Help Millie Overcome Cancer and Continue Her Mission

Millie is a certified crisis response working dog that focuses on assisting first responders, communities and others after tragedies. She also supports families, students and others, providing compassionate comfort to children and adults experiencing emotional distress, in ways that others are not able to. Millie and her handler, Debby Rosenberg, are always available to support first responders and those seeking solace during difficult times and others.

Millie is a 6-year-old gentle giant Great Pyrenees. She was rescued as a puppy and has the cutest crooked smile with tongue sticking out, a colorful tail and bubbly spirit. She loves people and can immediately find those who need her spirit and support. She was just diagnosed with osteosarcoma (cancer), with a tumor growing in her right front leg. She is scheduled for an amputation and possibly further cancer treatments to be sure it does not spread throughout her body. Further exam shows no metastisis at this point. We estimate that this will cost approximately $10,000 when all said and done - a huge surprise price tag.

Millie lives to work. She has CGC, CGCA, CGCU certifications and is a member of Alliance of Therapy Dogs and a valued member of Crisis Response Canine. Over the past several years, Millie has deployed throughout PA, DE, NJ, MD, and VA to scenes including mass shootings, fires, line of duty deaths and more. Most recently, Millie and Debby had a key role in supporting Unified Command at the FS Key Bridge collapse, allowing decompression and providing comfort to Army Corps of Engineers, Navy, Coast Guard and the salvors, who were away from their homes and worked diligently for months, cleaning up the remnants of the bridge and discovered the missing construction workers. Millie also visits University of Maryland Shock Trauma Hospital staff, 911 Emergency operations dispatchers, and police and sheriff’s departments in Carroll County, Harford County, Baltimore County and Baltimore City on a regular basis. Millie assists Peer Support Teams and CISM teams of Baltimore City Fire Dept and Carroll County. Millie attends Dulaney Valley Gardens Fallen Heroes Day annually to assist Maryland in remembering our Fallen Heroes. We were in the in the process of arranging support to several other departments, upon this tragic diagnosis. Her calming presence and gentle demeaner allow our first responders to share their feelings and begin to heal after traumatic emotional events.

Everybody needs and wants Millie to continue to perform this valuable service that only certified working canines can do. We need her to have a successful surgery and follow up treatments to get her back on her remaining feet and fulfilling her mission in life to bring joy and comfort to others when they need it most.