Remembering Maya

 Maya

March 2002 - April 2013

We lost Maya on Friday, April 26.  The day started off like any other day.  When I fed the dogs that morning, Maya didn't come running right away like she usually did.  After I called her, she did come to eat, but she was acting a little strange.  Maya had her quirks though, and since the kids had been playing with balloons, I figured she was just upset about that.  She ate her breakfast very slowly and after she finished I felt around her belly a bit to see if she was tender at all.  She didn't show any signs of discomfort so I brushed it off and went on with my day.  By the time evening rolled around, I realized she had been hiding out all day.  I mentioned it to Clay and we went in to check on her.  We tried to coax her out of her crate and she wouldn't come out.  We even used a few of her favorite words, like walk, park, and dinner, but she didn't even lift her head.  We knew at that point that something was wrong.  I grabbed a piece of cheese out of the fridge and she wouldn't come out of the crate to get it, but she did eat it when we gave it to her in her crate.  Clay finally coaxed her out of her crate, but her back legs were wobbly and she collapsed after about 10 steps.  We called the vet and they agreed that we should bring her right in. 

 When I got Maya to the vet they started by doing an exam.  After that they took her away to do an ultrasound.  When they didn't come right back, I knew they had found something.  Each minute seemed like an eternity as I waited for them to return.  Sure enough, when they finally brought her back they had bad news.  They found internal bleeding in her abdomen which was causing her weakness.  They had also found a mass in her abdomen which was what they suspected was causing the bleeding.  They weren't sure if the mass was on her liver or her spleen, but it was most likely one of the two.  They gave me two options.  We could take her to surgery.  If the mass was on her spleen, they could remove the spleen and stop the bleeding and give her more time with us.  If the mass was on her liver, there was nothing they could really do.  We could also take her home and offer supportive care.  There was a 50 percent chance the bleeding would stop on its own and she would feel better.  That would not take care of the cause of the bleeding though, and it would only be a matter of time before the bleeding came back.

I called Clay and broke the news to him.  She was so miserable at that point, I couldn't imagine taking her home.  It seemed wrong to let her continue to suffer that way.  We talked a little about the options and decided to try the surgery.  We knew there was a chance that she wouldn't make it out of surgery.  If the doctor got in there and found cancer all over her belly, it would be more humane to not wake her up from surgery.  We decided to have him and the kids come down to the clinic to see her before surgery.  We wanted everyone to have a chance to say goodbye just in case.  

 They started her on some IV fluids and did some blood work.  She started to perk up a little and tried to get up and walk around.  We were starting to have hope that she would pull through this.  We gave her lots of hugs and love while they stabilized her for surgery.  Then, when they were ready we all gave her a goodbye kiss and told her to be strong for us. 

 We took the kids home to put them to bed since at this point it was 11 o'clock at night.  After we got the kids settled, we looked at the clock.  An hour had already passed.  If we hadn't heard from them at this point, we figured that it must have been on the spleen and they were working on removing it.  We started to have hope.  We figured that if another 15 minutes went by with no phone call, it would be good news.

 Just then the phone rang.  I answered and the vet told me Maya hadn't made it through surgery.  Her heart stopped after they put her under anesthesia.  They did CPR and were able to get her back for a short time, but then it stopped again and they couldn't get her back again.  Our sweet girl was gone.

I feel bad that she didn't get to be an old lady and be spoiled rotten in her final days as she deserved to be.  She had just celebrated her 11th birthday in March and I expected her to have a couple more years with us.  She was just starting to get a gray muzzle.  She was happy and seemed healthy.  I had just bought her a new frisbee a few weeks before and she was enjoying chasing it around the backyard each afternoon.  It's been 2 months today since we said goodbye, but it is still strange to walk in the house after running errands and not have her there to greet us.  We really miss her.

 Maya joined our family Memorial Day weekend in 2002.  She was 9 weeks old.  We adopted her from Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.  She was so little!

 Clay wasn't sure about getting a puppy at first, but it didn't take long for her to win his heart.

 We enjoyed watching her grow into her ears and personality. 

She was such a smart dog.  She learned new things quickly and she always wanted to please us.  Maya and I started agility classes when she was around a year old.  She was good at it and enjoyed running around the obstacle courses with me.  We entered our first agility trial 6 months later and she won two 1st place ribbons.  This picture is from her first trial. 

  Not long after we started agility training, we also discovered search and rescue work.  One of my neighbors told me about Rocky Mountain Rescue Dogs and I decided to check it out.  It seemed like the perfect match for us.  We started training with them soon after. 

Maya and I were soon certified as a search team.  She loved to search.  Her favorite type of search work was area search.  She had a natural talent for it.  She ranged far enough away from me that she covered her area thoroughly, but stayed close enough to me that I could easily read her when she caught scent.  It amazed me how far away she could catch the scent from a subject.  I swear I chased her for over a quarter mile some days to get to the subject after she alerted.

 We were cross trained in water search and avalanche search as well.  It was easy to see when Maya caught scent from the boat.  She would get right up on the edge and point the way.  If we couldn't get the boat close enough to the scent fast enough, she would sometimes jump in and swim to it.

She also loved avalanche work.  She loved to be in the snow and figured out rather quickly that she could dig to someone hidden under the snow.

She wasn't sure about flying in the helicopter or small planes that we often used to get to our search areas, but once she figured out that flying meant she was going to get to work, she decided she would tolerate it.  She even got excited to get on the helicopter.

When Maya was 2 years old, we decided to get her a buddy.  I found Rio on the pet adoption website.  I knew when I saw him that he was a perfect match for her.  His eyes even matched hers.  Clay said he could only stay as long as Maya liked having him around.  Lucky for Rio, Maya decided he was a great buddy. 

When it was time for our family to grow again, Maya and Rio helped me announce the big news to Clay. 

They weren't too sure about this new person we brought home many months later, but they quickly decided that if we liked him, they would too.

  It didn't take long for them to become good friends too.

 

 

 When Leah came along a few years later, they quickly adjusted again to life with another little one.

At ten years old, Maya didn't have any trouble keeping up with the kids.  She jumped at any opportunity to go for a walk in the woods. 

She was a very special dog and we miss her every day.  Although I wish we could have had more time together, I am grateful for the 11 wonderful years we had with her.  She was one of a kind.