Great Dane: DaDane 08/11/03

August 11, 2003 – Recently my dear friend Paula Stebbins said a final goodbye to her dear friend "Lady Margaret Thatcher." Maggie, as she was affectionately called, was nine years old. She had suffered from a variety of escalating health problems and when she developed a case of septic arthritis, which involved a painful and untreatable infection in her hip, Paula knew it was time to let her go.

Maggie was a wonderful companion to Paula and, with Paula's help behind the camera, I was able to use Maggie in many of my early DaDane pieces. Maggie wasn't always pleased about her modeling career. She was particularly disturbed when Paula asked her to put on a tie and wear a woman's hat. The result of her sacrifice, which appeared on DaDane of DaWeek in February of 1998 as part of my political commentary on the emerging White House scandal, is pictured above.

This is what Paula wants you to know about the very special creature named Maggie:

Maggie, CGC, TDI, TDInc
1994-2003

The Bayou Krewe suffered the loss of its matriarch, Maggie (Lady Margaret Thatcher), on June 27th, 2003.

Maggie introduced me to Great Danes in 1994 and forever changed my life. Through her work in pet therapy, she impacted many lives while she was on this earth, but none so greatly as mine.

I always thought I had it together ... nothing could rattle my world ... until Maggie came along. She taught me just how "untogether" I was (and still am). And she reminded me of it again when she left, as she rattled my world one last time.

She taught me how impatient and intolerant I am by pushing me to the very limits of my soul.
She taught me to laugh at myself.
She taught me kindness and compassion, and reaching out to people.
She taught me unconditional love.
She taught me to have fun.
She taught me team work.
She taught me to relinquish control.
She gave me a deep appreciation for all of God's creatures, and the fascinating world we live in.
She introduced me to some of my very best human friends.
And lastly, she taught me how much it hurts to lose a very dear friend.

My life will never again be the same, thanks to my Maggie.

Maggie had a special gift for connecting with people. She seemed always to know who needed her attention. This was demonstrated to me very dramatically one brisk winter day as we were on our way to a therapy session on the geriatric psych floor at one of the local hospitals where we were privileged to work. Maggie always got excited when I let her out of the car and put her bandanna on, because she knew she was going to work. In her youth, she was very spirited, and so we would always arrive early so that I could walk her and work with her outside before going in, to bring her excitement level down. We had made several trips walking up and down the levels of the parking garage, and were on our last lap, headed to the skywalk when she suddenly started jumping into the air and turning to go back where we came from. I couldn't get her under control – she was determined to go in the opposite direction. Being focused on controlling her, I missed the fact that an elderly gentleman was some distance behind us and walking toward us. When I finally realized that he was there, I saw that he was trying to get my attention. Once he had it, he asked if he could see my dog. I said sure, and gave in to Maggie's tugs at the leash. She trotted over to meet him and immediately he dropped to his knees. Maggie licked his face as he threw his arms around her and buried his head in the softness of her neck for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, he lifted his eyes to look at me, and I saw the tears rolling gently down his face. He apologized and explained that he had just come from the intensive care unit where his wife of many, many years was seriously ill. He saw Maggie as he was returning to his car, and the two of them connected on a level that defies human explanation. I saw this connection repeated many times in her career, with troubled young people and troubled elderly people alike.

I was privileged to have stewardship of Maggie for her 9 years ... and I'll miss her for the rest of mine.

– Paula Stebbins

I've put together a page that displays all of Maggie's appearances on DaDane of DaWeek. Please click here if you'd like to see it.