Maya

by Maryanne Pearce
(Ottawa)

We are delighted that Maya has found her forever home. Our thanks to her new family who opened their home and their hearts to her. This was her story...

Sweet Maya is eight years old, but you would not know it from her energy and health! She spent three years as an indoor house dog, and then the next five outside on a tether. She settled back into being a house dog very easily, and that is where she will remain in her new adoptive home. She is not good with other dogs in a home. Having other dogs go by her while she was tied up and unable to go to them is likely the reason for the barking/growling that she displayed.

Maya is an easy, easy dog. She was fostered by a first-time foster that has not had a dog in twenty years. Maya is home alone during the day without an issue. Her only flaw is a tendency to get into the garbage if the lid is not on it.

If you are interested in giving this big sweet girl a “retirement” home where she can have cuddles and walks and love, please call Maryanne at 613-867-6346.
Maya update: for Pyrs lovers!
Maya would be a wonderfully lovable and loving companion for someone who would be willing to give this senior a ’forever retirement home’ respecting her need for security and give her the love she is willing to return many fold. It is my estimation that she will live a good long life with good nutrition and glucosamine supplements. Her blood panel showed her to be in excellent health with no surprises on the horizon.

Maya is very jealous of her people and will not abide another dog to share them with her. She is very loving but needs to be an only dog, having lacked the affection she wanted since her first family gave her up. She lives well in the house and is a good traveller. She does not like thunderstorms but she seems to understand that she is safe in the kennel here with my other Pyrs and does not become agitated. She seemed to be fine in the house with her first foster people but she does need a bit of reassurance though.
Presently, she eats 1 - 2 cups of salmon and sweet potato dry food and 2 (+/-) pounds of raw chicken a day and invites me to run and play Pyr games. She does not bark much, only when those pesky barn cats don’t stay in their place and pass by the kennel go mouse hunting!
She has not tried to run away and seems very happy to enjoy a safe environment with good food and a Pyr neighbour in the next kennel to engage in a friendly shouting match!
I’ll explain: Smilla, one of my Pyrs is a past master at going up to the chain link fence separating her from another dog and starting to play shout. Maya then answers and they have a good time for 5 minutes just teasing each other, as long as the fence is between them. Neither is particularly interested in actually meeting the other in the run!!!! Silly dogs!!!!

Her story as I was able to piece it together:
She was born in 2005. She was brought in to an SPCA on July 13th, 2007, vaccinated and adopted out on the 17th. Unfortunately, the people didn’t know how to deal with a Pyr, especially a Pyr with loads of character, and she was brought back on the 30th because she barked a lot and tried to run away. They didn’t understand that she was missing her original family and needed to be reassured and loved, not that at that point she needed winning over.

She finally found a new family, her 3rd, in November of that year and she stayed there for a while. However, another dog came into the family. It seems she was given to a farmer who wanted her as a guardian but that didn’t work out and he brought her back two days later. Maya stayed there but she couldn’t be in the house with the other dog.
She seems to have stayed outside on a tether for the next 4 years or so because of the friction with the other dog, a lab, until she was brought back to the SPCA this spring. They contacted the club through one of our volunteers, who fostered her for a week but, having already other dogs, could not keep her as Maya wanted all of her attention and tried to run one of them off. She then was in a one-dog foster home for two months where she did very well in relearning to be a house dog and walking on a leash with a halter ….but …. the foster lady had to move to another city and she came to me.

Her fur is growing back in nicely from having been shaved. I’m not sure how that came about but probably misinformation about Pyrs in summer. It is not because of any health issue. The guard hairs are getting longer and coat looks less like that of a sheared sheep and more like a Pyr’s.

In summary:
1) Maya is a great companion and would defend her human against anything, standing her ground with that Pyr look that says ‘Don’t try it. This is my human’. As she is a Pyr, she has the whole repertoire of Pyr intimidation techniques.
2) She needs to be alone to rule her domain. She even tried to control my big male Pyr and claim me as her own. Needless to say, that didn’t work! They mutually ignore each other now but I don’t let them together any more. It might work out because they were all right for two weeks but I really think that she would be happier to have her own work to do and not have to share a human.
3) She needs to have a halter or a gentle leader for walks because she wants to protect her human from any dog she meets. (With the halter, she understands that she is not on her own ground and you can easily turn her head to change her view and divert her attention.
I believe this is a result of having spent time tied out and having to guard her space from whom or whatever may have encroached. The halter allows control of her movement and prevents unpleasantness. A firm hand and consistency works very well.
4) As she is 8 years old ,even though she acts like a 5 year old, I have been giving her 1000 mg of glucosamine daily and it seems to me that her ‘humour’ is much better. It would stand to reason that if she spent time completely outside, she might have a bit of stiffness in her lower joints. She does love to puddle in my one little 2’ X 2’ mud puddle every occasion available! It may also be that she has settled in and now knows the rhythm of life here.

5) For Pyr lovers: Maya is so much the ‘typical Pyr’, exhibiting all those traits we find so endearing and sometimes frustrating. If I didn’t already have a 9 ½ and an 8 ½ year old, retirees both, I would love to keep her. With understanding and care she has many years of happiness to reciprocate with a human who is fortunate enough to live with her.

She deserves the opportunity to give her great love and bask in returned affection and cuddling and walks with her own human.