BOULDER - Pets' lives get tangled in those of "their humans."

That's the way Lynley Nichol has seen things - even before this week, when she adopted a 9-year-old black Labrador retriever taken from a Lafayette home closed off for a homicide investigation.

After police found Linda Damm's body in the home late last month and arrested the woman's 15-year-old daughter - along with three other teens - they took her three dogs to the humane society.

One of Damm's Labradors and her golden retriever are living together in a foster home, overseen by a rescue group, a spokeswoman for the Humane Society of Boulder Valley said.

Nichol, on Sunday, went to the humane society and adopted Sparky, Damm's other Lab. Nichol was once friends with Damm but lost touch with her years before the grisly homicide.

Nichol runs a llama rescue in Longmont, where she has taken in all kinds of animals, some whose past lives were interrupted when their guardians divorced, or died, or, for whatever reason, were no longer capable of caring for them.

"There's always room for one more, if you can take care of them," Nichol said.

At her home in Longmont, "it's like doggy Disneyland," said the woman whose voice sometimes slips into baby talk when her newest pet is nearby. Sparky, she said, who is getting acquainted with the llama farm, is curious about the snakes and lizards and has come face to face with donkeys and cats.

The dog, Nichol said, was well-fed, evidenced by its pudgy 90-pound body. He splashes in his water bowl, a messy habit made bearable by the fact that Labs are water dogs, she said. And since she brought him home from the humane society, Sparky's been sticking by her side, Nichol said.

She said she believes the gentle behavior of her new pet is a mirror of her once long-lost - now forever lost - friend, whom she knew back then as Linda Juergens.

Back in the 1980s - before Damm was pregnant with Tess, who would be her only daughter - Nichol worked with her at Rocky Flats. They had a biker-girl bond, both of them owning Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

"She was a good person, and she adored this dog," Nichol said. "He's happy. He's healthy. He's goofy. He is a heart wrapped in fur. Only a good person can turn a dog into such a sweetheart."

The Humane Society of Boulder Valley originally took in all of Damm's dogs, said Lisa Pedersen, the shelter's director of development. The humane society's clinic did a biopsy on Damm's golden retriever, Tasha, removing a lump after discovering the animal had mouth cancer, Pedersen said.

A dog-rescue group then adopted the golden retriever and the other Labrador, Buddy, Pedersen said, which was seen as a best-case scenario for the older dogs because they are now living together in a foster home and Tasha can receive the medical attention she needs.

About once a month, the humane society becomes peripherally involved in a police case in which the animal's guardian is arrested or becomes a victim, Pedersen said.

Pedersen said the humane society works with the guardian - or surviving family members - to make "secure arrangements for their pets."