Welcome to Live Like Maddie 24! Live Like Maddie 2023 was a resounding success! Over the past two years we have raised over $21,000 for the Denver Dumb Friends League and Live Like Maddie marches on. The Live Like Maddie 23 charity hike spent a beautiful fall morning in Monument, Colorado celebrating all of our dogs, past and present, and honoring the memory of Maddie. Numerous local businesses, including my clinic, Animal Dental Care and Oral Surgery, served as sponsors for the event. More than anything, so many individuals made personal donations that allowed us to make such a huge impact. Since we started Live Like Maddie we have received donations from the United States, Germany, England, Australia, Canada and Tiawan.

The Denver Dumb Friends League spends over $500 on each dog that comes through their shelter and is placed in their forever home. That means that our Live Like Maddie charity hikes have saved over 40 dogs! Please consider making a donation to continue to help this amazing shelter make such an amazing impact!

In 2014 we adopted our once in a lifetime dog, Maddie Maeve, from The Dumb Friends League in Denver, Colorado. Maddie was abandoned after she was hit by a car and then rescued by The Dumb Friends League. She had terrible injuries. Left untreated she would have surely died, but The Dumb Friends League veterinary team performed emergency surgery and nursed her back to health. 

I’m a veterinary dentist and I had a friend, Casey, who was a veterinarian on The Dumb Friends League staff at the time Maddie was rescued. He knew my family was looking to adopt another dog. We had recently let go of our much-loved German Shorthair Pointer, Grace, who had severe liver disease. Casey introduced us to Maddie, and we all fell in love with her the moment we met. 

We could say we rescued Maddie, but in so many ways she rescued us. She fell into our family life from day #1. She simply loved being with us and taught us so many lessons of life. Maddie loved yesterday, was totally excited about today, and did not give tomorrow a worry. She greeted me at the side of the bed each morning with a wet nose to my face and her ever-wagging tail going full speed. She loved each day with us like it was the greatest day ever. I want to live like Maddie. 

Maddie loved to go hiking with us in the mountains of Colorado. She knew the sound of my backpack being zipped shut and that it was her signal to get ready to head for the hills. She summited 7 Colorado 14ers and countless other peaks and made friends on every mountaintop. I want to live like Maddie. 

Maddie went to work with me almost every day at my veterinary clinic. She greeted my staff each morning like they were long-lost and much-loved friends she hadn’t seen for years. Maddie went almost everywhere with my family. When planning vacations my children would first ask, “Can Maddie come with us?” She was such an endearing dog and made friends everywhere she went. Shouldn’t we all want to live like Maddie? 

We let go of our Maddie on August 25, 2020, when she became suddenly ill from a tumor that was growing on the base of her heart. We were utterly crushed, but we knew that each day we had with Maddie was a precious gift. I mourned her deeply over the following year and beyond. On the one-year anniversary of her death I knew I wanted to do something to commemorate our once in a lifetime dog and give back to the amazing Dumb Friends League. I decided to organize an annual charity hike with all donations going to The Dumb Friends League in Denver and Live Like Maddie was born. 

Live Like Maddie 2023! is not just about our wonderful dog. It’s about all of our dogs, past and present, that take up residence in our hearts and make us better humans. It’s about all of the dogs that have helped us get through the roughest of times and have made the good times even better. Live Like Maddie 2024! is about the dogs and cats and the people of The Dumb Friends League who have rescued so many pets and placed them in their forever homes. 

Please join us for Live Like Maddie 2024! on Saturday, October 5 at 10 a.m. at the Fox Run Regional Park in Colorado Springs. Also, please consider making a donation. It will help other dogs and people to have the chance to Live Like Maddie! 

All my best, 

Patrick Vall