This 150-pound Great Dane was just given 'hero dog' status [View all]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/11/08/maverick-dog-hero-american-humane/

This 150-pound Great Dane was just given ‘hero dog’ status

The 6-year-old gentle giant was selected from a group of hundreds of other dogs and named 2023 American Humane Hero Dog

By Sydney Page
November 8, 2023 at 12:08 p.m. EST

If Maverick, a 150-pound European Blue Great Dane, puts his paw on you, it might be because you need it.

Maverick’s job as a therapy dog is to comfort military members and their families from across the country. His go-to move is placing his paw on the person he’s seeking to soothe.

“A sign of a good therapy dog is a dog that always wants to touch you,” said Maverick’s owner, Kelly Brownfield, who lives in Saint Robert, Mo., and is the manager at the Fort Leonard Wood United Service Organizations Club. “He just has a sense of knowing what people need.”

When service members die, Maverick escorts their children to their funerals, and he also visits with service members after unexpected deaths in their units. Each week, he spends time with students at schools, and focuses mostly on children struggling with their classes.



Maverick, shown here visiting students last year at Thayer Elementary School in Thayer, Miss. (Courtesy of Kelly Brownfield/American Humane)

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