When people imagine a therapy dog, they usually picture a golden retriever or a doodle, something soft eyed and calm looking. They are not usually picturing an English bulldog with a serious underbite who would rather lay down on a cold floor than keep working the room. But that bulldog, named Cowboy, spent two years proving that assumption wrong all over Indiana.
I got to know Cowboy through his mom Maddy Reed, a former client of mine in Carmel. I cared for him on Sundays while she worked, and it wasn’t long before I learned he lived a pretty remarkable double life as a certified therapy dog with Paws & Think. This Central Indiana nonprofit organization has been building human-dog connection for 25 years. I had the opportunity to hear the whole story from Maddy and Ashleigh Carter, the organization’s executive director.
How Cowboy Got His Start
Maddy told me she found Paws & Think after seeing the Indianapolis Colts partner with them for Mental Health Awareness Month. She looked them up and called that same week. From there, the process to become a certified team involved an initial phone screening about Cowboy’s temperament and age, a handler course, and then a six week evaluation series that Maddy describes as less like obedience training and more like desensitization. Trainers wanted to know how Cowboy handled loud noises, big crowds, kids, and the temptation of food on the ground.
Cowboy passed his final evaluation on the first try, with one small accommodation. If he and Maddy paused too long between tasks, he would simply lay down and refuse to get back up. As Maddy put it, “that’s just bulldogs for you.”
Ashleigh remembers Cowboy standing out from the start. “While people may not immediately picture a bulldog as a therapy dog, Cowboy has the qualities that matter most: a loving disposition, a strong connection with people, and a handler who was committed to sharing him with the community,” she said. “He also has one of the best underbites I have ever seen, and people absolutely love it. Cowboy’s expressive face and big personality often made people smile before he even reached them, but it is his gentle nature that makes him such a special therapy dog.”
The visits that defined him
Once certified, Maddy and Cowboy became regulars at community and corporate events, including large ones like the Olympic Swimming Trials and NCAA events that came through Indianapolis. But Maddy says their real favorites were smaller and more consistent, especially their weekly visits to Brooke’s Place, a childhood grief counseling center. They loved their yearly appearance at Thomas Gregg Elementary, where fourth graders sold bulldog themed artwork at auction to benefit Paws & Think.
Not every program was Cowboy’s speed. He wasn’t a fan of the hospital visit program or the reading program where kids read aloud to dogs, mostly because he preferred cold floors to standing room to room, and didn’t love sharing attention with a book. Instead Maddy and Cowboy found their niche in one-off community events, including library staff appreciation days where, true to form, everyone came to him instead of the other way around. Along the way he built up an extensive wardrobe, from a hot dog outfit to an ice cream sundae getup that Maddy still calls his most iconic look.
Ashleigh has her own favorite memory of watching people meet him. “One of my favorite things about Cowboy was watching people’s reactions when they saw him coming,” she said. “From young people to adults, he had a way of making people completely melt. I have seen people get down on the floor just to be as close to him as possible, happily letting him crawl into their lap or cover them in kisses.” She was quick to point out it was never just Cowboy doing the work. “Maddy was a huge part of that too. She has such a natural way of connecting with people and helping them feel comfortable. Together, Maddy and Cowboy made an incredible therapy dog team.”
A legacy bigger than one dog
Over their two years as a certified team, Maddy and Cowboy volunteered more than 100 hours and were part of visits that reached over 2,500 people directly. Ashleigh says that number only tells part of the story. “The numbers we record capture the people reached during scheduled volunteer visits, but therapy dog teams like Maddy and Cowboy bring smiles and connection everywhere they go, before and after their shifts, while moving through a building, and in everyday interactions that happen along the way.”
Not long after Cowboy joined the program, another bulldog named Kingsley became a therapy dog too, directly inspired by watching Cowboy do the work. Kingsley’s time in the program was cut short when he passed away suddenly, but his story is still proof there’s no single therapy dog breed.
“At Paws & Think, we focus on the individual dog and handler team instead of the breed, size, or appearance,” Ashleigh said. “Successful therapy dogs are friendly, reliable, comfortable in a variety of environments, and able to safely and calmly engage with the people they visit. We love that Cowboy and Maddy have inspired other dog owners to see what may be possible. We hope that stories like Cowboy’s encourage people to look beyond stereotypes and recognize that many different dogs can make a meaningful impact when they have the right temperament, training, and partnership with their handler.”
A quarter century of growth
Cowboy and Maddy’s story is really one small chapter of a much bigger one. Paws & Think has been serving Central Indiana for 25 years and Ashleigh has watched much of that growth firsthand since joining the organization in December 2022. “When I joined Paws & Think, I’m not sure if we had crossed the milestone of serving more than 100,000 individuals in a year,” she said. “Today we are surpassing that milestone each year. In 2025 alone, Paws & Think volunteers contributed more than 7,200 hours of service and helped us reach more than 117,500 individuals across Central Indiana.”
That growth shows up in the partnerships too. The organization now works with more than 100 organizations, including schools, libraries, health care providers and fellow nonprofits like Ascension St. Vincent, Little Red Door, and the Damien Center. Their therapy teams have also shown up in some unexpected places, providing support for athletes during the 2024 U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium and working with the Indianapolis Colts’ Kicking the Stigma initiative.
Looking back over the milestones, Ashleigh says the growth in reach isn’t really what she’s proudest of. “I’m most proud of the countless moments of connection Paws & Think has created over the past 25 years,” she said. “Therapy dog visits may look simple from the outside, a dog greeting someone, sitting beside a child as they read, or offering comfort to someone having a difficult day, but those moments can be incredibly meaningful.”
How you can get involved and make an impact
Paws & Think is making its 25th anniversary with Tails of Celebration on September 25th. Cowboys attended this event in his very first year as a certified therapy dog, an honor given to very few teams.
“Funds raised help us train, evaluate, and support therapy dog teams as they visit people throughout Central Indiana,” Asheigh explained. “They also support our Youth-Canine Program, which brings together young people and shelter or rescue dogs for a structured training experience. Every ticket purchased, sponsorship secured, auction item donated, and gift made helps ensure more people can experience comfort and joy that come through the human-dog connection.”
You don’t need a dog to help. Ashleigh says there are plenty of ways to get involved, from volunteering during training classes to simply attending an event, donating, or sharing their mission on social media.
If you’d like to support the organization that gave a Carmel bulldog his time to shine and touch lives, you can learn more and find tickets to Tails of Celebration at pawsandthink.org.