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The Great Beagle Escape & Harriet's Adoption

Harriet's Story as told by Harriet's new mom, Melanie Portsche

This is our newest family member, Harriet. She is around 3 - 4 years old and was rescued just in time for Independence Day along with 119 other beagles and other animals from a laboratory in New Jersey. She'd lived her life being used for pharmaceutical and cosmetic testing. We are beyond grateful to all that were involved in her rescue - they brought us our amazing, little family member and we are certainly the lucky ones to know Harriet!

When Harriet first arrived in our home, she had no muscle tone and was very shut down. Both of her ears had been tattooed: one with a number and the other with perhaps company initials and we soon noticed that she was missing a small portion of her tongue. She had to learn everything as a puppy would, although she was very much an adult dog. She learned how to walk on a leash, go out, playing, commands like sit, stay, etc. The list goes on and on. Harriet took to her new challenges incredibly quickly and is always eager to learn more. We have had the great honor of watching her come out of her shell and become her true doggy self and this inspires my husband and I daily. She is a part of a family that includes 2 cats, has gone on her first vacation, loves her toys, has several canine friends and is ecstatic to begin each new day. She cannot contain her happiness when we awaken and always greets us with lots of tail wagging and happy wiggling. Her happiness is contagious and we smile more every day because of her!

People stop us on the street to meet Harriet. Her soulful eyes and kind energy seem to draw people to meet her. Words cannot describe how this little beagle enriches our lives and those she meets - she is truly an inspiration and we are so glad she is a part of our family!

We need to get everyone's name picture. But, blue shirt is Mickie Roman, above is Cathy Schmidt and Puddy, and of course here is Harriet & Melanie plus Juno & Kate. So cute!

Here is a video from the Freegle Reunion ! One Freegle came all the way from Canada!

Have you heard about little Puddy, Harriet’s buddy and our good friend? Puddy is another beagle from a large family of Freegles, all who were bred at Marshall Laboratories to be sold for use as part of laboratory-related research and experimentation. As you can see, Puddy looks a little like Harriet. We wonder if they may even be siblings, cousins, family of some sort... it's possible since they were bred at Marshall. We're happy to report that at the first freegle reunion, pictured above, Puddy met Harriet officially for the very first time. The beagles were introduced to each other casually in a picnic setting of the beautiful Rockland County Park this past July, 2011. Any onlooker would think they were just a bunch of regular family dogs. No one at that time would ever imagine that these fun-loving creatures had been “research dogs” and had never been outside a laboratory before they were rescued in July, 2010. On July 3, 2010, Cathy Schmidt and husband, Michael Roemer, set eyes on Puddy for the very first time at Pet’s Alive. Michael picked Puddy out of all 80 crates at the sanctuary! Upon hearing Michael’s choice, Cathy immediately said, “Oh my goodness, he is only a number! He was number 12. While many other dogs were given names already through sponsorship, Puddy had not yet received his, and that really broke my heart. He was and is such a cute little guy!" Joyously, Cathy and Michael brought him home, which was in fact difficult for him, having never traveled in a car. The first two months were not easy for him. He did not understand what grass was or even the concept of being outdoors. The first time he was on grass, he just stood there and cowered a little bit and would not walk. He wouldn’t play with any toys. He did not play with the other dogs. It is hard to say what made him come out of his shell. Cathy used to throw squeaky balls and he would ignore them but then one day, he just chased one! And he has been chasing toys ever since. He also collects his toys now in his crate.

All in all he has about 120 toys. and he goes nuts when he sees a new toy. He is super close with his two brothers and, as well, both of them happen to be beagles. They are beagle rescues, but, from shelters not from a lab. Sometimes the three of them are like a little pack, especially when the doorbell rings.

"We love him and he loves us so much. When we come home, he can’t contain his joy", Cathy says. “After he jumps on me, he will actually take one of my shoes that I just removed and just shake it and take it to his crate and lay on it to show his love. He is affectionate to us, and to everyone he meets. He is a totally different dog than the dog we met on Adoption Day, but, we just knew that we would meet and love the real him.
Do we advocate for sanctuary for research animals? Absolutely!"

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The Great Beagle Escape & Harriet's Adoption