Maggie is a therapy dog who has had quite a life. While she might have a wonderful life full of love, she didn’t start out like that. She had sᴜffᴇʀed unimaginable ʜᴏʀʀᴏʀs for years in Lebanon, where she was used as “target practice.”
Nearly three years ago when British dog behaviorist Kasey Carlin arrived at Heathrow Airport to meet a rescue dog flown in from Lebanon, she thought the airport staff brought her the ᴡʀᴏɴɢ dog. She knew the mixed-breed dog had been horribly ᴀʙᴜsᴇd and expected to see signs of ᴛʀᴀᴜᴍᴀ.
“There’s this little blond dog kicᴋɪɴɢ her feet up high,” Carlin, 27, told. “The first thing she does when she meets anybody is she runs into them and rubs her body on them as a cat does. My brain couldn’t even process it. She’s just so friendly.” It’s a remarkable personality trait considering all Maggie endured before her rescue.
Maggie’s story got out and she was adopted by Kasey who brought her home to Brighton. Maggie’s happy ending didn’t stop there. Out of the ᴛʀᴀɢᴇᴅʏ that was her beginning, came an opportunity for the sweet dog to help get others through tough times of their own.
Kasey put Maggie into training to be a therapy dog, and after completing a course in July 2019, she passed and became a fully qualified therapy dog!
For a while, Maggie worked with a variety of people, but her main work was with dementia patients. Although, she had been known to make visits to police officers, firefighters, and children in schools.
Part of that happiness stems from her work as a therapy dog, since Maggie adores people. She primarily meets with seniors with dementia but has also visited police officers, firefighters, and schoolchildren, to whom she spreads an anti-bullying message.
“When we go to the schools, we do these little headbands the children make, where they have just one little ear on them,” Carlin said. “It’s really cute to see all these kids with this one little Maggie ear on their heads.”
They recently visited a care home, where Maggie reunited with one of her favorite residents, Anne.
“Even after a year of lockdown — she hasn’t seen Anne — when we went to go see her, she knew exactly where she was going. She’s completely ʙʟɪɴᴅ, but she’ll lead you straight to Anne’s room first, and then she can go see other residents,” Carlin said. “She just wants to love everyone.”
Maggie is trusting as well as loving. She walks in a perfect heel — off-leash — even on the streets of London. When Carlin calls to her dog from across a field, Maggie runs happily toward her.