Maisy the Barn Hippo Is Loving Her New Life as a Farm Dog and Instagram Star
Courtesy of Marisa Elbert
Maisy the Barn Hippo is, surprisingly, not a hippo at all. Maisy is actually an adorable pit bull who helps do barn duties and take care of horses with her dog mom, Marisa Elgbert. Elgbert gave Maisy the nickname Barn Hippo after noticing the stocky pooch resembled a hippo while trotting up and down the barn aisles—and the nickname stuck.
In fact, it's even the Instagram username (@maisythebarnhippo) for the account where Maisy and her adopted dog brother Andy have over 118K followers. People all over the world have fallen in love with Maisy's sweet personality, and Marisa says the social media account's success has been easy thanks to Maisy's sense of humor and goofy personality.
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"What makes her so special is the way she talks," Elgbert tells Daily Paws. "Her motto is 'woo is life'."
"Woo" is Maisy's signature sound—an adorable, low "woof" that seems to be missing the "f".
"She woos when she's extremely happy, she woos when she's ignored, she woos when she's annoyed at me," says Elgbert.
It was actually a video of Maisy woo-ing that brought her and Elgbert together. Before Maisy joined the family, Elgbert had suffered a season of losses—in the span of a few years, she had lost her father, her mother, and her 13-year-old dog George.
Elgbert was feeling lonely and going through a rough time when a friend tagged her in a comment on a video of a sweet foster dog named Maisy doing her signature "woo" sound, Elgbert fell in love immediately.
"I was like, 'Who is this dog and how do I get her in my life?'" says Elgbert.
After tracking down and adopting Maisy, Elgbert discovered that her precious new pet was only three years old, and had been rescued from a bad situation where she was kenneled almost constantly. Elgbert has made it her goal to help Maisy live the adventurous, happy life she deserves today.
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Maisy has quickly adapted to barn life and made tons of friends—especially with the horses. She loves to sleep with them, lick their noses, and hang around when the farrier comes to trim hooves.
"There's definitely something about her that's magnetic to everybody," Elgbert says.
