Much of Maddie's past is unknown, but what is known are the physical scars she will bear for the rest of her life. Fortunately, not all scars are forever.
One amazing day in Sept 2017, her world got a lot brighter and much bigger. She was rescued by The Milo Foundation during hurricane Harvey. Maddie was found at a high kill shelter in Austin, TX. She was at the top of the list to be euthanized because shelters were too full due to the tragic event.
Maddie came into my life in October 2017, when I was finally able to open my home to foster buddies. Maddie was only 2, but it was obvious she'd already been through a lot. She had clearly just had a litter of pups, a wound healing on the back of her neck, her nails were in really bad shape, and she had marks all over from multiple attacks. We were able to take inventory of the external scars, but naive and new to this whole fostering thing, I didn't see that Maddie was an emotional wreck, a ball of PTSD.
While in the shelter or at the rescue she was completely broken down, no one could see exactly how much she was hurting. As she started to settle in, I noticed that Maddie had some deep seated anxieties. She lacked know-how about being a dog. She even lacked basic manners and mannerisms.
Simple words cannot begin to express how our walks would go, especially when we would encounter other dogs. We quickly became the neighborhood curiosity. We’ll just say she has a voice and knows how to use it. Maddie may be small but she is stronger than she looks. Envision a charlie brown dust cloud, that was us. Often people would tell me when they heard her they thought a dog was being beaten. Its a heart breaking sound for any ear to hear.
Things have to change, so here’s what we’re doing about it:
I started taking classes to be a dog trainer. Everyday Maddie and I were learning something new. Maddie was learning manners! It soon became evident that I didn't have the training or experience to deal with Maddie's anxieties/reactivity around other dogs. I knew though, that the only way to keep Maddie out of the rescue and in a furever home was to help her with these anxieties.
My sister recognized this struggle and brought Steffen Baldwin, an amazing trainer, to my attention. He focuses on special cases like Maddie’s. He also believes in science based training with feelings. Science, it works!
As luck would have it, he has just relocated from Ohio to CA. Help was in sight!
The Milo Foundation and I are coordinating with Steffen Baldwin to work with Maddie; his program includes an intensive multi-week training course. Maddie is scheduled to start this training on June 26th!!!
I am trying to raise $2,700. This would cover 7 weeks of training for Maddie with Steffen Baldwin. Any funds raised over this amount will go directly towards any medical needs Maddie may have. I will be managing her funds to make certain any monies raised will go directly towards Maddie’s care! I will maintain balance sheets to track all expenditures and these documents will be available to the public upon request.
With some amazing meet and greets with riders & teams, along with some team swag.
Other prizes include: Petersen #45 swag Uribe #36 swag- A custom hat/shirt “Uribe 36” combo by SRC Embroidery and a Fastenal t shirt from John Silveira to the pot!
