His Name is Vito

 

My name is Vito. Another day. I sit in a cage. I lay in a cage. I wait in a cage. Here come the people. These are different people. What do they want from me. They are putting me in another cage. They are putting me in an even bigger cage and there are more of us. I am so hungry. I can feel movement beneath me. I cry.

 

What is this place? What is all this brightness in my face? I feel warm! I smell something new. I smell lots of things that are new. What is this on my feet! Yikes! It’s soft. It smells good. Where am I? Why are all these people looking at me? Double Yikes! I can walk. I can run. I can jump. You can’t catch me! I am Vito!

Hey, I think these people like me. I am so excited but I am not sure why. What is happening to me? Where is my cage? Why am I here? What are they going to do to me?

 

My name is Vito. I live in a house now. I have people that love me. They kiss me all the time. They call me by my name. They hug me. They take me for walks. They let me sleep on a nice soft place with them. They show their teeth at me (huh?). They brush my hair. I am not sure what they want but I like it here.

My name is Vito. I am waiting to go to my furever home. I know it is coming soon because my foster Mom told me so and she doesn’t lie to me ever.

My name is Vito and I am ready for my new life!

9/17/13

Hi again everybody!

 

Today, I thought I’d talk about a friend of mine who got adopted a few weeks ago:

 

 

This is Baxter. He’s a former lab beagle, like me.  He was rescued with a bunch of other beagles on February 27^th, almost five months ago. At the time, he’d been living in a cage for four and a half years and still hadn’t been neutered! As you can imagine, he was really nervous and antsy.

 

Like most lab beagles, he had almost no experience being social with other dogs. When I met him for the first time, he got scared of me and started shaking! He has scarring on both front paws where his dewclaws were surgically removed, and he also picked up threadworms from his time in the lab. Gross! He needed dental work too; most lab dogs don’t get very good health care and we tend to chew on the cages. On the positive side, he wasn’t debarked like most lab dogs are (including me).

 

But the last time I met Baxter, he was totally different. Thanks to the help of people at BFP, he’s become much more comfortable with other dogs. He ran right up to me and we started playing! He wanted to tell me how much he loved Caroline, the lady who’s adopted in. She’s a BFP volunteer, and was there the night he was rescued. She also smells good! Here’s a picture of them together:

 

 

Baxter told me about how, during their first week together, Caroline took him hiking with a pack of other dogs. He said he’d never had such a great time! Caroline plans to take him hiking with a pack every weekend, and he’s super excited about it. Baxter’s much more comfortable around other dogs now, and he even gets along with Caroline’s cats. His favorite part of every day is getting a Kong full of peanuts in the afternoon. I should get someone around here to make me one of those!

 

I hope Baxter’s story gave you a better look at how being kept as a lab animal can affect a dog, and how love and care can heal it. I’ll have more to talk about soon, but until then, I hope you all have a wonderful day!

 

-Freedom

 

Hello Internet!

I’ve never kept a blog before, so I guess I’ll start by saying:

Hello internet!

My name is Freedom. I’m a beagle! I was raised as a laboratory animal, kept in a small steel cage and used to test experimental drugs, cosmetics and other products. But then the Beagle Freedom Project came into my life and changed it forever! With the research lab’s consent, I and my fellow research dogs were released into the BFP’s custody. We had lived in cages our entire lives and had no experience with life in a home, children or other animals- we weren’t even house trained! The amazing people at the BFP stuck with us, though, and with their help we are now living happy, normal lives with loving adoptive families. Well, except for me- I loved the people at the Project too much to leave, so now I live at BFP headquarters.

Beagles like me are the most popular breed of laboratory test dogs because of our docile, friendly and trusting nature. Like most research beagles, I was sold directly to the lab from a commercial breeder, who bred me specifically for that purpose. Until I was rescued, I’d never walked on grass or even seen the sun before!

I decided to start this blog to help my friends at the Beagle Freedom Project raise awareness for the plight of laboratory test animals. I’ll also be giving you guys an inside look at what goes on at BFP, as well as keeping you up to date on all the latest Beagle Freedom news! I look forward to getting to know all you wonderful people, and I hope this blog will help you learn more about test animals and what you can do to help them.

Until next time!

-Freedom