Thieving Puppy

Like most dogs, Maya is a thief.  Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately for me), she's not a very good thief.  She's still a puppy, so I expect her to get into things she's not supposed to, but I swear she'd get away with so much more if she were just a little sneaky about it.

For example, she loves socks.  I don't know if it's because they're soft or fit perfectly in her mouth or just smell really good, but she absolutely loves them.  Whenever she can get her teeth on one, which is more often than I'd like, she takes off running with it in her mouth.  I can't actually catch her, so I either have to trade the sock for a Cheerio or wait for her to get tired of it and set it down.  And since she actually chews on it, and I don't want hole-y socks, she gets a Cheerio.

The reason I say she could get away with more if she were a little sneaky is that she takes off running every time!  If she would just go about her business like normal, even walk away and go sit in a corner, it would take me a lot longer to realize she had something, and she'd keep whatever she had that much longer.  As it is now, if she takes off running, I immediately go see what she's gotten into.

A while back, an out-of-town friend came to stay for a few days so we could attend a mutual friend's wedding.  One night, she left her things in the corner by her suitcase, but didn't put anything inside of it.  After a few minutes, we both see Maya head in that direction and start sniffing around.  Since she wasn't actually in my friend's things, we left her alone.  Not a minute later, she takes off running.  Knowing this is "the sign," I went after her to see what she got, and what do I see but my friend's wedding ring in Maya's mouth!!  I trade her for a few Cheerios and get her ring back, and my friend packed up her stuff and put everything inside the suitcase.

So while Maya is a thief, I guess I should be happy that she's still a bad thief.  If she were any sneakier, I might have been mailing the wedding ring back a few days later.

New Friends

This is actually a story from a couple of weeks ago, but it's cute so I thought I would share it. 

Maya's best friend is Lizzy, a little yorkie who lives a few doors down.  Lizzy has a couple of roommates, George and Gypsy, two cats.  George is actually bigger than Maya, and I've seen the two of them play together before.  Gypsy is pretty small and very shy.  Her mom told me that she found Gypsy when she was about 6 - 8 months old.  Her previous owners had declawed her, and then threw her out. 

Gypsy is literally scared of everything. While Maya, Lizzy, and George play, Gypsy hides somewhere out of reach.  Her mom tells me that she's ok with her, her boyfriend, and Lizzy and George, but doesn't like new people or animals.  She also shared that it took over a year of her boyfriend living with her before Gypsy would come near him.

The day I picked Maya up from the vet after getting spayed, I had a class that I absolutely couldn't miss.  I didn't want to leave her alone (just in case), so their mom offered to keep Maya at their place.  I knew Maya wouldn't be as active as usual and assumed that she would mostly want to hang out or sleep, but I didn't expect what I saw when I picked her up later that day.  Maya was fast asleep in the cats' bed, curled up with Gypsy!!  It was the cutest thing ever.  Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera, and they woke up right about that time.  But I'm happy to report that since that day, Maya and Gypsy are buddies too.  :)

Trick Doors

I'm in the middle of finals, so it's been up to Maya to entertain herself lately.  She usually does ok, but eventually she'll come jump in my lap or on my books.  That's her way of telling me to play with her.  It's also my hint to step away from the books for a few minutes and get some fresh air or just relax.

Yesterday, I noticed that she was being really quiet.  I looked around and even called her name, but nothing.  There's absolutely no way she can get outside, so I wasn't worried about that, but I figured she must have gotten into something and didn't want to fess up.  Or she found a partial treat she hid somewhere along the way. 

I gave up and headed to the bathroom.  When I opened the door, there she was, looking up at me oh so innocently.  Apparently the bathroom door was a little open and she walked in.  Then she closed the door behind her and was stuck.  The surprising part was that she didn't make a sound.  I figure she must have been in there a good 10 minutes, but there was no barking, crying, whimpering, or even scratching at the door.  And since the light was turned off and there are no windows in that bathroom, I guess she just sat in the dark that whole time.

Today, she disappeared again.  This time, I heard the bathroom door close.  About 20 seconds later, she was barking.  I guess she figured out I would be glad to let her out, just as soon as she let me know she was stuck.  I wonder how many more times this will play out before she decides there's really nothing interesting in there...

Yummy, Yummy

So lately Maya has been bringing chunks of mulch into the house.  Since they're mostly sticks, and since she just chewed on them and didn't eat them, I figured it was no big deal.  Then she started throwing up....and she's been eating them.

Not wanting a sick puppy (and not wanting to keep cleaning up puppy puke), I decided to get her some more appropriate chew stuff.  She has toys, but apparently that isn't what she's been in the mood for, so off to PetSmart we went. 

I got her a variety of rawhides.  Yesterday, I gave her one that was wrapped in sweet potato.  I wasn't sure if she was going to like it or not.  When I held it out, she came over and smelled it, then licked it, then snatched it out of my hand and ran to her favorite spot.  She stayed there chewing on it for the next hour, literally.  Then she went and got a drink of water, and went back to the rawhide.


She finally got tired of it after about 3 hours, but there was still a good amount left.  I'm guessing she thought someone might take it away from her, so she proceeded to look for a place to hide it.  First she tried to dig a hole in her bed.  That didn't work.  Then she tried to dig a hole in my tennis bag.  That didn't work either.  Next she tried to dig a hole in the carpet.  Still no luck. 

After trying a few more hiding spots, she finally decided her kennel was the way to go.  First, she took everything out of it.  Then, she dropped the remaining rawhide in the corner.  Finally, just to be sure nobody accidentally found it, she dragged her shirt/blankie back into the kennel and put it on top of the rawhide.  I guess she couldn't take the chance that another dog was going to find it. 

Update

Well, I talked to the vet earlier this evening and Maya is doing great (insert sigh of relief here).  She'll be home tomorrow.  I can pick her up anytime after 7:30 am, but I'll probably sleep in.....I'll probably pick her up around 8:00 am.  :)

Getting Ready....

So tomorrow is the big day -- Maya is getting fixed.  I know it's for the best, but I can't help but worry.  Part of me thinks it's evil to keep her from ever becoming a mommy, but another part of me thinks it's even more evil to let her become a mommy and then take her babies away. 

I know she doesn't know what's going on, and that worries me too.  I know that she's going to cry when I leave her at the vet's because she'll think I'm leaving her.  The vet will be keeping her overnight, so leaving her bed and favorite toys with her will only add to this belief.  I also know that she will cry at night.  She hasn't spent a night away from me since I got her, so I'm not positive as to how she will react, but something just tells me she's going to cry. 

And then there's the night before, tonight.  She can't eat or drink after 8:00 pm.  She never eats all her food at once; she's more of a grazer.  I was worried that she's eat some of her food early, and then be starving at 8:30 or something like that and that I wouldn't be able to give her anything.  But for some reason, she gobbled up most of her dinner tonight in one sitting. 

Maybe this is a good sign; a sign that I'm just worrying too much.  I hope so.  Anyways, I'll write an update on her tomorrow.

Help Me Mommy!

This is probably evil, but I find it funny that Maya is scared of some of the things she's scared of.  I completely understand being scared of the hair drier, blender, and mixer.  But how is it that she's not scared of the vacuum?  She's also not scared of cats, dogs (as long as they're not too big), birds, and squirrels.  But stick a stuffed animal in front of her and she freaks out.  For some reason, she's also scared of hats.  That one really confuses me.  I have to keep my hats out of sights or she's terrified.  Weird.