About Maya

My name's Takas Neşeli, but everybody just calls me Maya. My Mum named me that after one of those funny dogs with no scent from the TV. That's an anagram for 'My Amazing Young Anatolian', whatever an anagram is. I'm five years old, I weigh 55 kilos, and I am fawn with a black mask, but I have a white tail tip too. I live with my Mum and Mum's pets in sunny Townsville, Australia.

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Wednesday 30 October 2013

Late-night Strand Adventure and some rude dogs




Usually on the nights that Mum does not come home until near-dark we don't have very long Adventures. (We usually walk around our neighborhood on these days, but it isn't very exciting and I don't usually have Adventures then.) But tonight was different, we went for a car ride (YAY!) to the Strand, which is a long path that runs by the ocean. It has lots of fun things to do, like doggy drinking fountains for me and playgrounds for little humans and also delicious-smelling outdoor ovens called 'Barbeques' that humans use to cook meat on. I really don't understand why any human would want to cook food inside when there are perfectly excellent barbeques to cook on outside.
Everything is better outside!
At the Strand, I lay down on the lovely green grass to wait for Mum to put on her special shoes with wheels, which are called rollerblades. We often rollerblade at the Strand because the path is nice and smooth and if Mum tries to rollerblade on the road or on pebbly paths, she wobbles a lot. Of course I don't rollerblade myself, but I do trot beside Mum. It's a lot of work, because I have to listen and watch Mum carefully so she can tell me when to go faster, slower, or to the sides of the path around the other people. Mum always says what a good dog I am when we rollerblade because I know how to stay beside her and not pull ahead - even people we go past comment that I'm a good dog for that. Sometimes when there are no people mum crouches down to go faster on her rollerblades and tells me to run, and we almost fly along the Strand! We never stay at running speed for very long, since it is harder to go around the other people (who are far, far slower than me and Mum) and also if we keep going for too long I get too hot. I'm glad we always rollerblade at nighttime when it's cooler.
There is a nice spa bath on the Strand that I like to cool down in too, but today it had no water in it so I couldn't have my spa. When we went past the waterpark, which is a playground with lots of water-jets and a big bucket of water at the top that throws water EVERYWHERE, it had no water either. Since there were no humans on the waterpark I tried to go in and explore, but Mum still told me no. "Even when it's turned off, dogs aren't allowed in the waterpark, Maya."
All the way down the end of the Strand we stopped at our favourite ice-cream shop. (Mum says it is actually gelato, but it tastes just like ice-cream to me. Really tasty ice-cream. Mum has a cup of ice-cream, and although I am not allowed to have one of my own ("Dairy isn't good for dogs" - who said anything about dairy? I just want an ice-cream!) but I am allowed to lick Mum's cup once she is finished. Today, to my surprise, there was another dog sitting in front of our ice-cream shop, a spaniel, and she was very rude. As soon as she saw me, she started barking, and well, I won't repeat what she was saying in dog-language but it wasn't polite! Mum told me it was okay, then I had to sit and drop, even though I really, really wanted to bark back at the rude dog. Since Mum said everything was okay, I ignored the dog while Mum tied my lead to a post to so inside and get our ice-cream. When the rude dog kept barking at me I stood up to show her I was three times as big as her and if I wanted to come over there and sort her out, I would. Mum noticed me though and from inside the shop, she called and signaled for me to sit. I sighed, but I sat back down. I did notice that the human with the dog had picked her up and put her in her lap. Mum would never put me in her lap when I was barking at another dog!
After ice-cream we headed back to the car. "Don't get used to having desert before dinner, Maya." I don't see why not though.
Halfway there, two very very small miniature fox terriers saw me and immediately started yapping loudly. Then they ran towards me, leaving their humans sitting at a bench. I was so surprised I just stood there as they ran right up to me - dogs are not allowed off the leash at the Strand. Once more, Mum told me that it was okay while the humans at the bench called their tiny dogs. I wanted to growl at them but because Mum said everything was okay I settled for putting my ears back and glaring at them warningly. If they had been barking at Mum, I would have had to growl and jump on them, but they were barking at me and they were only the size of my paw so they couldn't have done anything. Once they were back at the bench with their humans we kept going, and can you believe it - the two tiny yapping dogs actually ran after us! Their humans called them again and finally got them back, then we kept going. I could sense how annoyed Mum was at the humans who owned the tiny terriers and left their leads off, and I decided if I ever saw those yapping dogs again I'd teach them a few polite words to say about respecting big dogs.
Because it is very tiring trotting and running so much Mum and I stopped for a rest break and lay in the grass to watch the waves washing over the sand.

 
A nice pair of humans came over to pat and admire me and ask Mum lots of questions about me. After they talked for a while and I got plenty of pats we kept going. By the time we got back to the car I hardly had enough energy left to get excited about the ride home. I lay down on the backseat and Mum clipped my seat-belt onto my harness, and I thought before I went to sleep what a good night's Adventure it had been. Even with the rude dogs!    

Saturday 26 October 2013

A visit to Angel Paws and LOTS more places






Today we had another day away from Work, so Mum and I did lots of stuff! First we stopped by a Halloween event for Angel Paws adoptions. I met some nice dogs, like Sheba who was very sick before she came to Angel Paws and they made her better again. 
Sheba is healthy again now and very happy

FJ is very little. Don't know why this made everyone laugh...
There was also a Tiny Dog called FJ. When I went to say hello to FJ she snapped at me, so I lay down so I didn't look quite so big. We hung out with the Angel Paws dogs for a while then dropped by Work to see Lana, who had a present for Mum that made her very happy. Mum says it will keep the bedroom cool. Dad says dogs aren't allowed in the bedroom, so I won't be able to go check.

After that we visited some shops with lots of dog food and treats. I got more pats and attention and then we stopped by the dog park so I could play with Second-Best-Friend Jax.


By chewing on his face.

Don't worry, he chewed mine back.
There was a Barking Dog that I ignored for a little while but he kept coming over and barking at me and Jax while we were playing Wrestle, (even I don't bark as much as he did!) so I had to jump on him and teach him a lesson. Mum stopped me though and said I wasn't allowed to jump and growl at other dogs, so Barking Dog went home. We had a walk around North Shore, which has nice grass and little trees, but the small river is too small. You can't swim in it and Mum says it smells so I am not allowed to even walk through it... I think it smells wonderful.
 
A rest break on our North Shore walk
When we got home Mum gave Zeke a treat she brought specially for him - he has to stay home when we go for long Adventures because his legs get too sore. He shared a little bit with me though. I guess tomorrow Mum has to go back to Work. Sometimes I wish there was no Work, and then we could have Adventures like this every day.

Friday 25 October 2013

A River Adventure


Days that Mum doesn't go to Work are my favourite days, because instead Mum does fun stuff with me. This morning's adventure started with a car trip (YAY!) to a place with lots of trees and green grass and people and a a big, slow river. We took a walk around, and Mum ate her breakfast orange while we sat on the grass. This is something that humans really don't do a lot of - eating outside - and I think it's because they just aren't as sensible as dogs. When you eat outside, you don't have to worry so much about crumbs.
Our breakfast spot
I helped Mum with her orange by rolling in the pile of peels she was making - orange peel smells really nice. After she was done laughing, Mum collected all the peel and put it in the bin, what a waste! She could have at least left it there for another dog to roll in. Then we went down onto the wooden planks right by the river. There were lots of lilly pads and fish and turtles swimming around for me to watch. Just as I was thinking about how nice it would be to go for a swim and I was about to jump in, Mum tugged on my lead and said very firmly "Don't even think about it!"
Sometimes, I think Mum can read my mind.
On the walk back, we went right by another type of river - this one smelt different and it had lots of people laughing and splashing in it. I put my head up on the concrete beside this river and saw all the people swimming - well, if humans were allowed to swim in this river, why not me? I jumped up onto the barrier, but to my disappointment, Mum told me to get down (on the side with the path, not the water). "Maya, you don't want to get in trouble with the lifeguard over there do you?"
But I think I could have swum faster than that lifeguard could have, so we could have had fun if he tried to chase me out of the water! 

After that we went across the road to Mum's Other Work. She used to go to Other Work some days but now she just stays at Main Work, but everybody there still knows her. One of the people who Works there is Jo, and it was her birthday soon so Mum and I brought her a card and a present and Jo got to take a photo with me.

Jo says I am a good pillow!



Also, I got LOTS of pats and attention! 

Pats from Mark!


Flick found a ball as usual!
Then, in the afternoon, we stopped by the dog park. Zeke as usual was really boring and lay down by Mum. (I am one of the only dogs Zeke plays with. He likes to go lick all the humans at the park though.) Flick and Koolie were there so we ran around for a while.


Then Second-Best-Friend Jax came!

Jax is a lot of fun because he is the same size as me now, he can play Wrestle really well, and he's also good at Chase and Sharks.
He thought he was winning at Chase, so I bit his tail. 


He gave me a pretty good headbutt here though.   





After Jax whet home I chewed up an old ball and hung out with a small white dog called Toto, who is even fluffier than me! His breed of dog is called a Japanese Spitz. He has nice manners, and his Mum gives really good pats. 
According to Mum, some people think it is rude when one dog sniffs another dog's behind - I suppose because if humans did that to one another that would be rude! But in dog language this is good manners. It's how we say 'hi' to one another. 

After it got dark and we had another car trip (yay!) home, I hung out inside with Mum and helped her cook a roast chicken, which is another of my favourite human foods, and a really great way to finish up a day filled with Adventures.  

Monday 21 October 2013

My day at Work

A nice family patting and admiring me!
I went to Work with Mum today! Turns out that even though she goes to Work almost every day, work is pretty easy to do. Mostly, you just lie there and let people admire and pat you (if you are a dog) or you tell the people who come in to pat me the best things to buy for their dogs (if you are a human like Mum).
I hope Mum told all the people that come in to pat me that the best treat is Ducky Jerky. Mum brought some for me to eat when we had lunch. 

This is my favourite aisle to be in at Work. I am not allowed to help myself to treats though...
Some of the other things I helped Mum with when people weren't patting and admiring me were:
Helped Mum build cages;
Helped Mum sweep the floor;
Guarded the door;

Helped Mum pick up stuff people who came in to pat me put back in the wrong spot and put it in the right spot. 

Helped Mum and Adam put bird seed on shelves. Adam is one of my favourite people. His job at Work is to push around trolleys filled with dog food. Since this is so boring for him, I like to stand in front of his trolleys so he can stop, and pat me;
Helped Mum in the office. I Wonder why humans yell at printing machine so often. I wondered if it would make Mum feel happier if I chewed on printing machine a little. Got taken out of the office before I could try and see.

In the office!

At Work I met Mum's friend Nik! Nik is very nice and patted me LOTS. Mum says Nik enjoys reading my blog so I he ought to have a photo on it. (With me in it, of course.) 
Me & Nik

Some dogs came in to see me too. First dog was very polite puppy called Piper, who is a Border collie cross. Piper is very clever and has a very nice Mum. Piper got some treats for coming in to see me and I got some too, naturally. Next dog was not polite, bounced and jumped and stared, so I decided to jump on him to show him who was boss around here! Sadly, I was on the lead so could not jump on him. Mum was cross with me and told me off and I had to go and sit in the hydrobath room all by myself with nobody to pat me. Can you imagine? 



Sad me.

Mum forgave me once other dog left, and then the sky got dark and we went home in the car. On the way, we stopped for a quick dog park trip.
Mum found something sitting on one of the benches - she called it an 'iphone' and seemed pretty worried, even though I thought a lost iphone was a whole lot less worrying than all the lost dogs we'd been looking for lately. Only one other dog was at the dog park, and that was Doberman puppy Leeds. Ran around with him and did a little game of Wrestle. When he had gone home, Mum asked me what we should do with the phone. "Somebody might steal it if we leave it here Maya, or it might get rained on. It has a password so I can't call the owner..."
Frankly, all this iphone talk wasn't that interesting. I'm not allowed to chew on phones, so I find them quite boring and can't understand why humans sit there pressing buttons and staring at them so much.
Luckily, whatever was worrying Mum about the iphone was solved just as we were getting ready to leave the park - it started to ring and she answered it. "Lost iphone service!"
She talked to the iphone for a while then she let me stay five minutes longer at the dog park so a man could come and see me. He took the iphone, and he didn't even pat me! Hmmf. Good thing I'd gotten lots of pats today or I might have been offended. Finally, we did leave the dog park and head for home.


I wonder why Mum is always finding lost things. Dogs last week, phones this week. I wonder what we will find when we have our next Adventure? 

Sunday 20 October 2013

Evening at the park


Park was boring this afternoon. For a long, loooong time there were NO other dogs to play with at all. Hung out with Mum for a while. 


 Than lay around waiting for friends to arrive.

THEN... friends arrived! Flick and Koolie, it has been SO LONG since I saw them, at least TWO WHOLE months. Flick and Koolie are the next-fastest dogs at the dog park (after me, of course.) I really have to run very fast to beat them when we race, and we race a lot. Flick brought a new ball, but Koolie didn't want to play with it, she wanted to play with me. So Flick ran around with her ball and was happy and Koolie played Wrestle with me and we were happy. I love evenings at the dog park! 



Saturday 19 October 2013

Lost dogs everywhere...

Another funny car ride today. Mum was taking Zeke and me to the dog park and we were about halfway when we saw two black dogs, a big one and a medium one, just lounging around right by the highway, which I thought was a funny place to have a rest. 

Mum stopped, and here's the funny part - she left me and Zeke in the car on our own, which she NEVER does. Mum is very strict about dogs in cars, at least when they are not moving, because she says they are too hot. But she wasn't gone very long. She went over to the two black dogs and began calling them. But they were scared, the same way some new puppies get the first time they come to the dog park, and they ran away from Mum. Then Mum came back to the car and put on the cold air and played on her phone. Zeke and I didn't whine, because it was easy to tell how frustrated Mum was - I think she wanted to catch those black dogs and was disappointed she scared them away trying to help them. 
We drove in circles for a little bit longer, but there were no more black dogs. I thought they were the same lost dogs we drove around looking for yesterday, but it turns out, yesterday's lost dogs got home safely, which means these were two NEW lost dogs. I hope they get home, too. 


So in the end we had a dog park visit. Zeke is never much fun at the dog park, he just goes and licks all the people, grumbles when the puppies try to make him play and lies down at Mum's feet. But that was okay, because Miska the Belgian shepherd was there and I ran around with her. After she left there weren't many dogs my age, though Tully the Labrador puppy and Leeds the Doberman puppy came. 

Tully and me

Leeds is very funny. He has great big long legs and ears and huge paws. I think his long ears stop him from seeing where he is going, and he trips over his big long paws. He did distract Tully's mum for me so I could have some pats, thought.

Leeds and Tully
Me getting pats!

Leeds is not very good at wrestle... 


After he was done falling all over Tully, Leeds came over to me. When he first started coming to the dog park, he ran away if I so much as sniffed him. Now he wanted to play.

At first I ignored him, but like his friend Tully he does have very nice manners so he is hard to ignore.



Plus, he just kept ASKING and ASKING... I'm sure I wasn't as annoying as him when I was a puppy. 

But in the end I did chase him a little.


And wrestle with him. 


I even pretended that HE scared ME. 

Yeah right...

Now I'm back at home and it's time to sleep. I think about all the lost dogs from the last few days, and I'm glad that I'm here at home with my family.

Thursday 17 October 2013

The first of many Adventures

I have a lot of adventures, and they're all a lot of fun.Today Zeke and I got woken up earlier than usual, but it was worth it - we went to the beach with Mum and Grandma! I found a great coconut, and Mum AND Grandma came swimming with us. Even though my brother is older than me, I proved how much braver I am by swimming out further than he did. Mum always lets me rest my front paws on her if I get tired anyway.  



Zeke and I chased the coconut into the water - did you know coconuts float? - but it almost escaped so many times. I shook some sense into it though, don't worry. The waves were only little, and there was fun seaweed to play in as well. 

Afterwards we went to Work, because Mum said that Zeke and I "Stank"! Can you imagine? Human sense of smell is so weird. Dried seawater and strands of seaweed are one of my favourite smells, but there's no convincing humans. Zeke and I had a hydrobath each. I don't mind being bathed, except for all the nice smells I've collected being washed off. I don't like being blow-dried, though. In case that's never happened to you, the hydrobath makes the exact same noise as a vacuum cleaner and there's a tube that looks like it's from one as well, except instead of putting the tube on the floor it gets pointed at YOU, and it blows the water off your coat. But Mum says it's okay, and I get a treat afterwards and lots of cuddles from the nice humans who Work with Mum, so I put up with it. 

After the hydrobath and lots of cuddles, we left Work and went to Grandma's. Even though I was tired, I ran around for a while because Grandma has a wonderful garden to run around in. It's smaller than home, but there's rock steps and green grass and even a drawbridge to race across and wonderful smells EVERYWHERE. One of the smells is a Shadow-smell. Shadow is the dog who used to live here, Grandma's dog. I met her when I was small, but I haven't seen her for a while. Mum and Grandma always sound sad when they talk about Shadow, and Zeke always looks around for her when he hears her name. Shadow used to be Zeke's sister, she taught him all the stuff he taught me, like the best places to sleep, and how to swim, and what smells mean something good to eat. But then Grandma gave me and Zeke treats and that cheered her up.

By the time we went home it was midday and getting very hot. Mum put all the windows in the car halfway down for us. Zeke likes to put his nose out the window, but I prefer to rest my head on the seat back and let the wind flow over me from both directions. 


In the evening I went for another car ride! Zeke's back legs were sore so he stayed home, napping in one of his favourite places, under the boat that Mum dislikes so much. We drove for quite a long time, down a different road than usual. Mum said we were looking out for two dogs called Drake and Mama, but we didn't find them. Mum must have been disappointed because we went to the dog park where we found LOTS of dogs to cheer her up. First I played with Second-Best-Friend Jax, but it was too hot to run around very much so we mainly just played my favourite mouthing game which Mum calls 'Sharks'.


Then it got cooler and more dogs came. My friend Bear came with his sister Bridy. We played for a while - I like Bear, but he is really stupid when it comes to wrestling and tries to do it all wrong, so I had to growl at him and bite his face to teach him a lesson. Because Bear is not very clever, this happened a lot.


Tully the Lab was there, but she's still too small to play with much - I quite like her though because she always says hello to me with proper respect, avoiding my eyes and licking me on the chin (when she can reach it). The Rotti Puppies came and they aren't puppies anymore, Tamu is as big as I am and Keiko is catching up fast. I growled at them when they came in, just in to remind them who was boss around this park no matter who grows really big really fast. Keiko is no less annoying than she was when she was smaller. She follows me and paws at me and tries to make me play, but she's too silly to wrestle with. I mean, I have to have some dignity.




We stayed at the dog park for a long time and it was dark when we drove home. We made one more stop at the shops. Mum goes to the shops a lot and always comes home with lots of food smells. I don't get to go with her very often though, and I think it's because I have to sit outside, which I did this time as well. Mum was only inside long enough for two people to pat me, which isn't really enough, but I let it slide since I was really pretty tired after all the adventures.

I went to sleep when we finally got home, thinking this day really couldn't have been any better - then I realized that I could smell my very favourite human food, roast pork. Maybe the end of the day would be even better than the rest of it...