Myranda Smith, 14, hangs out with Maci, one of three comfort dogs donated to Lee Middle and High School in 2022. Maci’s handler is Shannon Clark, a guidance counselor at the school. Maci needs two surgeries and care that will cost around $20,000 to repair ligaments and bones in her hind legs.
LEE — Maci is a young standard poodle who loves the water, loves to romp, and was born to play.
But now, she has to stay down. Maci, who will be 3 in April, is taking sedatives to keep her from getting hurt.
This is because Maci was diagnosed with a congenital disorder called “bilateral cranial cruciate ligament rupture” due to the angle of her tibia bones. She’ll need two expensive surgeries to fix the bones and ligaments in her hind legs, and without the intervention, she risks being put down.
Myranda Smith, 14, left, and Darren Keenan, 15, walk the halls of Lee Middle and High School with Maci on Monday. Maci is on sedatives to keep her from running and jumping.
She is one of three comfort dogs donated to Lee Middle and High School in 2022. Maci’s handler, school guidance counselor Shannon Clark, has to walk her carefully at school to make sure she doesn’t get hurt on her daily round for treats that begins with the principal’s office.
Without the two surgeries, Clark says, the outcome for Maci is unbearable to Clark’s family and a school community that loves and needs her.
Maci, who is one of three comfort dogs at Lee Middle and High School, needs expensive surgery on her back legs. Fundraisers are underway for what is estimated at $20,000 in treatments.
It’s why Clark started a fundraising campaign that includes a GoFundMe page and two “Dine and Donate” events at local restaurants this month and next, as well as Facebook and TikTok accounts. The GoFundMe account has already received, as of Tuesday evening, more than $4,000 of an $18,000 goal since it was established on Friday.
All donations go directly to the Maci Surgery Fund at Lee Bank, where checks can also be made out directly. The goal is $20,000 total that includes both surgeries, and physical therapy and medication after those. The surgeries are each estimated at $7,500 and $8,500. Clark says all it’s worth it to keep Maci going.
“There are kids who absolutely every day have to come in and get their ‘Maci,’” Clark said. “There are a couple of special needs students who especially love her, and just other kids who are maybe emotionally dysregulated from whatever’s going on in their life.”
Maci is one of three comfort dogs donated to the school in 2022 by Lee Kohlenberger Jr., a poodle breeder and owner of Berkshire Poodles. Olli, who was Maci’s littermate, is handled by Lee High School math teacher Keri Wade. The third, Millie, lives with sixth grade teacher Trysta DeSantis. Neither Olli nor Millie have Maci’s condition.
Maci shown playing with a student in 2023 before she began limping and was diagnosed with a congenital ligament and bone condition. She is one of three comfort dogs brought in by the Lee School District to bring a feeling of belonging and alleviate anxieties among students and faculty.
Hilltown Veterinary Clinic in Washington does free annual visits for the comfort dogs, but would not have the ability to take on a situation like Maci’s, Kohlenberger said.
The standard poodles, Kohlenberger said, are “generally a healthy breed,” and that Maci’s condition “seems like a freak thing.”
Myranda Smith, 14, left, and Darren Keenan, 15, hang out in the guidance counselor’s office with Maci, one of three comfort dogs at Lee Middle and High School.
Expenses for Maci have been paid for by Clark, as well as through fundraising and donations. The district at the outset decided against health insurance for the dogs, which on average cost $51 per month, according to an article in Forbes. The district, already struggling with a tight education budget, couldn’t cover costs.
And no one expected medical bills like Maci’s.
‘IN LOVE WITH HER’
It began with a limp.
“I noticed her limping in July,” Clark said, while the family was on vacation with her. “I hoped it was because she was swimming, jumping off the paddle board, jumping off the raft, running around in the sand.”
Clark hoped it was a “little strain.” She stopped limping after a couple of days, but then she limped on her other leg later that summer.
Maci with her handler Shannon Clark. Clark took Maci into her home when she was donated to Lee Middle and High School as one of three comfort dogs.
“So I was like, ‘What is going on here?’ If she’d run really hard, she would be lame the next day.”
X-rays would tell the story: a torn cruciate ligament in both hind legs. An orthopedic specialist explained that Maci’s bones were not sitting flat.
Without the surgery, Clark said, Maci would live in pain and risk tearing the other ligament to the point where the top bone, will fall onto the lower bone, making it harder to repair.
The first surgery on one leg is scheduled for Feb. 5; the second will happen roughly three months later. The immediate recovery time after each of Maci’s surgeries will take six to eight weeks, and up to six months for full recovery.
It’s a hard road, but Clark doesn’t see another way, given that Maci is “such a member of our community at this point, she’s been integrated into our school, my family … we’re just in love with her.”
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