Blind Dog Used As ‘Target Practice’ Dedicates Life To Helping Others

Maggie is a therapy dog who has had quite a life. While she might have a wonderful life full of love, she didn’t start out like that, writes blog.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood

She had suffered unimaginable horrors for years in Lebanon, where she was used as “target practice.”

Eventually, all that abuse left her blind and missing an ear, as well as with a broken jaw. It was absolutely terrible.

According to 7News, her owner, Kasey Carlin, put the horrific situation into words, sharing with Today, “They used a BB gun and used her as target practice. They had tied her up and shot her. She has about 200 pellets from her nose to her chest and some in her shoulders, but they’re all concentrated in her face.”

Eventually, Maggie’s suffering came to an end when she was rescued by Wild At Heart Foundation.

From there, Maggie’s story got out and she was adopted by Kasey who brought her home to Brighton. Maggie’s happy ending didn’t stopthere. Out of the tragedy that was her beginning, came an opportunity for the sweet dog to help get others through tough times of their own.

Kasey put Maggie into training to be a therapy dog, and after completing a course in July 2019, she passed and became a fully qualified therapy dog!

For a while, Maggie worked with a variety of people, but her main work was with dementia patients. Although, she had been known to make visits to police officers, firefighters, and children in schools.

Maggie absolutely loved her work as a therapy dog, but unfortunately, the pooch had to put her duties on hold when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. For the entirety of the pandemic, she was unable to make her usual visits to her local care home. Fortunately, with the easing of restrictions, Maggie has been able to return to her visits with the patients of the care home.

Kasey further explained, “Even after a year of lockdown – she hasn’t seen Anne – when we went to go see her, she knew exactly where she was going. She’s completely blind, but she’ll lead you straight to Anne’s room first and then she can go see other residents. She just wants to love everyone.”

Kasey has been very vocal about Maggie’s story, hoping to bring awareness to others about adopting the animals who are often passed over, like older dogs or dogs with disabilities.

She explained that initially, no one wanted Maggie. But now, the dog is quite popular and has many fans on Instagram who would love to take her.

Source: blog.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com