Just two weeks ago, a 2.5 year-old gentle pooch had never heard the sound of a squeaky toy. Similarly, a 5-year-old sweet pup had never drunk from a water bowl.

The two female beagles grew up confined to unsanitary cages. They likely each mothered a litter of pups every year of their young lives. They ate moldy food and drank from drip irrigation straws.

In a Virginia breeding facility no one would ever call “home,” gentle Grace and sweet Sailor didn’t have names, let alone adjectives to describe their personalities. They were known only by the tattooed codes on the inside of their left ears.

Today, Grace and Sailor not only have names, they have doting human moms, dads, siblings and neighbors in North Redondo Beach.

Grace and Sailor were just two of nearly 4,000 beagles rescued this summer from a facility run by Envigo, after the company was sued by the U.S. Department of Justice for alleged violations of animal welfare laws.

Beagles, as a breed, are known for being loveable, happy and easygoing. The perfect mix for a breeding facility.

The lucky pups’ journey to love began in July when Priceless Pet Rescue drove a crew to Virginia to bring 200 beagles to Southern California.

“Despite all they’ve been through, it’s remarkable how docile and loving they are,” said Priceless Pet Rescue volunteer Tricia Rossman. “That’s what got them in situation to begin with.”

The nonprofit, based in Costa Mesa, with pet orphanages in Claremont and Chino Hills, received more than 2,000 applications for the 200 beagles, said Rossman.

As soon as the animals were spayed or neutered at the nonprofit’s veterinarian center in Chino Hills, said Rossman, it was imperative they be adopted pronto.

“We wanted to put them in a home the second they were ready,” Rossman said in a phone interview Friday. “We didn’t want them to stay in a kennel for another second.”

And it was quick decision-making that made Grace and Sailor North Redondo neighbors.

From cage to backyard

Patty Dimond Stuckmeyer filled out an adoption application after learning of the beagles’ plight on the news. She didn’t bother telling husband Jim, because, what were the odds?

She and Jim have two pups — an 18-year-old beagle named Daisy and a Golden Retriever named Pearl. It’s a “menagerie,” she said, but the mistreatment of thousands “tugged at my heart like nobody’s business.”

Patty and her son Anthony were at Disneyland on Aug. 15 in line at Thunder Mountain when she listened to a voice mail from an unknown number. It was Rossman. They had two beagles to choose from at Chino Hills.

“Holy (dog poo!),” Patty said.

She texted Jim. “I need to talk to you,” was the cryptic message. Jim later told Patty he thought: “She’s leaving me.”

No, Patty was just expanding the family menagerie. She and Anthony left Disneyland and made the trek to Chino Hills to fall in love with C10CRV, who they named Grace, her grandmother’s middle name.

“We’re over the moon,” said Patty. “She’s the belle of the neighborhood.”

Then, just four days after adding Grace to the family, the Stuckmeyers attended the annual neighborhood block party. She was hesitant to bring gentle Grace out, said Patty. She just didn’t want the newly-adjusting pup overwhelmed.

But, she’s happy she did. As there was another family down the street with a penchant and place for beagles.

Neighbor Mark Podoll, a commercial fisherman who supplies the party’s blue-fin tuna each year, said as soon as he heard Patty’s story and met Grace, that was it.

“I just had to make one happy,” Podoll said. “The whole situation with these beagles, it’s a tear jerker.”

The party was Saturday, Aug. 20. He applied for a beagle on Sunday. On Monday at 11:30 a.m. he got the call from Rossman. At 3:30 p.m., he pulled daughter Chelsea a bit early from Redondo Union High and they hightailed it to Chino Hills.

Just a week after Grace was adopted, the Podolls became family for GLECHE. They named her Sailor. Of course, because Mark is a fisherman.

“We’re all family now,” said Patty on Friday from her cozy backyard where Grace and Sailor met for the first time.

Human dad Jim held on tight to Grace. And she didn’t mind a bit. Likewise, human sister Chelsea kept a squeeze on Sailor.

Are you more protective of Grace knowing what she’s been through? Jim was asked.

“Well, not really,” Jim said, though his body language said otherwise. “We’re helicopter parents anyway.”

Bit by bit, the human family let the pups down onto the hardscaped ground. Golden Retriever Pearl went in for a butt sniff. Grace didn’t mind. Sailor went over, too. Their tails slowly wagged. Patty brought out 18-year-old Daisy, speckled in grey. She joined the party.

“They’re puppies,” said Mark. “They’re just old puppies. You have to teach them everything.”

After about 20 minutes on the ground, the pups did what pups should.

Sailor gingerly walked up a set of four stairs to the jacuzzi and found herself a speckled spot in the sun. Grace, at one point, out of sight, much to Jim’s chagrin, had wandered to the side of the house. She later pranced right up the back deck and into the house.

“Look at that,” said Patty. “Look at their tails!”

There’s a beagle thing whereby, when the dogs are happiest, called “painter’s tail,” Patty said. The beagle’s tail, naturally tipped at the end to look like a wet paintbrush, will curve up and over in a C-shape. Grace and Sailor’s tails were starting to do that.

And, so the healing had begun.

“It takes love, patience and time,” said Rossman about the process for getting the beagles acclimated to being family pets.

The pet rescue volunteer also said she recommended the families give the pooches a crate, as a way to give them a safe space and as a way to potty train them.

But that’s so not happening, said both Patty and Mark. Grace sleeps in bed with Patty and Jim.

As for Sailor.

“There will never be a crate in this dog’s life again,” Mark said as he teared up. “I am happy to clean up after Sailor all day long.”

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