We pulled "Thomas" from a
research laboratory on July 5, 2005.
Click
here for some pictures of the day.
**I first
want to thank the staff at that lab for their
amazing care of Thomas, and ultimately, their
willingness to trust a rescue with the adoption
of one of their laboratory beagles.**
Thomas is approximately 8
years old, and has lived all of those 8 years in
a research facility. We weren't sure what
to expect from Thomas, given the relative
isolation in which he has lived. Think
about all of the things he has never been
exposed to...the outdoors, grass, stairs, other
breeds of dogs, the sounds of a TV, walking on a
leash, etc.
From the moment I met
Thomas, his tail has not stopped wagging.
He is the happiest, friendliest little beagle
you would ever want to meet! He will need
a lot of assistance with housetraining, and
learning about life in a home, but given his
amazing attachment and love for people, I think
he will do just fine.
I will be using a
combination of the
MarkOut
Housetraining System, as well as crate
training, to housetrain Thomas. All he
wants are pets and hugs, and if someone can give
him plenty of those, he will be as happy as can
be.
Day 1: Thomas
needed a bath, so as soon as I brought
him into the house, I plopped him right into the
bathtub. He gets very still
when you physically handle him, so bathing him
was EASY! We then took a walk with the
resident beagles to help him air dry.
He was kept confined in the kitchen all day -
with no accidents or marking. He ate his
dinner (only after I added some canned Wellness food), and went to the bathroom
outside 4 times.
GO THOMAS! :)
Thomas cries for attention,
but settles down very easily when he is ignored.
He has not yet barked, bayed, or howled.
He likes to sleep on the kitchen floor, and if
you walk by, his tail starts wagging a mile a
minute, and he comes running over to the
barricade. He is oblivious to my own
resident beagles. He is not playful with
them, and is not aggressive, either. It
works out well for me since it keeps Rosie (my aggressive dog) relaxed, and my
playful pup, Pippin, calm. Thomas is used to being
in a crate, and is fine with being in there.
I was out for about 2.5 hours today, and he kept
his crate clean.
Other than having
difficulties with transitioning over curbs,
going from one surface to another (e.g.,
sidewalk to grass), and climbing and descending
stairs, Thomas is indistinguishable from any
other dog you'd see walking around my
development. He shows no fear of anything
outside (not garbage trucks, not people, not
other dogs), and really just wants to explore
outside, and then cuddle up with someone and be
loved....
He is an amazingly sweet
beagle, and will make a wonderful pet for a
lucky adopter. Will you give him a loving
home to which he can retire? He's given
enough of his life to help us...now it's our
turn to thank him. Three of Thomas'
friends are expected to be released to our
rescue in the coming weeks...maybe you can help
one of them...
Day 6: Wow -
Thomas has still had NO accidents in the house.
I have not even opened the MarkOut wraps!! I
consider him completely crate trained, as he
keeps his crate clean for 8 hours overnight, and
so far, up to 6 hours during the day. He
does not tell me when he has to go out, so I
cannot say he is 100% housetrained, but if kept
on a schedule, he will not go in the house.
The barricade to the kitchen is down, and Thomas
has free access to the house when I am home.
He has started venturing out of the kitchen, and
has finally started coming out from the corners
of the rooms...he now prefers to lie on the
living room carpet instead of the kitchen tile.
He compulsively
scratches/digs in his crate, or on the floor,
when he wants to lie down, but this is
decreasing. He has a blanket now in his
crate to help him nest. He jumps up on me
a lot - especially when there is food around.
I finally found treats he likes, so we are
working on "off" and "sit." Thomas
hesitates a bit before going up/down stairs, but
goes up/down independently. He LOVES his
walks outside, and just wags his tail at
everyone who walks by.
Thomas seems to be a bit
territorial with his crate and sleeping area,
but not all the time. He growls
(sometimes) when one of my guys comes near him.
He also growls over jealousy when I am holding
him, and one of my beagles walks by. This
is never directed at me. I believe this
will decrease as he becomes more acclimated to
the whole house (not just the kitchen), and
begins to feel more comfortable and confident.
He responds to "Thomas, stop," and is put in his
crate. Considering the week he has had, I
cannot believe how well he is adapting. He
still just wants to be held and
petted.................all day if you can spare
the time.
Into 2nd week: Thomas tried to play with
Sam and Pippin last night!! He loves his
meals (just his dry Blue Buffalo Lite),
walks outside, new people, and cuddling.
He has had one accident (in his crate on a
blanket the first day I went back to working a
full day) so far. He still occasionally
growls at Pippin when he wants to relax and Pip
wants to play, but I think it's pretty typical
behavior for an 8 (almost 9) year old beagle
towards a 15 month old pup. Thomas has
been the easiest foster ever. You would
never believe he lived his entire life in a
crate within the 4 walls of a laboratory.
He is the best, and I can't wait to hand him to
his forever home to live out the rest of his
years where he can relax outside in the sun, and
cuddle in someone's arms whenever he wants.
3 week progress report
(and probably last one): Thomas is
just wonderful...still trained, and learning to
be a real beagle. Loves to go on walks,
flies down the stairs to do so, loves everyone,
loves to eat, is learning to play with Sam, and
is an overall wonderful beagle. He met his
potential adopter who fell in love with him, so
once the adopter's move goes through, Thomas
will go to his forever home. He seems to
enjoy life as a pampered pet. This is
Thomas while the 3 resident beagles were
enjoying a day running around in a large yard.
Thomas likes to catch up on the attention he
missed out on during his years in the lab:
Interesting
development with Thomas and
Jaws, the other 8
year old laboratory beagle. At 3.5 -
almost 4 weeks into foster care, Thomas
developed some problems. He experienced
some gastrointestinal problems, and starting
refusing to walk. I took him to the vet,
and he was given some medication and Rx diet to
help his stomach, but we could find no
explanation for the refusals to walk.
Additionally, Thomas started having periods in
which his rear limbs would tremble
uncontrollably, and this seemed to scare him,
and made him "freeze" therefore contributing to
the refusal to walk. (He was not scared and then
started trembling...it did not appear to be behavioral.) Jaws also experienced these
problems. I was quite concerned about
Thomas, and we consulted 2 of the veterinary
practices who work with the rescue, in addition
to the veterinarians at the laboratory.
The hypothesis is that this was some type of
physiological response in their muscles to going
from living in a crate almost 24/7, to walking
about and being active all day. Thomas
still experiences brief episodes of rear limb
muscle trembling, but they are much less
frequent, and his happy, bright personality has
returned. The "worry period" last
approximately 2 weeks, and I often had to carry
Thomas on our walks (while walking my other
THREE!!). He seems to be bouncing back a
little more day by day.
The GI
problems were probably just something Thomas
picked up with his "immature" immune system, and
the muscle trembling and difficulties walking
are probably related to overuse.
These lab
beagles have therefore differed most from
"typical" rescues in that, "typical" rescues
tend to have their physiological responses occur
in the first week or two of foster care - tend
to have GI adjustments, an increase in sleeping,
etc., and then at about 2-3 weeks, they settle
in and their "real" personalities come out.
The lab beagles seem to be like kids in a candy
store initially - trying to take in the world -
and, at least with these 2 older beagles, the
physiological response/adjustment takes place
further into foster care.
8/20/05 -
Thomas went to his forever home in Long Island,
NY. He is living with 3 greyhound
siblings, and a beagle mix sibling. He is
living the good life with new mom, Michele, and
is living in a world he didn't even know existed
just two months ago. Here he is lounging
with his new sibling, Penny. Thanks,
Michele, for giving Thomas such a wonderful new
home!
Thomas and 3 other
laboratory beagles were released from the
research facility.
Charlie Brown was pulled from the lab after
the initial 3, and he also adapted beautifully.
I have since helped co-found Cascade
Beagle Rescue-East, and then branched off to
form our own East Coast rescue - Beagle Rescue
League which is dedicated not only to rescuing
shelter dogs, but to establishing and
strengthening relationships with laboratories to
help get more adoptable beagles into rescue.
We have named it our Lab to Leash Program.
