A Dog in Need Now Helping Others

Many of our dogs have unique “origin” stories. Meg Reid found a large black Labrador retriever on the side of the road. Hungry, injured, and scared, Maximus decided to put his trust in Meg. Thanks to Meg’s dedicated care and work with him, Maximus is now a registered Pet Partners therapy dog working with Meg as his handler. Here is their story:

Maximus was found on the side of the road as I was driving to work in January of 2022. I pulled over to see if I could help him; I was worried that he might bolt and get hit by a car. He had no collar. He was scared and shaking under a shrub.

I had some dog treats in my truck and offered them to him to help gain his trust. He was very hungry. He was initially reluctant to get in my truck, but with some help and encouragement he got in. I drove him back home and started to see if I could find his owner. I posted “found dog” on social media, called our local animal control, and took him to a nearby veterinarian to see if he was microchipped. The local animal control told me they would let me know if anyone called in looking for a black Labrador retriever.

Maximus immediately took to all our animals and our three kids. He was playful, gentle, and kind.

The story behind his name is that he was large, regal, and strong; Maximus just seemed to fit him. Inn Latin it means “greatest”; and to us, he is the greatest!

We worked on getting him hydrated and fed. His paws were torn up, he had cholla cactus in his ears, and scrapes on his nose. Over the next few days, we started to get attached to Max. We got a call from animal control about four days later; they said they hadn’t gotten a call for anyone to claim Max and asked if we would want to adopt him. I said yes excitedly.

I made an appointment to have him neutered, vaccinated, and microchipped. Since he was a rescue and going to be a large dog, I wanted to make sure he was trained and well behaved around our kids and guests. We started training classes in August 2022. After 18 weeks of training and passing the Canine Good Citizen test, I felt we were ready to sign up for Pet Partners and evaluate to become a therapy dog team. We passed on our first try and received a complex rating in March 2023.

I had always had a dream to train and have a therapy dog to volunteer with, so finding Max was a dream come true! He travels with us camping, is always near the kids, great with the ranch animals, and excels at his job as a therapy dog.

We love Maximus.

Meg and Maximus visit Northwest Hospital regularly and have done some reading activities and employee wellness events. They are hoping to do even more in the future.

–story submitted by Diane Alexander with Pet Partners of Southern Arizona

Pet Partners welcomes shelter and rescue animals as therapy animals, as long as they can meet the requirements of our program. Learn more about shelter animals as therapy animals in our Take the Lead blog.