Kairns, on how Maddie came into her life:
My husband and I were looking for a female yellow lab to adopt, preferably one year old or younger (Maggie had been a black lab and I wanted to make sure I didn't make comparisons by getting another black lab). We had just lost Chloe (the 11-year-old Golden retriever we adopted a year after Maggie died) a couple of months earlier. We plugged our criteria into The Denver Dumb Friends League website, and it linked to the Denver Municipal Animal Shelter and, lo and behold, there was Maddie’s precious black face, and it really called to me. She was estimated to be 10 months old. I was unable to get through to the shelter. After a little magic and what I have always felt was some nudging from "the other side," I contacted the shelter the next day and got through. I called my husband who was visiting his elderly father and the three of us met at The Denver Municipal Animal Shelter. When my husband and I went back to Maddie's kennel, her response was like, "well, there you are finally! I've been waiting for you -- what took you so long?" Her name was not Maddie at the time, but a very weird name, Pita Cruz, which she didn't even respond to. The connection was immediate for the three of us. When we left the meeting room, she looked for us. I believe she knew we were her new people. It was her joyful spirit that grabbed us. We figured if she could be this happy in a shelter, and sniff curiously under the kennels we passed, wagging her tail while dogs barked or growled aggressively at her, that she...[read on]
Dawn Kairns is the author of Maggie: the Dog Who Changed My Life, and a former nurse practitioner and psychotherapist. Maddie is a 5 year old female lab; she and Kairns are a therapy dog team and visit with high risk kids.Maggie: the Dog Who Changed My Life was a 2009 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist and 2008 DWAA Merial Human-Animal Bond Award Finalist.
Learn more about Maddie, Maggie: the Dog Who Changed My Life, and the author at Dawn Kairns' website and blog.
Become a Facebook fan of Maggie: the Dog Who Changed My Life.
Read--Coffee with a Canine: Dawn Kairns & Maddie.
--Marshal Zeringue
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