Maddie's Page

Maddie

Maddie "LaBoca" was born on October 8, 1997 and donated to NEADS by the Fetterolf family. She was a bundle of energy when she came to live with Kootenay, Temoku and her special best friend and service dog mentor Madison on March 28, 1998 .

Maddie out and about: Maddie was one energetic pup, and at home she spends her days running about with manic energy and chewing on the ears, nose, and legs of Temoku--not to mention the shoes, plants and computer discs of Mia and Dan's.

But when she put on her gentle leader and her cape she became a different dog: calm, poised and with a purpose. Like Madison, she visited the Alzheimer's unit at the Courtyard Nursing home every two weeks. The residents loved her, even if they didn't always remember who she was; many of them mistook her for their own dogs from years past. She was patient and gentle and waited for everyone to get in a pat or two.

Over the summer Maddie had many adventures. In July 1998, Maddie visited Art Day at the Horizon's program for children in Stamford, Connecticut. She was a hit with the children, many of whom seem not to have ever seen such a "calm" dog. Being a true Bostonian, Maddie could not get through the summer without excursions to Nantucket and the Bershires. She gave camping two paws way, way up, but her raisers' enthusiasm for Beethoven did not rub off on her, even after a rousing performance of the 9th at Tanglewood. Then she very grudgingly got on a small plane and flew to East Hampton, Long Island for the day.

PLEASE BE CAREFUL: Like all puppies, even those who are well trained, Maddie was very curious, and everything that isn't firmly tied down went straight into her mouth. One day she was left for a moment with an open pocket book and swallowed ten human Motrin pills before someone raced downstairs to stop her. What could have ended in tragedy instead translated into a long day in the vet's office and several return visits to check her (happily normal) kidney function. Maddie's care was coordinated through the National Animal Poison Control Center (NAPPC) a non-profit service of the University of Illinois.

Madison and Maddie were inseparable until Madison returned to NEADS in May to continue her training

Here they are at the end of the 20 mile Walk for Hunger, which might tire out a normal human (or dog), but not these two. They went home afterwards and had a quick game of "chase me up and down the stairs with "manic energy."

Maddie has also done her share of scientific and medical meetings. She was a bit bored at the annual meeting of the Scientific Advisory board of the National Neurofibromatosis Foundation , but she had a grand time at the 10th Anniversary Gala of NF, Inc. and has been a Gillian Anderson fan ever since. By far her favorite has been a weekend trip to Los Angeles where she was mesmerized by the city lights out the hotel room window and enjoyed an early morning romp on the beaches of Santa Monica.

Like Madison, Maddie passed her CGC and started working on her therapy dog certificate through Pets to People. Right before Christmas, she began visiting the children at the Floating Hospital through their Child Life program.

There are many hard things about being a puppy raiser. On February 10th, we found out that giving up the puppy is not the hardest. The NEADS staff called to tell us that after much thought and testing, they had decided that although Maddie was a wonderful dog, she had personality traits that would make her unsuitable for service dog work. We were very sad.

There are several choices for "fabulous flunkouts," as the NEADS drop outs are known. Occasional an alternative career choice will be available, as it was for a recent flunkout which was successfully placed with the Maine coast guard as a drug sniffer. If such an alternative isn't available, the puppy raiser has the option of keeping the dog as a family pet. If the puppy raiser declines, NEADS has a long list of carefully screened families who wish to adopt these wonderful dogs.

We had thought long and hard about the possibility of Maddie flunking (50% of all NEADS puppies do flunk out for one reason or another), and had decided that at least for the short term we could not give her up. Having her as our family member and not a service dog in training meant lots of changes . . . . No longer was there an urgency to training classes and visiting the nursing home. And of course there were all the things that she was no longer ALLOWED to do such as go along with us to the grocery store! By April, several families had begin to make inquires about her and she began to go on visits. The day we took her to Daisy's house we knew something special was up

Daisy and Maddie happen to be about the same age, and when you see them together they look like one of those funny mockups of "twins separated at birth." Daisy is a full blooded mutt from an animal shelter, who was advertised as "part

beagle" but appears to be a boxer yellow lab cross, perhaps with a few other varieties added for spice.

More important then their outward appearances, they are

soulmates when it comes to their outlook on life--they play alike, swim alike, attack the morning alike, and ask for their ears to be scratched alike. If you put them to sleep on separate beds at night you will find them curled up together on the same bed in the morning. No toy is worth playing with unless it has room for BOTH sets of teeth, side by side. It was a hard choice, and we still miss her, but on a beautiful New England spring day in May, Maddie went to live with Daisy for good.