Magy AX AXJ THD and her owner Mike Penketh of Vacaville, CA, were an amazing team. Magy was trained by Canine Companions for Independence (CCI) to be Mike’s assistance dog, a very important role for any dog. But Mike & Magy took it further. Together, the two worked with Touch of Understanding to help children better understand people with disabilities. Magy also excelled at agility and was a certified therapy dog. She passed away in 2014 at nearly 16 years of age. Mike shares some memories:
Magy moved in with a rush, happy and playful, with extremely good behavior and obedience, thanks to her CCI training. Within weeks, she set off in her new weekday career, working with kids as a volunteer with Touch of Understanding. She assisted in disability awareness presentations and introductions to service dogs. For more than 10 years, she gave two to three presentations two days each week. During this time, she met about 50,000 children. Every child got to pet Magy, and they all loved her, and she loved her new friends.
One day, I saw the sport of agility on television, and Magy’s weekend career soon began. Lessons started followed by fun matches and eventually trials. For the next 10 years, we competed two to three weekends a month from San Diego to Portland and even as far east as Michigan. She was a busy lady.
She eventually earned two agility championships and about 50 titles, including the Excellent level titles in AKC. We are the only known disabled handler and service dog team to earn an agility championship with CPE (Canine Performance Events).
Magy passed away in the summer of 2014 at 15 years, 8 months and 2 days old. She’s waiting for me at the rainbow bridge. RIP Magy.
Magy was a member of the AKC Purebred Alternative Listing (PAL) program.