At the age of 2, Sage the beagle had never experienced grass. She had never been in a car or lounged on a couch or run around a backyard.

Like the other beagles rescued from the now-closed Envigo facility in Cumberland last year, Sage had never gotten the chance to be a normal dog. Then, she came home to Clare and Colin Britcher.

Sage is among the 39 dogs taken in by pet adoption and rescue organization Homes Fur Hounds after leaving the Envigo facility. All of the dogs were adopted out through the Williamsburg-based nonprofit, with many joining local families.

The Britchers decided to take in Sage after losing their foster beagle, Miss B, whom they were planning to adopt before she died during surgery. Heartbroken, the Britchers took the opportunity to rescue another dog from Homes Fur Hounds and brought Sage home to join their well-loved pack of dogs and horses at their upper York County home.

“It has been wonderful,” Clare Britcher said. “I can’t say that it doesn’t have its challenges, but it has been so worth it for us to have this dog. We are so blessed.”

The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Envigo, located about an hour west of Richmond, last May following the discovery of conditions in the facility, which bred dogs to be sold to laboratories for experimentation. The Humane Society of the United States coordinated with shelters across the country to help remove about 4,000 dogs from the facility.

When government inspectors searched Envigo, they found beagles being killed instead of getting veterinary treatment, nursing dogs denied food, food served with maggots, mold and feces, and overcrowding that led to the dogs attacking one another, according to the Humane Society. Over an eight-week period, 25 beagle puppies died from cold exposure.

When dog lovers heard some of the rescued beagles were going to Williamsburg, Homes Fur Hounds received hundreds of inquires. Many of the local families that have adopted the beagles are now part of a Facebook group where they go to exchange advice and support and help each other on their similar journeys.

As Clare Britcher said, 99.9% of those who adopted the rescued dogs have been able to rise to the challenge of chewed furniture, accidents in the house and other behavioral issues.

“Several of the people who adopted adult beagles did contact us to put them in touch with a trainer,” said Homes Fur Hounds President Deanna Cosby, mentioning some of the quirks that have arisen with the Envigo beagles.

She described one beagle who only wanted to sleep on the kitchen table and would refuse to get down. Another beagle spent its first weeks at home refusing to leave its crate, emerging finally after a month to come get a treat.

“So there were definitely still some issues with these dogs, but everybody was great about being willing to work with us and work with the trainer,” she said.

Cosby said the socialization problems were the biggest hurdle for the older beagles.

For Sage, this new chapter was daunting at first. But with a lot of care and patience, her new family — including Clare, who works part time at the Jamestown Glasshouse and Colin, a mechanical and aerospace engineering professor at Old Dominion University — began to see her blossom. The Britchers have two other dogs, rat terriers named Pyewacket and Sprite, who have helped take Sage under their wing, teaching her the ins and outs of dog-hood.

“You have to be willing to allow her, or any of these dogs where they’ve had deprivation, to accept the world on their terms and in their own good time,” Clare Britcher said. “You can’t push it.

“It’s almost like helping your child learn to walk. You want to go over there and pick them up when they fall, but you can’t. You have to stand there, you have to watch them and be there when they need you. But knowing when not to do anything with these little dogs is as important as knowing when to intervene.”

As Sage continues to grow more confident, her real self is becoming apparent. Most heartwarming has been her developing bond with Colin, Clare Britcher said.

“For our anniversary, I said, ‘What do you want?’ And he said, ‘I want some books on beagles so I can learn about them,’” she recounted. “So my anniversary gift to him was books on beagles. He loves her. That’s his dog.”

Though the Envigo beagles have found homes, there are still plenty more dogs in need of rescue, Cosby said. Homes Fur Hounds received close to 1,000 inquiries and applications about the rescued Envigo dogs while other identical beagles coming from similarly deprived backgrounds get far less interest.

“We understand why everybody had such empathy for these beagles in this facility and everybody had hopes of being able to rescue one of those dogs,” Cosby said. “I do wish people would have the same empathy and get so excited (for other dogs).”

Recently, Cosby had a pair of beagle puppies at her rescue. One was a 7-month-old Envigo beagle puppy that needed to be re-homed. The other was an identical 6-month-old beagle puppy, just from a different background. In two weeks, the second puppy received just one application while the Envigo puppy got around 50 applications in a night.

“It’s just sad that they look almost identical and they’re the same age,”she said. “And everybody wanted that Envigo puppy, and I had very few applications on that other puppy that wasn’t one.”

Homes Fur Hounds, which operates exclusively through foster, accepts donations and takes applications on its website at www.homesfurhounds.com.

Clare Britcher, who grew up in Nebraska surrounded by dogs, cats and horses, has always been a keen advocate for animals. She said that bringing home Sage has been second to just raising her daughter.

“She may not have been the ideal fit for a lot of families, but for us, she was a perfect fit,” she said. “This dog needed that right family that she could fit into, and she found it.

“I don’t know who has benefitted more from it, Sage or us.”

Sian Wilkerson, sian.wilkerson@pilotonline.com, 757-342-6616