designed to celebrate those special adopted companions that come to brighten our lives, often bringing with them a unique personality formed out of a mysterious past with unknown origins and unfathomable experiences. The FOSCA Rescue Calendar will be available for sale from local merchants and by mail starting November 15, 2025.
Submission due by September 5, 2025
Example Entries:
Here are two examples of previous entries demonstrating quality photos and heartwarming stories that work well for the calendar.
Photo Entry Rules
Entry Eligibility:
Pet owners who have adopted a shelter animal or an abandoned or homeless animal are invited to send a photo and a brief story about their pet. Pet owners whose pets were featured in last year's calendar are welcome and encouraged to submit new photos of their pets for this year's calendar. In memoriam photos and stories are also welcomed.
Photo Submission:
Entries can be submitted online at https://calendar.lafos.org
Photo Formats:
Digital photos will be accepted in JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIFF or PICT formats, and should be at least 300dpi or more for clear quality.
Submission Content:
Tell us who’s in your picture?
Is it your unmanageable adopted dog that became the star pupil in obedience class? Your adopted cat that sleeps in the sink? Is it your pup that likes snacking on rose hips? Briefly (50 words or less) tell us about your pet’s special personality, unusual habits, unique experiences, or the story within this picture.
The winner of this year’s Dog Jog logo contest is Gracie Nichols, one of our youngest winners ever. This talented Pinon fourth grader produced a clever and imaginative drawing showing a free-spirited dog enjoying nature and the great outdoors. Her drawing will be the official logo for this year’s Dog Jog event and she will receive a free t-shirt featuring her artwork. The winners are chosen on the basis of artistic merit, creativity and originality.
The other young artists recognized this year include our 2nd
place winner, 3rd-grader Miller Gauss, and 3rd place for
Clara Nichols and 4th place for Riley Stark. Honorable
mentions go to entries from Heather Gauss, Aurora
Matzke-Rubio, Hudson Ayers, and Liesl Whitton, all talented
3 graders. We want to thank all of our young artists for their
talent and enthusiasm. We encourage the younger artists to
enter again in future years.
Here is a picture of young artist Gracie with her winning
design and assisted by her 2 - year-old Bernedoodle Rosie
At the August 8th, 2017 Los Alamos County Council meeting, Los Alamos Friends of the Shelter was presented a Notice of Special Recognition for all the work that has been accomplished since 1999.
(Double clicking on the image pulls up enlarged view)