A three-year-old Golden doodle named Dozer is now an official spokes dog for the Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center located at Maple Lawn Community in Howard County, Maryland. How can a dog be a spokesperson, you ask? Well it’s simple, really.
Get the publicity as being the only dog to run solo-without his parents-and finish the last, honking, seven miles of the Maryland Half-Marathon! One moment, Dozer’s owners see him in the front yard, sniffing around for the local squirrels, and then the next moment, he’s gone. They wonder how he could have gotten through the invisible fence and become very worried for his safety. Where could Dozer be?
After the next, grueling, seven miles with his fellow half-marathoners, Dozer crosses the finish line at the 2:14:24 mark. He is congratulated by his fellow comrades, sniffs out some water and/or food from generous donors and then trudges off back to his home. He ends up returning by Monday and is enthusiastically welcomed back by his concerned parents.
After getting a good bill of health from Dozer’s family vet, and the founders of the Maryland Half-Marathon hear about what Dozer did, he is promptly awarded a race finisher’s medal.