Name: Maggie
Owner: Penny Decker
City: Surprise, Arizona
Breed: JRT/Poodle “All American”
Likes/Pet-Peeves: loves TV and golf carts
Favorite Toy/Treat/Walk: BALLS and Swimming
Best Tricks: answers the phone
Arrival Story/Bio:
Maggie was a birthday present 5 yrs ago. Before she was “Maggie” her name was Angel. And that she surely has been in my life. Because of her mix as JRT and poodle, Maggie can be a tom boy athlete but also likes being a girlie girl. She has been an inspiration for me and has helped me through a couple of major illnesses. Her spirit is “larger than life.”
My friends have called her machigina or crazy. She was never destructive but very mischevious as a puppy. She house trained really easy but needed to run all the time. She does not sit still easily and is not a laid back dog. She is very aware of everything.
She is sweet, michevious, loving, fun, very polite, has her own sense of humor
and loves people.
With the Sit Means Sit collar and training, she is learning better behavior in the humans world. Although she has always been a very good dog, her wild-eyed craziness led her to quick escape from me. She has ran into grocery stores, gyms, even Target. She was on the security cameras lurking through the store. She was also kicked out of two doggie day cares because she hurdled the fences/barriers separating the dogs.
When a puppy she teased bigger puppies to chase her. She hurdled a picnic table, a bench, even over the head of a child, then hid underneath the table so the bigger dogs could not reach her.
Now slightly older she is a great companion dog, well known in some of the local pet friendly stores and the Surprise dog park. Her nickname locally is ”shortstop” because of her athletic feats catching her favorite ball. So she has a high prey drive for balls and toys.
Because of high prey drive, I have taught her to bring me my phone, and a small purse, even her leash.She knows the difference of her toys or objects.
She loves diving in a pool after her ball and loves swimming.
Thanks to the Sit Means Sit collar and training, now we can play ball in a large field and Maggie will come back to me even if she sees a rabbit or a bird. That is a major accomplishment!
Because of odd circumstances we lived in a few different places. Maggie is well traveled, all over the country, coast to coast. She is very versatile. She loves the beach, has been on a boogie board in the Pacific, a skate board, playing soccer (she is a great goalie) loves hiking in the Tennessee mountains, or sunning herself on the patio. But now we are situated in my house and she loves it too. She is now an Arizona dog.
Every time she sees her ball or the park, it is like the first time she ever went there. Her enthusiasm and love of life makes her a joy and inspiration. but she is also very strong willed and can dash off like a white bullet.
When Maggie sleeps and has doggie dreams, her tail wags. That is what I love the most of my canine companion.
Because of her athleticism Maggie is a natural with agility but it is taking a lot of extra work and patience, and cooperative education for us both to work together off leash as a team. Her Sit Means Sit collar is helping us work together. She wags her tail when she sees her collar because she knows she will be doing something or going somewhere! The reward of her training is beautiful, poetry in motion. When she jumps, she soars. She is learning weaves and loves her agility training.
She pouts in obedience sometimes because she is not in agility, but she loves to be out and about and is learning that the obedience work helps me take her more places more often.
In her twilight years I would like Maggie to be with me as a service animal because she does small tasks for me at my home and can bring me things when I ask her. She is my photography assistant, carrying things in her saddle bags. She does so very lovingly and is happy to know her jobs.
Until then, the sky is the limit for what she can learn and do. She loves entertaining the crowds and is very gentle around her little puppy cousins.
She has tremendous persistence and will – she is a You Can do it dog. she problem solves in her little mind and can come up with solutions on how to do something or get something. That can give her too much ability, but all of the extra training is taking what for many would be negative and intolerable behaviors into something very constructive and beautiful. Everyone should have a “maggie.” If you are reading this, we hope you have a very Maggie good dog day!
