Upon reflection, maybe we should have called her Darcy Tucker, or maybe Ken Linesman or even Sean Avery.
We settled on Maggie.
Now, Maggie can mean many, many things and is ‘short’ for many, many things as well.
Maggie can mean Magnificent or Magnanimous or Marvelous.
Maggie can also mean Maleficent or Mortiferous (hence the Tucker/Linesman/Avery comparable).
Annihilation could be her middle name as could Charming and Delightful.
If you’re not quite there yet, let me explain.
Four weeks ago – almost to the day – my partner and I decided to take a drive down to Kemptville to visit and scout out Big Sky Ranch. It’s a fabulous facility that takes in strays. Not just dogs either. We’re talking horses and goats and they even have a corralled pig that is roughly the size of Andre the Giant.
We went down on a whim to see if they had any dog rescues available.
“Just one left . . .” offered one of the owners.
Let’s have a look.
So out of this barn bolts – and I mean bolts – this treeing walker coonhound.
She’s awfully cute bouncing around in the snow and it was a quick sell.
Nearly four months ago, we’d lost our previous dog, Duke, to an incurable spinal condition.
Hearts were broken over here. Big time.
The house wasn’t quite a home without a dog.
So we headed back to Kanata with nameless-dog sitting in my partner Debbie’s lap.
We decided on ‘Maggie’ about halfway home.
You need to understand that when I adopted Duke about two years ago, he was about as perfect a dog as could be. Quiet, loving, didn’t beg, did not eat furniture or socks or Debbie’s running shoes.
Slept a lot.
Big bonus there.
I figured it’d be just the same with Maggie-Tucker-Linesman-Avery.
Wrong.
Watch the film Marley and Me for a clearer picture.
She’s a lot of work. I mean, a lot.
In addition to the name Maggie, we have tagged her with a few others. ‘No!’ ‘Off!’ ‘Enough!’ and ‘Stop right now!’ (There’s others, but not for a family magazine).
Once in a while she gets: ‘Good girl!’
It does happen.
Safe to say, this is an entirely new experience for this corner.
Oh sure, I co-owned a baby Rottweiler about 16 years ago, but the mandatory training provided by the breeder provided us with enough to get rolling.
Maggie is a different story.
Apparently she was found just wandering the back roads and since the family that picked her up couldn’t adopt, they took her to Big Sky Ranch.
There is no history to her; nothing to tell us where she was born and how she was raised (she’s about one-year-old), no history of shots or behaviors.
But you know what?
She’s ours.
And she’ll always be ours.
In spite of the constant calamity, we don’t give up on dogs around here.
Once they’re with us, they’re with us. Forever.
We’ll be laughing about these days I’m sure in a couple of years.
Oh and if anyone has a spare couch, cushions, bedspreads, carpets, shoes (Debbie’s!), hats, gloves or bath towels to donate to this very formidable charity, please do send them along.
Maggie Tucker Avery Linesman.
I guess it’s a wee tad too long.
Let’s just leave it at Maggie . . . and see where this journey takes us.
Guaranteed: It will never be dull.
(By the way, Big Sky is always looking for help – volunteers, donations – you can read up on them at www.bigskyranch.ca)
We believe that all animals deserve a second chance without a time limit.
-Andy Parent, founder
Senators – the week ahead:
Who knows?
