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This Sydney pet owner wants you to know why eight years of her dog's life is a mystery

By Kate Kachor|

He dips his head towards the soft earth before standing and staring directly forward. Off camera a voice calls out a single question.

It's early evening and Patrice Pandeleos, a Sydney PR executive, is standing in a dog park filming the playful antics of her 11-year-old beagle, Buddy.

"What is it Buddy?" Patrice gently asks. Buddy, transfixed by her voice, offers a play bow before bounding a few steps forward, his tail wagging.

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To an outsider, the pair appear as though they have been bonded since Buddy was a puppy. Yet, only a handful of people know where Buddy has spent the years from birth to age eight. Patrice is not one of them.

It was June 2019 when Patrice paused on a social media post while scrolling Facebook. The post was about an eight-year-old dog who had been rescued from medical experimentation in New South Wales and was now needing a new adoptive home.

Buddy spent his first eight years in a research facility. His new owner will never know what happened to him.
Buddy spent his first eight years in a research facility. His new owner will never know what happened to him. (Emma Hurst/Facebook)

"It broke my heart. I didn't realise dogs were still being used for research in Australia," she tells 9Honey Pets.

"That came as quite a shock to me. To think that an eight-year-old had been born in a research facility and was about to have a home for the first time broke my heart."

Thinking she'd be one of many wishing to offer Buddy a new home, Patrice applied to be considered as Buddy's new carer.

The following day her phone rang. She could meet Buddy if she was still interested in adopting him. After a few phone calls back and forth for vetting, a meeting was set.

"I've always had pets but I've never had a dog of my own," Patrice says.

'He didn't know what a toy or a treat was which was particularly heartbreaking. When I went and showed him the teddies and balls he ran and hid'

Before putting in an application for Buddy, Patrice had been working through the grief of losing her 16-year-old beloved three-legged cat Princess Audrey.

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It had been three months since Audrey's passing and Patrice had no immediate plans to add another pet to her life. Yet, she says, there was something about Buddy and his plight that changed her mind.

"He came to my apartment and I had my mum over. He seemed to know he was my dog straight away. It was love at first sight," she says.

Buddy enjoying some down time in the sun.
Buddy enjoying some down time in the sun. (Supplied)

"I bought him 20 bags of treats and 20 bags of toys. He didn't know what a toy or a treat was which was particularly heartbreaking. When I went and showed him the teddies and balls he ran and hid."

Buddy's confusion over everyday dog toys was not the only difference Patrice noticed.

When he arrived his fur was dull and his ears were riddled with haematomas. One of his ears also had a rip in it and was filled with blood. He required a few trips to the vet for cleaning and treatment.

Buddy also didn't know how to walk upstairs and spooked easily on walks.

'He was a great dog from day one. He's never ripped up a sock, he's never done anything naughty. He's a beautiful, kind, gentle soul'

"Most people take their dogs to obedience training and give them lots of rules. I didn't want Buddy to shutdown any further and so he had no rules. Now he thinks he's my boss," Patrice says with a laugh.

"He was a great dog from day one. He's never ripped up a sock, he's never done anything naughty. He's a beautiful, kind, gentle soul."

She says at the local dog park, Buddy is known as the 'Dog-Father' as "all the dogs run over and kiss his face when he walks in".

Emma Hurst, an MP for the Animal Justice Party in NSW, first spoke about Buddy's plight in her inaugural speech to NSW Parliament in May 2019.

Patrice Pandeleos (left) with Buddy and Emma Hurst (right), an MP for the Animal Justice Party in NSW.
Patrice Pandeleos (left) with Buddy and Emma Hurst (right), an MP for the Animal Justice Party in NSW. (Supplied)

"Buddy is a medical experimentation survivor. Scientists used his body in medical experimentation for eight years. I do not know what was done to him. Most people don't. He is one of the very few who have made it out alive," Emma said in the speech.

In December 2021, she launched a petition pushing for legislation to be considered in parliament to stop animals used as medical experiments being euthanised and to cease animal experience being taxpayer funded.

"In the past reported year, only 30 of the thousands of cats and dogs used in medical experimentation were given homes," Emma wrote in a Facebook post dated December 19, 2021.

"There are two steps to enact this new law. First, we will give animals like Buddy the 'Right to Release' from experimentation facilities," a statement about Buddy's Law on Emma's personal website reads.

"Secondly, we will fight to end the use of taxpayer dollars on animal experimentation."

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In fact in the past reported year, only 30 of the thousands of cats and dogs used in medical experimentation were given homes.

In June this year, the Buddy's Law Bill passed the upper house of NSW Parliament. It is scheduled to be heard in the Lower House in September.

Patrice says anyone wishing to show their support for Buddy's Law should contact their Liberal and Nationals MP urging them not to support taxpayer funds being given to large pharmaceutical companies.

Buddy was adopted in 2018. His new owner Patrice Pandeleos says he didn't know how to walk down stairs or enjoy dog walks.
Buddy was adopted in 2018. His new owner Patrice Pandeleos says he didn't know how to walk down stairs or enjoy dog walks. (Supplied)

Patrice will never know what happened to Buddy as she had to sign a non-disclosure statement about his previous housing.

"I honestly don't know what happened to buddy and I never will," she says.

"It (the NDA) sparked my interest and I think that led me down a path of wanting to understand what and why it's happening to them. I think the more I tried to learn the more I realised how secretive these industries are."

Patrice says she's gleaned, from documents and research from some New South Wales politicians, that Buddy was used as a medical experimentation or vet research subject.

"I didn't realise that taxpayer money went to fund these pharmaceutical companies. I'm outraged," she says, adding there's no transparency as to how much money these companies rely on.

"I'm sure the public would prefer their hard earned dollars went to something elseกญ the environment, refugees, upgrading hospitals."

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