Fresh Take Florida
A sheriff’s office in Florida’s Panhandle is naming its new bloodhound puppy “Miss Peggy” in a heart-warming tribute to a beloved, longtime office employee who died after battling COVID-19.
Bay County Sheriff Tommy Ford over the weekend asked for the blessing of the family of Margaret “Peggy” MacDonald, 63. She worked as a staff assistant in Panama City for nearly 30 years under five sheriffs. She died in December 2020, less than two years away from retiring.
Her daughter, Rachael Smith, 44, of Panama City Beach, loved the sheriff’s idea.
“Mom was always the answer to everything, and if she didn’t know, she’d find it,” said Smith, MacDonald’s eldest daughter. “She always greeted every single person with a smile. She never disliked anyone, it didn’t matter who you were, where you came from, what you did, where you were going.”
Now MacDonald’s name and legacy will live on through a brown, floppy-eared bloodhound, now 13 weeks old. It will work at the county jail as a tracking dog. Training was expected to take another three months, and she will likely work for the sheriff’s office for at least seven years, sheriff’s spokeswoman Ruth Corley said.
Miss Peggy was part of a litter from the nearby Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office, which bred one of its bloodhounds and gave away the puppies to law enforcement agencies across the state. Six sheriff’s offices across Florida, Jacksonville police, and a state prison received puppies.
Ford, the sheriff, said the puppy fell asleep on his lap driving back to Panama City.
“I’m in love with the thing,” he said.
But what to name her?
The sheriff’s office asked for suggestions on its Facebook page, where one recommendation was “Peggy” in honor of MacDonald. Other suggestions included “Betty” after Betty White, the celebrity and animal lover who recently died at 99, or Casey after the wife of Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Smith and MacDonald’s husband approved of the gesture. Corley, the sheriff’s spokeswoman, said “Miss” was tacked on out of respect.
“It’s a Southern thing,” she said. “It was important for us to name her Miss Peggy.”
MacDonald died after six weeks in the hospital, leaving her family and co-workers grieving. The sheriff’s office hasn’t hired her replacement — and may never. Her office desk, once adorned with aquariums, remains empty.
Corley and Smith said that if MacDonald knew about the puppy, she would have laughed.
“I bet she’s laughing now,” Corley said. “She would find it just wonderful.”
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Abigail Hasebroock reporting; produced by Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. The reporter can be reached at [email protected].
One comment
Joseph W Cupp
February 4, 2022 at 8:37 am
What a wonderful tribute to Miss Peggy! As a youth spent a bit of time in Panama City during the summers it was one of the places my family would visit that was not another family members home or farm. And if the original Miss Peggy was the hard worker the article implies, then there is no better breed than the Bloodhound to be her living tribute, they will work until they drop as long as they think they are doing what you want them to do. Just a tip, watch her around pillows until she is about 2 years old, the Bloodhounds that I’ve known liked to watch feathers fly when they were bored and due to their intelligence they get bored if they aren’t kept busy. Again I think this is a great tribute for a member of any Sheriff’s office. And WOW! Thanks to the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office for donating their pups to other agencies, my wife & I looked at getting a Bloodhound pup a few years ago, we both love the breed (for different reasons, she loves the big floppy ears, I love their determination and grit) and they were far and beyond one of the most expensive breeds we looked at, so instead we adopted dogs that needed new homes.
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