“She never discriminated. She thought everyone should be her friend,” Fiona’s owner and handler, Sally Malaret, said.
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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Sally Malaret said she always joked that once she and her therapy dog, Fiona, accomplished 1,000 visits, the team could retire.
On February 11, the duo accomplished that goal. But just two weeks later, on February 26, Fiona unexpectedly passed away.
The 11-year-old Great Pyrenees-golden retriever mix developed sepsis in her stomach overnight. She had just completed 1,005 therapeutic visits.
“She’d been at school Monday. She’d been at school Tuesday and Wednesday morning. She woke up not feeling well, and I immediately called the vet. Within eight hours, she was gone,” Malaret said.
Malaret, a resident of Pickerington, a Columbus, Ohio suburb, said her dog was a natural-born healer who was adept at making people feel better. Fiona was Malaret’s second therapy dog, following the death of her golden retriever-Australian shepherd mix, Max, in 2014.
“Fiona loved what she did. She never discriminated. She thought everyone should be her friend,” she Malaret.
“She could pick up (on) things going on with other people that I did not even pick up, and I would say, ‘Is this going on in your life?’ Or ‘Why are you so sad today?’ And they would say, ‘How did you know?’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t. My dog knew,'” she continued.
Helping people heal: ‘Something to cheer them up’
Reflecting on Fiona’s ability to make people smile, especially struggling children and older adults, Malaret said her dog made people feel safe to open up and share what they were going through.
The pair would visit assisted living facilities, hospitals, behavioral health centers and students at both the Ohio State University and within the Pickerington Local School District.
Recognized throughout the community, Fiona was the first dog to be recognized as an Everyday Kindness Hero in December 2024 by The Columbus Dispatch and Dispatch Magazines, part of the USA TODAY Network, alongside the Center for HumanKindness at The Columbus Foundation. Malaret and Fiona were also named outstanding individuals for Pickerington Ridgeview Junior High School last spring.
The duo’s service to the community extended beyond schools and older people. Malaret said her dog helped her heal from the grief of losing her husband of 49 years, Bob, in April 2021.
“When Fiona and I started, I just felt like we were doing a great service by seeing people smile that were in sad situations: kids struggling in the psych hospital, people being in detox facilities, just something to cheer them up,” Malaret said.
“If people would smile, it helped me to heal and not miss my husband so much, and she was just a constant companion. One night, I went to go to bed, and I was crying about my husband. She just came over to lay a paw on my arm, like, ‘I’m not going until you stop crying,'” she added.
From the beginning — when Malaret and her husband drove to Kentucky on a whim to pick up their new dog — to Fiona’s passing just weeks after accomplishing the goal set out for her, Malaret said the timing with everything regarding Fiona was unexpected.
She has continued her volunteering within Pickerington Schools following the loss of her dog, and now the community is working toward healing together.
“I went to the high school. They want me to come back and just visit with the kids. One of the young men came in, and he said, ‘Where is Fiona?’ And I said, ‘She passed away.’ He stepped back out in the hallway,” Malaret said. “I think he gave me three hugs because he was just trying to deal with Fiona being gone.”
Fiona had a ‘very special bond’ with resident at an assisted living facility
One of Fiona’s best friends was Agnes Stebelton, who was a resident at Abbington of Pickerington, an assisted living facility just east of Columbus.
Stebelton lost her vision toward the end of her life, and the connection she and Fiona shared was innate, Sarita Bower, a close friend and former neighbor of Stebelton, said.
“She (Fiona) would go immediately to Agnes’ room door and just stop, and they would spend more time (together). She would just roll over and let her rub her belly, and they just had a very, very special bond,” Bower said.
When Stebelton passed away in 2018, Fiona attended her funeral. She seemed aware of the somber event, Bower said, almost like she was saying goodbye to her friend.
“I tell you, that dog knew. Fiona knew. It was an open casket, and Fiona jumped up, and it was just like she was saying goodbye,” Bower reflected.
Similar to the support Fiona once gave her friend, the local community showed up for her celebration of life on March 7 — the first held for a dog at the campus.
This article was made possible by support from the Center for HumanKindness at The Columbus Foundation, which has partnered with The Columbus Dispatch to profile those making our community a better place. Help us inspire kindness by suggesting people, initiatives, or organizations for Reporter Sophia Veneziano to profile. She can be reached at sveneziano@dispatch.com. Learn more at Dispatch.com/Kindness. The Dispatch retains full editorial independence for all content.
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