Maddi - Page 1

10 months ago I found a new home for Maddi, a 6 1/2 year old female GSD.  Her owner had too many dogs and the two shepherds were fighting with the labs.  I gave Maddi to a nice young couple.  The husband was a volunteer fire fighter and took Maddi everywhere with him.  She was finally getting walks every day and was the only dog in a nice home.

Last week her owners were down the shore and had the neighbor taking care of Maddi.  On Friday night during a wicked hale and thunderstorm, she ran out of the house when the neighbor opened the front door during the storm.  Maddi had never ran away before but was spooked by the thunder storm.  I received a phone call Saturday night at 10:00 explaining what happened.  My friends and family helped her new owners look for her almost non stop.  There were only a few sightings so we concentrated on those areas.  Yesterday a group of kids found Maddi, dead on the rail road tracks about 2 blocks from her previous owners house.  I searched that road so many times, but never went down to the tracks. 

This is just a reminder during this fireworks and vacation season to be careful on leaving our dogs.  Some may get spooked when they get older and combined with not having their owners around can just dart out on someone that does not know them very well.  It is such a tragedy and I don't want this to happen to someone else.

Maddi was a sweet, beautiful girl, and will be missed,

Cheryl

This is awful - but you all did your best, thinking of you.  Mo - Mascani

I am so sorry.
Always,
Cee

How tragic, how sad.  We will be spending the 4th at home to make sure our girl's first experience with fireworks doesn't freak her out.  Thunder doesn't scare her, nor a whip cracking but we decided her peace of mind was more important than going somewhere this weekend.  Thanks for reminding people that this weekend may be hard on dogs.
Deb

How sad. Of course for a six year old it would difficult to resolve the behaviour, but this serves as a warning for new puppy owners: exposure, exposure, exposure! Our dogs come with us the fireworks and often fall asleep during them.  Every dog owner should address noise sensitivity!

How dreadfully sad - I am so sorry for everyone who knew and loved Maddi, and my heart goes out to you.

Thank you for posting this as a reminder to us all to be careful. I have only had one dog who was truly terrified of fireworks. She was a rescue (most of our dogs are), and so the behavior was set long before she came to us. If you have a puppy, you can work with it - but an older dog is a much more difficult proposition, and nothing we could do would change Kira's fear. We simply had to be extra vigilant (she would also have bolted given the chance) and keep her inside until it was all over. (Rescue Remedy really helped too.)

Once again, my condolences to Maddi's owners - and to the neighbor, who must be feeling pretty crummy too.

So sad.  Condolences to Maddi's family.

Thank you for the reminder.  It's so easy to forget sometimes - even if they've never shown any issues in the past.  My two GSDs and my little terrier mix were outside with me one 4th of July a few years back.  My terrier disappeared and thankfully she was found quickly on the next street.  While we tore apart the house thinking she went back inside our neighbors took to the streets.  She had never exhibited any signs of distress during fireworks before and we even had her at the shooting range on several occasions.

After that episode - ALL dogs stay inside around the 4th of July now (preferably with us in the house as well).  Just too much to risk and it's not worth the heartache.

So sorry, heartbreaking story.