Maggie was just a young puppy when she followed our son Ben home one very cold, snowy December afternoon. She’d been seen in the neighborhood for a few days going from one home to another and the rumor was her owners didn’t want to take care of her. That was in 1999. Since then she has been part of our family and a valuable member of our farm team.

We are nominating Maggie for Zippy Dogs Dog of the Month for the heroic deed she performed on our farm in 2001.

It was the end of September and our final week of harvest. Robbie, one of our workers and Ben’s best friend, was picking the last of the cherry tomatoes. The vines were heavily mulched with hay. We had sent Maggie with him for company and protection. Within minutes we heard Robbie shout and Maggie’s furious bark – the one that in North Central Washington’s shrub steppe landscape means rattlesnake. By the time Rick grabbed a shovel and hurried to them, Maggie had it cornered at the base of a large sagebrush. She had flushed the rattlesnake out from under the mulch hay where it lay inches from Robbie’s hand as he reached to pick the tomatoes.

Rattlesnakes are part of the biodiversity of our area and potentially a lethal adversary for both people and livestock. The hiss and rattle of an agitated rattlesnake is a primal reminder of that fact. Maggie’s barking kept the rattlesnake at bay until Rick was able to dispatch it with the shovel but not before it had lashed out and struck Maggie on the end of her nose. Within minutes she was limp in Rick’s arms as he carried her to the truck waiting to speed to our veterinarian’s office 15 miles away.

After a steroid shot and overnight observation she was able to come home the next day. Maggie hardly seemed affected by the event and, although she may not have understood the heroine’s welcome she received on her return, she certainly appreciated the extra love, treats, and the special thank-you she got from Robbie.

Today Maggie is still the ultimate farm dog; loyal, willing, protective and ready to give her all for one of her pack.

Rama Farm