Hi! This is Leeloo’s blog.
Leeloo is a year-and-a-half old purpose-bred beagle. She was born in a facility on the east coast that purposely breeds beagles for use in medical research all over the world. Although she is purely made of beagle, she isn’t really “purebred” but instead “purpose-bred”, meaning that instead of being bred to a specific physical standard appearance she’s been bred to be quiet, easily handled, and lacking genetic defects. When she was about a year old she was purchased by a local medical research facility, where she was used for several months as a test subject until her research was done, at which time she came up for adoption, and now she has a home with us!
People may question the ethics of using animals as subjects in medical research experiments, but we’re not here to argue either way. All we know is that she was treated the best she could have been treated by the people who cared for her. She was given a name, was fed well, played with, and the research she helped with may save many human lives someday. She was used in a minimally invasive way, and was only used for a few months of her life. The research facility had the choice between euthanizing her, which would have been the most cost-effective decision, or spaying her, vaccinating her, giving her a dental cleaning, and finding her a home, all of the services coming out of their pockets, with no charge to the adopter. There is no incentive to the research facility, no publicity, no assistance –they do it only so that they can feel better at the end of the day, knowing they helped these dogs live out their lives instead of taking the easy way out.
Leeloo has a lot to learn! She is very friendly with other dogs and with people, but she has never had to think about where she goes potty.. so training is a critical need. Before she came to us she’d never been outside, never seen grass, never seen a car, a vacuum, a cat. She’s never met toddlers, never been in a lake. Never played in the sun. She has no idea what she’s been missing! We intend to teach her about everything we can, and share as much of it as we can online. Both of us are avid photographers so expect a lot of pictures. She will be our hiking, picnic and kayaking companion, as well as full-time copilot for any and all adventures.
