Dogs and dirt

Dogs are the best antidepressant, even if a dog is the reason you're depressed. For me, being surrounded by multiple dogs helps ease the loss of one. I've said before I don't know how people cope with the loss of a dog if they only had one. I am lucky to have nine others around here to help me process Maya's death in a somewhat healthy manner. 

The walk yesterday helped a lot, and the sunshine the past two days has helped as well. Today I added gardening to my canine therapy. I went out and bought plants and began planting the container gardens. Dogs and dirt. They go together like, well, like dogs and dirt. It's not always pretty, but for me, always therapeutic. 

Coming back from my first plant buying run today, I realized something about Maya that I sort of knew but didn't really appreciate. She would always wait for me to return, looking out the upstairs bedroom or the kitchen door. She knew the sound of my van and would react before anyone else, alerting them so that I was always met by a cacophony of barking voices before I even got to the house. Today I came home and everyone was quietly napping. It made the realize that the raucous greeting I always received was really all due to Maya. It was kind of sad, but it also made me appreciate her even more. 

Mercy, Odin, and Norman

 Norman, Odie, and Paisley

Mercy, Odie, and Bailey

Norman has really enjoyed running with the other fosters.

Norman and Odie. That's a whole lotta dog.

Paisley and Ford, with a tennis ball in his mouth.

Odie, Norman, Elvis, and Mercy

An overhead shot of one of my containers. 

There will be many more garden pictures in days to come.

Candace and Mercy

Candace wasn't out in the pasture because I thought there was a bit too much dog for her, but this evening she and Ford were out in the yard together and they played! I had never seen Candace actually engage in play with another dog. She sought Ford out for it.

Undoubtedly one of the prettiest pictures I've ever taken.

Beautiful shepherd (Mercy) in a field is buttercups.

Odie

Della

Bailey, our antelope

Odin, Ford, and Mercy

The new grass is getting tall and it's finally dry.

 I really hope my guy can get it cut this weekend.

Odie

Bailey, mid-pounce

Spring is a good time to be a dog around here.

Worthy successors

I want to thank everyone who expressed their concern and shared our grief over losing Maya. Things are different around here today, and we all know it, but no one seems quite sure what the changes will mean. 

I took up the two beds that Maya used, the one under my desk and right next to my side of the bed. I couldn't stand to see them empty and also didn't want to see anyone else occupy those spots just yet. While I was at my desk working today, I still kept my feet tucked under my chair as I did to avoid having them in Maya's space under the desk. That's an old habit that may take a while to change. 

The day started out quite chilly, but the sun was out and by afternoon it was really pretty nice. I took Maya's two most worthy successors, Della and Bailey, on a hike. 

Della and Maya always got along. They came to an understanding early on. Maya was at an age where she was happy to cede many of the female alpha dog duties to Della, who easily stepped into the role. Maya maintained what was most important to her, which was her status as my little girl giving her the right of closest proximity to me at all times, hence her bed under my desk and right next to my bed at night. 

Bailey is still very much a puppy and she was always deferential to both Della and Maya. By the time Bailey came along Maya wasn't doing much hiking with me anymore and she was happy enough to let Bailey take up the slack there. The two girls did hunt together in the pasture a lot and I have no idea what all Maya may have taught her, good or bad. 

No dog will ever replace Maya, but her roles around here will get divided up among the remaining dogs by necessity. I expect Della and Bailey will work things out between them in a power sharing arrangement that suits them and the needs of the household.

I gave Bailey an "up" command and she immediately started looking for something to jump up onto. She is also getting pretty good with "left" and "right" verbal commands, which Maya had mastered, at trail intersections.

The Rivanna river was looking very pretty today in the background.

I had missed the Virginia bluebells, but found other wildflowers in bloom, including these wild rhododendrons. 

And of course the dogwoods are in bloom now.

Four miles, good for my whole body and my soul today.

My little girl Maya

She was trouble from the start. Her prior owners had surrendered her to a shelter because they couldn't contain her and she got in trouble for chasing their landlord's cows. She was extremely frightened, scared, and shut down in the shelter and wouldn't even have been put up for adoption. She came here as a foster since she had no hope of getting out of the shelter. She escaped from a kennel during the first week we had her and was on the run for the next four weeks before we finally trapped her and brought her home. Eventually we decided to adopt her because sending her to a new home seemed too much of a risk.

Even after she was homed here, she would still jump the fence and go off on her own for varying lengths of time, aging me quickly every moment that she was gone. For many years after that I kept her with me constantly, always on a leash, and we did a lot of hiking together. It wasn't until a few years ago, after she was getting older and a little less spry, that I let her out loose in the yard and pasture again. Somewhere along the line she began to worry about me whenever I wasn't with her just I had worried about her. I didn't like to make her worry, but it was karma come home to roost. 

Maya had a severe seizure on Sunday morning and we saw a vet for euthanasia later that morning rather than wait for another one. She has been having bad days on occasion, and I've had her on some pain medication for a while now, but this morning she didn't want to get up when everyone else did. She was clearly "off." She's at least 12 years old, had no prior history of seizures, but she did have a cancerous growth removed back in 2020. All of this told me it was time. 

I've loved this dog like none other we've ever had. Of course, that's true of every dog. Our connection with each dog is always unique, but Maya was special. There will be an empty spot under my desk, and next to my side of the bed at night. There will be empty spots in my life formerly occupied by Maya, but my heart will always be full of the love we shared.

Maya and Trooper

Maya didn't care to sleep in bed normally, but she did like to hop up for some snuggle time occasionally, particularly after I returned from a trip.

Patch was Maya's final brewery visit but she had gone to many of them over the years.

I must have hiked hundreds of miles with Maya 

and she taught many new fosters proper trail etiquette. 

We had Maya's DNA tested. It showed German Shepherd Dog, husky, malamute, lab, and "wild canid."

One of Maya's tags reads: "All who wander are not lost," an homage to her youthful wanderlust.

Maya and Max came to us within a year of each other and left within a year of each other too.

Maya had a very expressive and talented tail. 

We've never had a smarter dog, and I hope we never do.

It's no accident that the best picture ever taken of me has Maya in it.

Maya tried out many new breweries over the years. 

We prefer to frequent dog-friendly breweries.

She was a scared little girl when she first arrived. 

Her confidence grew along with our mutual devotion.

Little girl, big world