One of 4,000 beagles saved from a Virginia facility finds home in Upper Burrell

There’s just something about a friendly, doe-eyed beagle with its unassuming size and floppy ears that caused Michele Binder to keep the dog breed at her side most of her life.

When news broke in July of the rescue of 4,000 beagles in deplorable conditions at a Virginia breeding facility for medical testing, Binder was scouring the internet and calling shelters in Virginia and Pennsylvania.

“She was pretty much bent on finding one of those dogs,” said her husband, Tom Binder.

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The Upper Burrell couple wanted another beagle since they retired from their full-time jobs this year. Tom worked at ATI’s Brackenridge Operation in Harrison, and Michele worked in medical billing.

“We just kind of got hooked on beagles,” Tom Binder said. “They’re lovable, gentle, a little hard-headed but not aggressive.”

The couple loved their beagles: Sparky lived to be 17, followed by Maggie, who lived 15½ years.

“When we heard that story about those puppies in Virginia, it literally broke our hearts,” Michele Binder said. “We knew we were going to get another one.”

But it wasn’t easy. Binder filled out online applications at shelters where the dogs were taken, but, by the time she called, the dogs were adopted already.

Demand for dogs outpaced supply

Humane Animal Rescue in Pittsburgh and other regional rescue groups received about 48 puppies in a national adoption operation organized by the Humane Society of the United States, said Lauren Leffakis, chief lifesaving officer for Animal Friends.

Animal Friends took 15 beagles and received about 100 adoption applications. As of Thursday, 11 were adopted and four remained in foster homes, she said.

“The community response was amazing,” she said. “I think everyone was moved by the story.”

The only way to keep it fair was to offer the beagles, after they were assessed and lived in foster homes first, on a first-come, first-served basis, Leffakis said.

“We had some people lined up at the door in the morning when we opened when a beagle was available,” she said.

Granted, every shelter animal has a story.

“But for something like this — it’s so different,” Leffakis said. “First of all, the number of dogs was shocking — 4,000.

“People step up when they see the need. They want to be part of doing better and offering a place, a refuge, for the animal that didn’t have a great start.”

About three weeks ago, Michele Binder called Animal Friends after seeing a beagle named Pig Pen on a local news report. She and her husband went to the Animal Friends shelter along Camp Horne Road in Ohio Township just after it opened. They were first that day and adopted Pig Pen. They changed his name to Buddy.

The Upper Burrell-bound beagle was a few pounds underweight and has a tattoo under his ear, like the other beagles at the Virginia site.

Buddy was born around Nov. 30 and has been in a crate for eight months, the couple said. He was in an Animal Friends foster home for two weeks before he was offered up for adoption.

The first day the Binders brought Buddy home, they were told to put him in the crate to sleep. But when they put him in, the dog cried.

“No, we can’t do this to him,” Michele Binder said. “I slept on the couch with him that night.”

The dog has been adjusting well to family life and particularly enjoys riding in the car or truck with Tom and sitting in Michele’s lap.

Rescued beagles: A road to normalcy

The rescued beagles’ behavior varied, Leffakis said.

Some were more comfortable exploring, while others shut down.

“We had to go slower with them,” she said. Foster home care is essential to understand the animals. “We had to see how they responded to a home experience.

“They never were in a living room or heard a blender or a microwave.”

To get the dogs adjusted and ready for adoption, about 55 Animal Friends staff, five credentialed professional trainers, and 15 foster homes worked collectively on the animals’ health and transition to a forever home.

Animal Friends connected the foster homes with dog training behavioral experts to develop training plans to help the beagles work through separation and isolation anxiety. The process takes some time but works, Leffakis said.

“People were committed to these dogs, and they knew they would need some help,” she said. “And we had buy-in from everyone to help them through the process.”

There were some odd quirks the Binders noticed.

Buddy was hesitant to walk on grass, the couple said. The dog didn’t know what a puddle was and jumped into Michele’s lap after hearing rain hit the door for the first time.

They are still working on the leash thing.

Tom Binder noticed other behaviors that were a little off.

“There are certain things he hasn’t experienced yet — like seeing a butterfly or hearing a cricket. He’s adjusting. Now when we get thunder and lightning, he doesn’t get all panicky and just looks out the window.”

Buddy seems to startle easily, but there are so many new sounds and experiences for him and he’s adjusting, the Binders said.

“He’s just going to hang out and just pal around,” Tom Binder said. “I’m glad he likes to ride. Wherever I go, I take him with me and it’s game on.”