I think it is high time I introduced the most recent addition to our little family - meet Mae, a rescued stray we initially intended just to foster, but quickly realized that she needed to stay! Mae was a stray at the Taos Pueblo, only two years old when rescued but already raising her second litter of puppies. The pueblo is attempting to reduce their number of stray dogs so last September they agreed to let a rescue group take Mae and her puppies along with another female dog with a litter. The other female and all of the puppies were rounded up and adopted out fairly quickly, but the group had a hard time capturing Mae and could not get her until two weeks after the rest of the dogs had left.
Although the original rescuers were from Colorado, they let another group based in Santa Fe take Mae in to find her a foster home. This new group temporarily boarded her at a vet clinic while they advertised on NextDoor, a local social networking platform, for a foster home willing to take Mae in. This is where I found her, and as soon as I saw her picture I decided we would give it a try. I had never fostered before, but I was starting to think about getting another dog after losing my beloved Ruby last March. Since I am getting older I initially I thought that I would like to get an older dog who was not too big, possibly a Dalmatian as we had owned Dalmatians in the past and they are my favorite breed. I tried to find an adoptable Dalmatian in our area but had no luck, so when I saw Mae's picture I thought that while I looked for my next dog I could at least help out other dogs in need of a home by fostering.
While Mae's bio mentioned that she was easy to handle and got along well with other dogs, she was very young and about fifteen pounds heavier than I thought I could handle easily, so I did not really think she would suit us as a permanent addition. Nevertheless, I got in touch with the rescue group and set up a meeting at our house so that they could inspect our premises to make sure we were suitable and I could decide if I could handle Mae. The meeting went very well, Mae got along fine with our dog Madison, and I decided that I could do a foster.
Initially Mae was rather anxious and kept looking for a way out of the house (as a stray, she had never lived in a house before) but after a week she settled in and calmed down a lot. Best of all, she seemed very happy to be living with us and proved to be very easy to train. That was when I decided that she was after all a dog we could adopt. We signed the papers, officially kept the name "Maeve" that she was given by the rescue group but shortened it to Mae for everyday use, and she is now a permanent member of our family. She has been with us since early October 2023, and while we are still working on a few issues, she has settled in very well.
Mae is a very happy and playful dog, just a big bumbling puppy really, who enjoys her daily morning walks as well as lying around in the yard all day when the weather is nice. We do not even have to worry about our driveway gate being open as she has no desire to leave the property and does not chase cars. Even though she is an athletic and strong dog who weighs about 60 pounds who could easily pull me over when I have her on the leash, she never pulls and seems fine with being on a leash (although I know she would love to run free). She gets along well with our dog Madison as well as the neighbor's small dogs that walk with us in the morning, and best of all she is big enough to protect Madison and the neighbor's dogs from any coyotes who may be thinking of going after these smaller dogs (she has already chased away one coyote that bit Madison, who never watches where she is going and tends to walk right into coyotes when following a scent!). This girl is a keeper, and I am so glad that I took a chance and decided to invite her into our home!
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| An adorable photo of Mae hugging a tiny stuffed squirrel toy. |
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