Māyā

2023-02-24 bundle of fun is born

2023-02-24 bundle of fun is born

About 9 weeks later I was wondering how I might find out if any puppies had been born near New Brighton. I found nothing on Facebook, then unexpectedly on 3rd of March 2023 I got an email saying Missy had 5 puppies! It's a shame they didn't inherit Missy's smart looking upright ears, but I was quite excited and asked if I could please buy one as soon as they were old enough.

Knowing from my own experience how expensive vets and puppy food are, I thought paying $500 quite reasonable. I drove all the way from my new home in Karamea to Christchurch with Tama and Lucy in the back to collect her. She was a cutey!

On the way back, I'm not quite sure why, but she was totally infatuated with Tama. She sat in the well at his feet gazing up in admiration. I could have sworn she believed Tama to be her new owner!

Miah was the name they had given her, but I changed the spelling to Māyā: A Hindu Goddess of illusion. The one becomes many, to play a game of cosmic hide-and seek with herself.

Māyā was a delightful happy little pup, playful, nimble and intelligent, she was also very affectionate and would follow me from room to room round the house just for company. She comes when called and also loves to snuggle up in bed at night. I loved her dearly and still do! She developed a special bond with Tama (her dad) and I started calling them "the inseperable duo".

Māyā was into mischief and an accomplished escape artist. She could wriggle thru the useless fences round my property and would dig her way out even under the gate across the driveway. This resulted in hostilities from beligerent neighbors, but by now I had decided not to stay anyway.

Like most puppies Māyā went thru her chewing phase and damaged a lot of valuable things, but I just loved her for her personality, which she had in abundance. The other dogs and I enjoyed walking with her and she was photogenic too, teaching me how to do action photos.

I waited to have her speyed until well after her first heat as it's best to let dogs reach maturity so their growth plates in the bones can mature with the right hormones present.

I did have a bit of a panic when a neighbor's dog had got in our garden, but a trip to Westport vet and an expensive ultrasound later showed no pregnancy. Many hundreds of dollars on vet's bills I could ill aford, but I wanted what is best for her. It was those floppy sheep dog ears that made me not want to breed from her despite her lovely nature.

2024-07-26 Rehoming

Even worse than the Karens in Christchurch, the ones round here seem to think dogs belong on a leash. It's completely impractical with 3 high energy canines that do need several good runs a day. Not a single nature trail is available to us near Karamea, while many hours walking on soft sandy beaches was causing damage to my knees. I was also getting hassel from local authorities and the house I had bought turned out to be a money pit.

I realized we've just got to get the f*ck out of here and I will likely end up homeless for a while in the process, with nowehere to go. Reluctantly I advertized both Tama and Māyā for rehoming.

Description
17 months old Maya is much loved. She plays ball, chases rabbits on the beach and enjoys a swim in the estuary. She is part Alsatian and part Huntaway. I need to rehome her as my fences are not suitable, I'm struggling to make ends meet and all the walks round here are on DOC land that is off limits to dogs.
Note: she may be due vaccines again and has not been micro chipped yet.

I had several replies, but most were time wasters who didn't even respond when I said yes. One even gave a fake e-mail address. Eventually, at whit's end I offered to drive all the way down to lake Brunner, a round trip of 500km (310 miles) and let them choose which one they wanted.

The weather turned to shit and it was a drizzling foggy day when I arrived. The address they had given turned out to be false. The local Mayor lived there and he immediuately assumed I was delivering stray dogs. He told me he didn't deal with them, but when i explained I was delivering the dogs as advertized he suggested it was someone playing malevolent games with me.

Just then I got a text message from them to say they had arrived (although obviously not at the address specified). I managed to phone them. The recording first captures some kind of interference before they answer. Note: I suspect it is police or sis surveillance which the creepy NZ authorities seem to persist with. Then later you hear the mayor confirm where they are.

They chose Māyā. I was wondering why they didn't let the dog they had in their car meet Māyā, as I suggested, to see if they would get on. A feeling sneaked up on me that something was not quite right.

Later they texted me they might want Tama too, but by then I was already more than half way back and feeling very uneasy with their poor communications so I put them off.

I stayed the night in Westport and had some nice walks with Tama and Lucy on the way back the next day. The ridiculous restrictive dog bans don't actually start until you get to Karamea and I wasn't looking forward to a dreary trudge thru sand on the usual beaches.

Closure

My last e-mail to the new owners

The new owners hadn't replyed to my text message asking how Māyā's first night and day had gones, nor did they acknowlege recieving my e-mail of her vaccination records. I wondered if it was just a burner e-mail address that they had used with Trademe, so I texted them to say I had sent it, but there too, no reply: They did seem to show an insensitive disregard for how I might be feeling after surrendering my my much loved puppy, given all the effort and expenses I put in and I was missing Māyā's exuberant joy of life.

I now regret having given them her expensive bed as I could have used that back home for Tama. Emotionally it's a lot like a child growing up and moving away. I don't think I could cope surrendering him too.

I will just have to make things work with two dogs as I had already been thru that emotional trauma when dog control impounded Tama and I just had to go get him back the very next day.