Maggie was found roaming an industrial area of L.A. and taken to the Southeast Area Animal Control Authority (SEAACA), a very high-capacity shelter in southeast Los Angeles. The staff and volunteers at SEAACA want to help as many animals as possible, but unfortunately, space and resources are limited. As one of SDF’s recruitment initiatives is to help educate shelters and rescues about the type of dogs who make good working candidates, shelter staff recognized that Maggie’s love of toys (especially Chuck-it! balls!) may indicate Maggie’s potential. They contacted SDF, and we quickly arranged an evaluation and determined Maggie qualified as a potential candidate for our program. Maggie left the shelter with an SDF recruiter, bound for our training facility in Santa Paula, and peacefully slept through the three-hour ride there.
Once on campus, trainers found Maggie sweet and eager to get and give affection. Being a Malinois, she also had plenty of spunk, and in true maligator style, her first instinct when playing with a toy was to keep it for herself and shake it until it was “dead.” Trainers worked with her to foster a more collaborative play style and build her hunt drive, and she steadily improved. As time went by, though, Maggie’s interest in extended search exercises waned—she wanted her training to be fast and fun! Trainers adjusted their approach to fit her motivational needs but eventually realized that Maggie was trying to tell them something important: she just wasn’t into it.
Disaster search might be off the table, but Maggie still had a ton of working dog potential, so we knew she needed a job. We reached out to Sector K9, our career change partner that provides training for police K9s and their handlers, and Maggie was accepted to train with them as a dual-purpose* candidate. Little thrill-seeking Maggie was in her element in this fast-paced work, impressing Sector K9 trainers who reported she was fun, easy to handle, and had an “amazing temperament!”
Sector K9 thought Maggie would be perfect for an open position with the Bellville Police, a small department in Austin County, Texas, that wanted a dual-purpose dog to partner with K9 Officer Andrew Freude. Officer Freude traveled to Sector K9, and the duo trained together for two weeks to establish the foundation of their new partnership before returning to Bellville, where Maggie received an enthusiastic welcome from her department and community. We are delighted to see Maggie thrive in her new role and thankful to our community of partners and supporters for helping us find the right job for this sweet girl!