Maggy's Journey: From Broken to Beloved!

Meet Maggy, formerly known as Wanda, a courageous soul who found her way to Glory Bound Rescue Ranch after a challenging start. Rescued from a high-kill shelter at just 5 months old, Maggy bore the physical and emotional scars of a difficult past, including a fractured back leg and the enduring trauma of abuse.

But, every tale has its turning point, and Maggy's story took a beautiful twist when she met her new Mom, Jennifer. Their connection was instant, and love blossomed at first sight.

Maggy's Story

Written by Jennifer Noonan

I adopted Maggy on December 9, 2022, after the excruciating loss of my 14-year-old Pitbull named Molly that same year.

I probably wasn’t ready to take on the care of another dog so soon, but the emptiness in our house, on our couches, and in our hearts was painfully obvious.

I told myself through my tears that there was a dog out there who could benefit from my love and grief.

I found Maggs on PetFinder and was immediately drawn to her soulful eyes and her big quirky ears.

Maggy was 9 months old when we brought her home from The Glory Bound Rescue Ranch, and was our first time rescuing an older dog. She was absolutely terrified of us. She spent her first night curled up at the foot of our bed and never moved a muscle. After a couple of days, she seemed to open up to us and we thought “Hey this is going to be a breeze”.

Unfortunately, none of us know what Maggs had been through in her short life, but we can only surmise that whatever it was, was very traumatic and had left its mark.

While her temperament is sweet and loving, she struggles with severe anxiety. I crate-trained our previous dogs in a matter of weeks, but anxiety was something I never had to deal with before, and I was out of my league.

After discussing what she was going through with our vet,  we started her on some supplements to help.  We tried those for about a month with no results and then started a prescription anxiety medication.

We also enrolled her in doggy daycare to help preserve our house while we were gone.

Sadly, daycare didn’t seem to be the answer either as it heightened her anxiety, and after a couple weeks of attending, she was asked not to return and we were back to square one.

At this point,  she had been in our home for 6 months and we were still really struggling. I had read a lot about the rules of 3’s for adopted animals and how they should be pretty settled by their third month at home. Well, we were 3 months past that,  and it was beginning to feel like we would never get there.

At some point, we realized that Magg's transition to home life wasn’t going to be as smooth as we had hoped. We both already loved her sweet personality and little quirks and agreed that it would be traumatic for all of us if we had to give her back. We could see that there was potential for a really good dog inside her scared little shell and we couldn’t just give up on her.

Around 9 months at home, things really started to fall into place. I made some changes to our daily routine to allow her more physical exercise and mental stimulation before I left for work. I also hired a dog sitter two days a week to break up the amount of time that she spends in her crate. We still use daily anxiety medication and supplements to help manage her anxiety, and those might continue for the rest of her life.

The biggest mistake I made was thinking that I would adopt an older dog, and they would come home perfectly trained and slide into our vacant spot.

I did not know then what a broken and battered little soul I would be entrusted with.

In doing the work to help Maggs heal, I found that she was helping me too, and I now say we are both on a healing journey.

On December 9, 2023, we celebrate Magg's first gotcha day. Some of her favorite things include a good snuggle, a peanut butter-filled kong, and long walks with lots of treats.

Even though we still have things that we continue to work on, we are so happy that she is part of our family, and after a long road, she has finally settled into being our resident diva.

In looking  back over the last year, I can’t believe how far she has come, and I often think that this is the life she was always meant to live