Maggie was a “13 year old” Retriever who came to the GTHS in desperate need of help back in October of 2017. Although her tail would still wag, she was in very poor shape. Her ears were swollen and dirty indicating she’d had many infections throughout her life. Her beautiful golden coat was very sparse and patchy, covered in fleas and completely bald in some areas. She was host to large callouses on her elbows and legs, with numerous bumps and masses, including one on her eye. Her teeth were worn down, broken and some were even missing. We could tell that this beautiful golden girl needed to find a home with a caring family as despite all this, she had SO much love still to give! Through all the vet trips, antibiotics, medicated baths, ear and eye treatments, this girl would still wag every time she saw GTHS staff or volunteers and kindly offered up kisses to everyone. This special senior truly deserved a happy ending in a special home.
We set to work putting out a call to action through our social media outlets and we could not have ever imagined we would get such an overwhelmingly amazing response! With over 120K views, 1.5k shares and almost 150 comments on Maggie’s post, we had applications flying in from people wanting to provide a loving home for this sweet girl!
This is how we found Maggie’s perfect family. Maggie’s ‘mom-to-be’ showed up at the shelter to meet her and immediately knew there was no way she was leaving without Maggie!
Over the following months Maggie’s mom would send the GTHS team updates to let us know how much Maggie was thriving. Maggie was playing with her dog-sisters, going for long walks, playing in the river; over and over we were told that “there’s just no way this dog is 13!” Maggie’s mom would go on to tell us that her coat was growing back beautifully, her energy was up and the vet suspected Maggie was actually only about 8 or 9 years old. Maggie got to such a healthy and stable state that they were able to move forward with surgery to both spay her and remove all the concerning lumps and bumps she had. It truly was a fairy tale ending for this dog.
Maggie, her mom and her 2 dog-sisters came by the shelter just a couple weeks ago for a 6 month post-adoption visit. We did not even recognize our sweet Maggie!! She looks YEARS younger. Physically, Maggie looked amazing but it was the smile on her sweet golden face that really let us know she was finally happy in a home with an amazing family and is now living the wonderful life she so deserves. That is the power of love.
