"Play With Me!"

I've been very busy with work lately, so my poor Maya has been left to her own devices much more often than I like.  She usually does pretty well, but sometimes she just really wants some attention.  This morning was one of those times.

I was in the bathroom getting ready for work when Maya comes looking for me.  She has one of her favorite balls in her mouth, which she drops at my feet.  This is the universal sign for starting a game of fetch.  I look down and tell her I can't play, that I have to get ready for work.  She looks at me with those big brown eyes, picks up the ball, and drops it at my feet again.  I ignore her.

I hear Maya leave the bathroom, only to reappear moments later with another ball in her mouth.  Again she drops it at my feet, and again I tell her I can't play.  She leaves again and comes back with another ball.  Eventually, there are five balls at my feet, and Maya is looking up at me with those big brown eyes.  Her tail was wagging slightly, almost tentatively, and you could just see the hope in her eyes.

That's when I decide that a ponytail would be a great look for today, and for the next 20 minutes, Maya and me enjoyed a nice game of fetch. 

New Game

I inadvertently stumble upon a new game for me and Maya yesterday: chase. 

Maya loves when I chase her, and yesterday we somehow got a game of chase going.  Since she's so much smaller than me, she can easily get around and under things that I pretty much have to move out of my way.  And this is where our typical game of chase changed.

I was chasing her around the kitchen table, and I kept having to move the chairs out of my way as I went around (I guess that's what happens when you don't push them back in).  It didn't take long for her to catch up to me, and soon we had a game of let's-chase-the-human going.  From the wag of her tail and playful barks, this might just be the most fun game ever. Now I just need to work on getting in better shape so our games can last longer.

Can't wait to see what fun games we come up with tomorrow.

New Toys!

I've realized that Maya is like most puppies, meaning she's like a little kid.  And like little kids, she loves getting new toys.  I took her for a haircut a couple of days ago, and unfortunately, I didn't realize until late that night that her ears were lopsided.  :/  I was not happy about having to go back the next day, and she was even less thrilled.  She hates going to the groomer, but I figured a new toy might make it better.  So while I waited for them to finish up evening her out, I decided to take a look around the store.

I've been thinking about getting Maya something new for a while now, but I hadn't decided what.  She already has balls and ropes and other random stuff, and I can't give her any stuffed toys because she tears them open and eats the stuffing.  And that when I stumbled upon the stuffless stuffed animals.  They had the cutest little fox, and I just knew Maya would love it.  I went ahead and got it for her, and I was right, she LOVED it.  In fact, once we got it home, she didn't put it down for almost 2 hours!!  She "hunted" it, dragged it around the house, chewed it up, tried to shake the stuffing out of it (someone beat her to that one!), and everything else dogs do to their toys.  Then she comforted it.  :)

Look what I caught!!

Please be ok! Please be ok! Please be ok!

Hissy Fit

Maya may finally be learning not to play with stray cats.  A friend has two cats that play with Maya as if they were dogs.  I think this is really cute, except that now Maya thinks she supposed to play with cats, not chase them.  And the stray cats around here haven't gotten that memo.

Whenever Maya sees a cat now, she gets real excited and starts pulling me towards it.  Of course, the cat thinks it's about to become dinner, so it takes off running.  Maya's actually been able to get close to a couple of the cats, mainly because they were frozen in place, too terrified to take off running.  I don't let her get close enough to touch them, or to where they could get at her, but she has gotten within a couple of feet.  And then I pull her away and she whines. 

Yesterday, we were coming back from our walk when she spotted a cat in the bushes.  I didn't see it immediately, and that meant she was able to get a little closer than normal.  This cat didn't take off running like the others had.  Instead, it stood its ground, arched its back, and hissed at Maya.  Maya's tail immediately stopped wagging and she slowly backed away.  Then she grabbed her leash in her mouth and pulled me in the other direction, all the while keeping an eye on the cat, just in case it decided to make a run for us. 

I'm not sure how she's going to react the next time we come across a cat, whether she'll try to play with it again or not.  We didn't see any cats while on our walk today, so we'll have to wait until next time.  And I'm also wondering whether this cat passed out a memo to the other cats as to how to keep Maya away from them...... 

Calm Down!

Two weeks ago, Maya went back to the vet for followup on her broken leg.  Unfortunately, the vet put her on four more weeks of restricted activity -- no running, no jumping.  I swear this vet has never had a puppy before.  If she had, she would know how impossible it is to keep a little one calm for long.

Like tonight, it's 11:00 pm and instead of going to bed, I'm playing tug-o-war with Maya.  Why?  Because it's the only way I can keep her from running around like a mad woman.  She gets these bursts of energy at 10:00 pm every night.  At 9:59 pm, she's fast asleep.  At 10:00 pm, the sprinklers come on and she's up and full of energy for at least an hour.  My options are either play with her and try to keep her calm (hence the tug-o-war) or put her in her kennel and make her go back to sleep (after she cries for a while).  I went with option 1.  

I don't really mind her being up, and I didn't used to mind her running around, but with her leg not completely healed, it's just not a good idea.  So the bad news is we play tug-o-war with her leash and it gets a little more torn up.  The good news is she definitely feels better.

Play Dates

I've recently discovered play dates, and they're great!!

A few days ago, Maya was not cooperating with my studying.  She kept trying to jump on me, tear up my books, run off with my pen or highlighter, bark nonstop, and other very distracting behavior.  I know she was just feeling neglected and wanted me to play with her, but I just didn't have the time.  As I fell further and further behind, I just yelled at her more and more.  The more upset I got, the worse her behavior got.

That's when I decided to pay my neighbor a visit.  She absolutely loves Maya, and Maya is pretty crazy about her too.  She's always offering to take Maya for a few hours whenever I need to get some work done, so I decided to take her up on her offer.  After making sure she wasn't busy, I dropped Maya off and headed back home to study.  I got 2.5 hours of uninterrupted studying, and Maya got 2.5 hours of uninterrupted pampering and playtime.  It's exactly was we both needed.  When I picked her up, I was recharged on my patience and she had gotten some much needed attention.  The rest of the evening was good for both of us.

Last night, Maya had a second play date.  I had just taken her out for the last time before heading to bed.  On our way back home, we ran into a neighbor and his dog.  We stopped and chatted for a few minutes while the dogs played.  About 10 minutes later, another neighbor came by with her dog.  The three of us chatted for about 30 minutes while the dogs continued playing.  It was great because all three dogs are about the same size, so they play really well together.  By the time we finally went home, Maya was beat.  She got some water, and then went straight to bed and was out like a light.  This let me get a couple more things done before I called it a night.

I'm thinking I need to start setting up some play dates for her a little more often.  :)

CPR Puppy

Since moving to this part of Texas, I have discovered a new breed of flies.  Just think of a regular housefly on steroids.  I was kind of hoping the cold had killed them all off, but alas, no -- one magically appeared in my bathroom this morning.

Like most people (or at least most people I know), I don't have a flyswatter.  So what does a girl do when she needs a flyswatter and there's not one to be found?  She grabs the nearest article of clothing from the top of the hamper.  In my case, a pair of shorts.  After too many swings and misses, the fly finally hit the ground.

As it was lying dead (I thought) on its back, I went to find something to pick it up with.  That's when Maya decided to investigate.  I assume she thought it might be a good toy.  She sniffed it, maybe licked it, definitely pawed at it.  I walked in just in time to see her flip it back onto its legs with her paw, at which point it flew away again. 

I eventually managed to hit it again with the shorts and get it in the trash, but somebody should teach Maya that CPR should be saved for animals that fall into the cute-and-cuddly categories, which most definitely does not include bugs.

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.  :)

Attack of the Killer Leash

One of Maya's favorite toys is actually her leash.  She loves to roll around on the ground with it, chew on it, drag it around.  No matter what she's doing, she will eventually get all tangled up in it and it ends up looking like they were wrestling.  Sometimes she wins, sometimes the leash wins.  Here's sample of a wrestling match from a few weeks ago:

Dog Park

Yesterday, Maya had her first trip to a dog park.  One of the groups from school sponsored a Dog's Day Out, and since one of my friends was running, I decided to stop by.  Since this was her first time, and since she's so shy, I decided not to traumatize her by taking her to the big dog side (which is where most of the group was).  Instead, we said hi to everyone and headed to the little dog side. 

I have to say that she's gotten a lot better with other people.  Other dogs, on the other hand.......  Well, let's just say she's still really shy. 

Eventually, the group headed over to the little dog side.  All of the dogs beside one are borderline size, but are still allowed on the little dog side.  The one big one is really old and has arthritis, so she just likes to lay in the sun chewing on her toys, so none of the owner complained about a big dog in the little dog area. 

There are benches and tables set up under a canopy for dog parents, and that's where we were hanging out.  Initially, I left Maya on the ground to hopefully entice her to play with the other dogs.  She spent her time trying to get away from them and hiding under my legs, so I eventually picked her up.  There was another small dog on the table that was scared of the other dogs too, so it wasn't long before him and Maya were buddies. 

She eventually got brave enough to explore, but not until most of the other dogs were gone.  I think she just got overwhelmed.  And even though we were on the little dog side, she was still almost the smallest dog there.  I'm not sure if we'll be going back anytime soon, because she really didn't seem to have a good time.  We'll see.

We left Dog's Day Out with a goodie bag full of treats and a toy.  She absolutely loved her new toy.  I gave it to her when we got home and she refused to put it down the rest of the day. 

On a side note, she was almost puppy-napped a few times.  My friends thought she was adorable and kept wanting to take her home with them. 

Trustworthy Puppy?

When I first got Maya, I put her in her kennel whenever I couldn't keep my eyes on her, even if it was just going to be for 5 minutes.  Little by little, as she earned some trust, I've started leaving her out.

I no longer put her in her kennel when taking a shower, but I leave her outside the bathroom.  At first, she would cry at the door until I finished and came out.  She doesn't cry anymore, but she's always at the door when I close it, and waiting at the door when I get out.  I've never been quite sure what she does for those 20 minutes, but I guess a part of me figured she waited outside the door.  Well, today this is what I had waiting for me when I stepped out of the bathroom:

   

So apparently she does not sit at the door and wait for me.  At least she's entertaining herself.

Poor Puppy!!

Yesterday, Maya was going crazy around the house, so I decided to take her out to run off some energy.  We went to a little park/dog run by my brother's place.  I called him up while we were there to see if maybe they wanted to bring Amos out.  Unfortunately, it started raining before he got there, but he invited me up for dinner.

Now those of you read this blog know that Maya and Amos don't exactly get along.  It's not that they don't like each other; it's just that Amos plays too rough and Maya doesn't like it.  She ends up barking and snapping at him, and he still doesn't leave her alone.  Last night was no different.  I'll let her defend herself unless it looks like he's getting too rough, or she gets tired and comes to me for help. 

Last night she got tired and ran up to me for help, and I picked her up and set her on my lap.  Amos walked away after a minute or two and went to his water bowl.  Thinking she was safe for the time being, she decided to jump off my lap.  My brother's place has hardwood floors, and I'm not sure if her feet slipped out from under her when she landed, or if she just landed on her side, but she ended up hitting the floor on her side, hard.  She got up, but was kind of stumbling, not quite sure of herself and started crying.  This was the first time I ever heard her cry, not a quick yelp, but actual crying.  I felt SO bad, but there wasn't much I could do.  I just picked her up and checked her over and tried to comfort her.  Even Amos, who had been chasing her around like a madman, was all of a sudden very gentle and looking concerned.  It was almost like he was saying, "I didn't do it!  Please be ok or they're going to blame me." 

After a few minutes, she was ok, but seemed a little tentative.  On the upside, Amos left her alone.  I think he was scared of hurting her.  And by the end of the night, she was back to her normal self and even initiating the playing with Amos.  But still, poor baby!!  :(

Park Time

I've started taking Maya to the park in the evenings to let her run off a little energy.  I can't take her to the dog park yet, but there's a little park by my brother's place that we go to.  It's grassy and open, and there's little to no traffic, so she can get off her leash and run.

Since I play tennis, I have plenty of old tennis balls around the house that I can give her to play with.  I grabbed one today as we walked out, thinking maybe we can play a little fetch.  I don't know why, but I just always figured dogs naturally knew how to play fetch.  Think about it -- they like to chase things, they like to carry things in their mouths, and they come when called.  Seemed pretty natural to me.

Maya does not know how to play fetch.  She likes to chase things and she comes when called, but it's the whole carrying things in her mouth that seems to be alluding her.  I'll throw the ball, she'll chase it, stop it, then leave it there and run back to me.  And since I have to keep going to get the ball, that was a very short game of fetch.