Saving Macie

Stuff We Love

By Geri Dietze | Sept. 12, 2026

After years in an enormous Louisiana puppy mill, never setting foot on grass, never seeing the sun, Macie the poodle/shih tzu arrived in northern Michigan with trauma intact, but Boyne City’s Linda McGeorge was determined.

“For the first six months she hid, didn’t make a sound, and wouldn’t accept a touch from me,” explains McGeorge.

There were other quirks: Macie would fill her bed with toys, typical of dogs who lose their litters, and she still cannot walk in the grass, so her daily business is on a puppy pad. But it was the adoption of Oreo, a well-adjusted pup, who taught Macie how to be a dog.

Today, Macie seeks out attention, (one-handed pets, please), she has learned to bark, and she warms—slowly—to select people. “She is happy and safe, and that was what I wanted for her,” McGeorge says.