Mya #5 Fox Red Labrador Retriever Female 6 Years Old ID #3209

March 11, 2024

Happy Windy March day everyone!

Wow this wind sure makes my fur fluffy! But I’m gorgeous whether it’s fluffy or not!

So, foster mom says it’s time to try to find a new home again. This time it will have to be a home without a lot of steps. I’ve been practicing doing the steps at the nearby high school football stadium, as I mentioned last week. But these steps in the house that go down to the basement – I really would rather not attempt those. Even cheese, which I LOVE, wasn’t enough to get me to budge. But who knows? Maybe there’s a really nice person, or family, or couple, out there in Lab-Lover-Land who has a perfect house that doesn’t have very many steps. I’m crossing all my toes, hoping!

Notes from FM:

Mya still gets daily practice on the stadium steps, but the 12 indoor steps down to our basement family room are a no-go. She would be fine in a house that only has a few outdoor steps to gain entrance to the main living area. She might be perfectly happy on that level, even if the bedrooms are upstairs – she spends most of the night on her big dog bed in the kitchen, even though she is not confined. She is an early riser though, and will let her people know when she thinks it’s time to start the day! (Now that it’s not light out so early, she might sleep a little bit past 6:00 am!)

She is a very sweet, laid back, mellow girl who loves her people and doesn’t demand a lot of attention. We’re hoping for just the right living arrangement for this wonderful girl!

March 5, 2024

Hello Friends!

This rain isn’t hampering my walking but it sure would be nice to see the sun! Foster Mom says she’s tired of all the wet doggie prints on the kitchen floor, but that’s because she’s not a lab and doesn’t love the mud and puddles like I do!

So, I have some big news to share – I have learned to go all the way up AND down the steps at our nearby high school football stadium!! Isn’t that cool?!? At first I was a little scared because those steps are way noisier than normal steps, but my pal, Archie did it so I figured, what the heck, and I tried it too! It wasn’t too bad! Now we include those steps on our walks – 4 times all the way to the top and back down every day. I think my legs are looking quite strong!

But I have to admit that I am still really confused by the indoor steps. FM keeps trying though. I’ll be sure to let you know if things change!

Notes from FM:

Mya immediately settled back into her original foster home and the routine here. We found some outdoor concrete steps nearby and tackled those. She was a little hesitant at first, but with coaxing she made the attempt and succeeded!

When those became too easy, we moved to the high school football stadium near our house. Those steps took more encouragement but Mya surprised us all by moving forward, up, and down, and now she is a pro!

However, the carpeted steps down to our basement family room seem to intimidate her. We will keep trying and hoping for a break-through. I think Mya will be ready to look for her forever home again soon!

February 27, 2024

Hello friends!

These past 3 weeks have been very interesting! I met 2 new people who wanted me to come to their home. I was fine with that, and everything seemed to be going along great except for one teeny tiny problem – they had a LOT of steps in their house. Well, going up steps (and jumping up on furniture or anything else) was never my thing, so I would just lay at the bottom of the step-mountain and wait until someone came to carry me. I thought that was a reasonable solution to the problem, but my new parents didn’t agree. So, I’m back at my original foster house. It was a fun 3 week vacation though!

Notes from FM:

Maggie, as she is now known, has demonstrated that she is a not uncommon stubborn farm girl. Although she will tackle 2 or 3 steps with a little coaxing, she flat out refuses to do any more than that. Her new adoptive dad received an unexpected medical diagnosis that will require surgery, so carrying an 80 lb. dog up and down a full flight of stairs will not be possible. They were very sorry to have to return Maggie to Brookline.

Other than that, they said Maggie fit into their lifestyle perfectly. She is friendly, loves to go on walks, got along with their cat and most other dogs she met (she can be a little wary of dogs that are her size or larger), and was a happy companion for them.

Maggie will decompress in her foster home and when she’s ready, she will become available again.

January 19, 2024

Happy snow day!

I’ve had some new experiences since I last checked in so let me tell you what I’ve been up to!

I had a long, uneventful car ride going to the “mountain house”. There were so many new smells in our yard and on our walks! And there’s a big window on the back door where I could sit or rest and keep an eye on all the birds at the feeders and other creatures – a deer even came up close to the deck. I was very curious but I didn’t bark!

When we left the house and headed back home, we stopped at a place that had a smell from my previous life (a dairy farm), and I got my own cup of ice cream – YUM!

My days were fairly routine – going for walks, hanging out at home with my big and little peeps, getting my beauty rest, etc., until this week. Then one day my FM and FD didn’t give me any cookies after my morning potty, and then THEY FORGOT TO GIVE ME BREAKFAST!! I kept trying to remind them, but they loaded me into the car and took me somewhere new and a little scary! I don’t remember anything from the rest of that day, but now I have a shaved belly and I have to wear some annoying contraption around my head when FM and FD can’t watch me. I also had to go in the car 2 more times for a nice lady to check my belly again. But they tell me I’m fine now. I don’t understand why we’re not going out to play and walk in the snow though. I guess I’ll just have to take some extra naps.

Notes from FM:

Mya enjoyed her post-Christmas trip to our house about 3 hours away. She rides perfectly in the back of our small SUV with her foster brother – no whining or panting, and she doesn’t get car sick. She was able to  navigate the 2 steps from the deck into the house, and didn’t exhibit any desire to mark the new smells with her own scent (whew!) We took daily walks around the large yard and in the neighborhood, and she was intrigued by all the new smells. The sliding glass doors were new for her, and she loved to lay inside and watch the critters and birds outside. We stopped at our favorite dairy farm store on the way home and she got her first pup cup. Needless to say, it disappeared quickly!

Mya’s spay surgery was this past week. The surgery itself was uneventful but we had a small setback the next day when she started bleeding from the incision. She was rechecked by the vet who did the surgery, and given some medication to help with blood clotting. The vet scanned Mya’s abdomen and didn’t see any internal bleeding. She was rechecked again the next day. The bleeding did stop after about 12 hours, and we are just being extra cautious with her activity level (basically none except to go potty.) Her wagging tail and happy face have returned so we feel sure her  healing will continue to go smoothly for the 2 week recovery period.

Mya has lost 5 lbs. since she left the farm. She would do well to lose another 10-15 lbs. Her leash walking has steadily improved. She is a champion napper, even snoring sometimes! She started getting a little over-eager when being offered a treat, so we’re working on using lips only and not teeth!  We still get a kick out of her wagging tail – her nickname here is Thumper.

December 28, 2023

Hello Friends! How was everyone’s Christmas? Boy, it was exciting around here – there were so many visitors! I was actually a little bit nervous with all the people and noise. So, I spent a lot of time outside, hanging out on the patio and welcoming my visitors one at a time. And then during dinner time, I hung out in the garage with my fur brother. There was some new stuff to sniff in there, and I found a whole bag of treats that I helped myself to. That stuff sure tasted yummy going down, but then my tummy didn’t feel too great that night and the next day. Oh well! I told FM you can’t expect a lab on a “diet”, whatever that means, to ignore a brand new bag of cat food without doing my best to open it and sample some (or maybe it was a little more than “some”…..)

So other than that, everything is good with me. I really get excited now when my harness comes out and I know we’re going for a walk! I’m proud to say I can keep up with my humans for almost 2 miles now! Since the incident when a dog came out of his yard to be nasty to me, I get nervous when I see another dog or human coming my way, so I stand still and wait for them to pass. FD or FM have some little treats in their pockets to help take my mind off whatever I’m nervous about.

FM and FD have told me we’re going on an adventure tomorrow to someplace called “the mountain house”. I’m sure there will be lots of new smells there. I’ll let you know what I discover when I check in next week!

Notes from FM:

Mya’s heat cycle ended about 6 days after she arrived. She has her spay appointment confirmed for January 16. That gives her a few more weeks for her body to return to normal before the surgery. Her ears are looking and smelling much better – she finishes the ear washes and anti-fungal medication in a few more days.

Mya continues to want to be near her people. But we had a houseful on Christmas Day and she let us know with her body language that she preferred to have some space. We made sure she was able to be alone and then…. we discovered there was an unopened bag of cat food in the garage that she could reach. So, she had cat food for her Christmas dinner and apparently loved it. Once she cleared it from her system, her eating, drinking, and potty habits went back to normal.

A typical farm dog, Mya doesn’t grasp the concept of personal space. When her people move about the house from room to room, she pops up from her resting spot and tries to anticipate where you’re going, by walking 1/2 step ahead of you and checking back over her shoulder to see if she’s guessing correctly. You end up bumping into her body with your knees and sometimes even stepping on her back foot, which doesn’t faze her at all. She is not clumsy around the little guys though – she might get in their way but she has never knocked them down. She doesn’t jump on people either, another plus for her! Mya darts in and out of the back door now, where there is only one step down to the patio. But any more than one step? That looks like a mountain to Mya, so she can’t enter and exit the house via the garage – there’s 2 steps there. When we go out for our walks, we give her that option and coax her to try. But so far she has said, “no thanks!”

Mya’s personality continues to be sweet and happy, with a constantly wagging tail. She spends some time in her crate every day and goes in willingly when we toss a few small treats into the crate. When we have to leave the house, we either crate her or gate Mya and her foster brother into the kitchen and they seem to sleep the whole time. Mya has picked a very basic dog bed (basically a large cushion) as her preferred resting place. She does all her potty business in the back yard and on our walks. She doesn’t show any marking tendencies. She sleeps all night (well, except for the night after she ate the cat food!)

December 20, 2023

What a difference 6 days can make! I am quickly learning how nice life in a warm, comfy home is! I wake up in the morning when my FD and FM do, and we go outside for a quick potty. Then I get breakfast! Yippee! After a while I go for a walk with FD and FM and my foster brother, Archie. At first I was confused about what I was supposed to be doing with all these straps and constraints on my body, but now I know I’m supposed to keep moving along with them. They do let me stop to smell sometimes, but I can’t just roam around following my nose the way I would like to. Oh well, it’s still fun and I am seeing so many new things! Like people! And kids on bikes! And other dogs! And traffic! A sheltered girl like me has so much to learn! But most of the time I’m a good sport and I let everyone know I’m comfortable by wagging my tail.

When I’m inside I still have weird things on me – they call them “fancy pants”. FM says I only have to wear them now while I’m in heat, so I hope this heat thing ends soon so I can go back to being my usual beautiful naked self.

I really like to follow my people around. Today I stayed with my little person, a 2 year old, when he laid down for his nap. I didn’t want him to be lonely while he was sleeping so I stayed by his bed for a little while. I’m also friends with the cat who lives here. He just likes to sniff me, so I sniff him back. We’re cool.

Notes from FM:

Mya is learning new things and trusting us more and more every day. For the first 4-5 days, she would bark at the back door to come in, but then she couldn’t bring herself to take that final step into the house. Today she did it on her own for the first time! She also is getting better on the leash every day. She is very strong so she wears a harness and a collar, with the leash attached to both of them when we walk her (a Freedom Harness would serve the same purpose, but we don’t have one in her size.) We did have a scare while walking in the neighborhood when a neighbor’s dog, who has an invisible fence, came charging out of his yard to accost us. Mya immediately went into defense mode and fortunately the neighbor heard the commotion and came out to grab his dog. So, no harm was done.

Mya had her first visit to the vet yesterday, and topped the scales at 87 pounds. She should lose at least 10 pounds, but she is a sturdy, blocky girl. The walking and reduced calorie intake should start showing results soon. She has a yeast infection in both ears, which she is getting medication for. All her other tests were negative. She also got a good scrubbing at the local DIY dog wash. With her thick coat, it took her all day to dry! Speaking of her coat, it is absolutely gorgeous! It’s very much a fox red color with golden highlights.

Mya loves to be wherever her people are – in the kitchen, hanging out in the living room, or snoring here in the home office while I’m on the computer. She is beginning to ask for attention and pets. She also loves our little grandsons, ages 4 and 2. She hasn’t shown any interest in chewing things- shoes, kid toys, or dog toys. She doesn’t counter surf, and only barks if she’s outside and is ready to come inside. She accepts the crate and settles down after a few minutes. She also sleeps all night in our bedroom on the floor – she hasn’t shown any interest in getting up on the furniture, or even using a dog bed. I guess the carpets feel pretty soft to her compared to the floors she was used to sleeping on!

Mya is a very happy girl – her tail wags constantly, thumping away on anything she happens to be close to. She plays well with her 39 pound foster brother – they like to chase each other and play tag. She is also super sweet. The photos show her sporting her fancy pants and resting in a very labby pose of crossed front paws.

December 15, 2023

Wow! What a day I had! First thing this morning I got a car ride in a nice lady’s mini-van. I was a little nervous but I laid down on the soft blanket she gave me. And she also had a pocket full of treats!

The next exciting event was to go in another nice lady’s car for a trip to my new foster home! I didn’t mind very much because I could look out the windows during the drive. When we got to this new house, I had fun exploring all the smells in the fenced back yard, and then I met another dog, my new foster brother, who was very happy to meet me. We’re already getting along great! We did a lot of going back and forth from outside to the yard to inside to the kitchen today, trying to decide where we wanted to relax.

I ate my dinner quickly, like a good lab should, and then decided to check out this crate contraption. There was a nice soft cushion in there so it was a good place for a little snooze.

I think I might like being an indoor dog!

Notes from FM:

Mya is a total sweetheart! She’s very friendly and her tail hasn’t stopped wagging all day. She’s a beautiful reddish gold with adorable wrinkles on her face (I wish mine were half that cute!) I think she might be going into heat very soon because she seemed to be inviting our resident neutered male dog to mount her. If she does go into heat before her spay appointment can be scheduled, the surgery will have to wait a few more weeks. She appears to be quite healthy although somewhat overweight. Her first vet checkup is Monday. The harness and leash are obviously totally unfamiliar for her – she tried to do zoomies while on leash and was surprised that she got stopped after a few steps.  After all the excitement, she went into the open crate and took a nap. Fingers crossed for a quiet night!