Maya in Belize

Oh no, not those Maya, the dog Maya! Sorry if you came to the site looking for information on the Maya people in Belize because this post is about a miniature dachshund, Maya, who came to Belize in August 2009 and her adventures since. However, I will say the Maya people are a wonderful group and the ancient Maya have a fascinating history being so advanced and intelligent, claimed to have developed the first writing system of the Americas. We've enjoyed learning about them and visiting many archaeological sites. Anyway, back to the dog (whose name was picked well before we knew we'd be in Belize, so it is just a really random coincidence).

Anthony and I missed Maya so when I took on a staff position and we moved to Belmopan into a house with a huge gated yard, we knew it was time to reunite the family. We were all so fortunate that Maya spent our two years of service in the exceptional care of her auntie, who I know misses her despite her eagerness to get Maya on the plane!

Maya arrived quite traumatized from the plane ride; I’m a bit sad we had to put her through it again the other day. Nevertheless, as soon as she reached her new home, she was ready to explore, and explore she did. The exploring and hunting and sleeping that ensued lasted her entire 15 months in Belize.

We thought we’d share the highlights and a funny film of Maya’s Belizean life. I think it’s pretty fun that our dog has traveled further than some people we know! What a life she has had; when we adopted her, she was rescued from a kill shelter that found her huddled beneath a tractor on a rainy night in Arkansas. She then was sent on a big truck with other rescue dogs up to Massachusetts, moved to New Jersey, then Pennsylvania, onto Belize, and now back in PA. Where else might she live? I expect there will be more international homes in her future (I hear doxies can live to be 16, so she’s got plenty of time because we think she might be 8 now).

Maya’s Belizean Adventures:
~ Daily Schedule
Ø Slowly stretch her way out of bed (a pillow covered with a homemade case using fabric from Mikado)
Ø Run into living room and immediately check the big window to see what’s happening and look for lizards and geckos
Ø Walk through the neighborhood and sniff the grass and mark every spot every other dog marked, too
Ø Eat
Ø Sleep, hunt, maybe kill a critter (the evidence is eaten with spiders and some other jumpy bugs, but she leaves the gecko and lizard carcasses for us, which is fantastic), sleep, sleep, stare out the big window (her field of vision cannot be very wide, but she still manages to find things at which to growl), bark at passersby and bikers, sleep, and drink lots of water throughout
Ø Walk around the neighborhood
Ø Eat
Ø Nighttime hunting – stare at the ceiling intently waiting for that gecko she knows was there earlier; walk in circles; jump up the wall thinking she can catch that gecko that is up 100 times higher than she; kill an ant or spider by tossing it around and frantically slapping at it but never actually touching it with her paw
Ø Roll around on her pillow
Ø Bedtime
Ø Repeat the process

~ Geckos – she is obsessed with them. Maybe we made her so because the first time she spotted one and attempted to capture it by jumping up the wall made us laugh hysterically and we may have encouraged it (that was a huge mistake because now she is a bit too intense about it!)

~ Lizards – see geckos above

~ Spiders, ants, and other crawlies – occasionally she attacks and will get one in her mouth and then toss it; the torture continues until the creature is dead and she either eats it or leaves it; others she sniffs and turns away
~ Moths – same as crawlies

~ Other dogs – she has become a much better peer; she never really did like to see other dogs on walks before, but now she has made some friends in the neighborhood and even sniffs politely and acts like a normal dog with normal dog behaviors; I’m so proud. We’ve named the neighborhood dogs to describe their interactions – they are “puppy” (who has a name and it’s Cougar, but he was a puppy who followed us everywhere annoying Maya endlessly with his attempts to play), Oso (that is also the real name of the dog whose bark sets Maya barking even though she doesn’t know why), Frankendog (he is a mute dog who I used to call the mute dog, but he has these two twists of hair that stick straight out from his neck on both sides, hence Frankendog), Sir Limpsalot/Mr. Gimpy (turns out it’s Madam/Ms and she is mean – she charges Maya; she is clearly some sort of dachshund mix and has the same bark as Maya; her name stems from the fact she evidently hurt her back paw and always limps), the gray one (that’s the mid-size dog who lives with Frankendog and Limpsalot and barks a lot), and the little neighbor dog (who walks around the same time as Maya in the evenings and whose owners are quite friendly with us).

~ Molly – this is our friend’s dog, she is a great dog with the best demeanor; sometimes she and Maya play, but mostly when they are together they sniff and then ignore each other. Fun fact: when Molly wanders over to our house on occasion, she obeys every command I call to Maya, which makes Maya jealous because Molly gets attention from me, so then Maya copies Molly. One time Molly came over and they ran around the backyard, then Maya got distracted by a lizard, so Molly did laps around the house, it was hilarious. Maya and Molly should play more…

~ Veterinary Care – awesome, way less expensive than in the US and the doctor comes to our house! He’s super nice and Maya has done well with him

~ Walks – Maya sniffs everything! The smells are clearly more interesting here than in Massachusetts because her nose barely leaves the ground. With all the stray dogs, she has a lot to sniff and a lot of marking to do (funny story, unrelated: once on Caye Caulker while Anthony and I sat by the sea a dog came and marked a plastic bag, then a next dog came and marked, then a next one…) Maya barked at a pit bull who was unleashed; thankfully that pit bull’s owner is super friendly and responsible and trained his dog well, the pit bull calmly ignored Maya’s rant and finally she cooled off and they sniffed in greeting. Maya needs to not bark at any more loose pit bulls, they aren’t all loved!

~ The Backyard – Maya loves the yard – she runs and hops and jumps to chase butterflies and lizards and whatever else is back there.

~ Sleeping – it’s hot in Belize, most of the day Maya just finds any spot she feels is cool and lays herself down and sleeps. She periodically wakes to find a new cool spot and immediately returns to sleep! Occasionally, she will get up to drink water and then return to sleep

~ Fear of dogs – many Belizeans are afraid of dogs, it’s great to have a dog whose bark is so loud she sounds ten times bigger than she is; one day as Maya and I waited for Anthony outside of a store we stood a bit too close to a man’s bicycle, he did all this side-stepping to get around us and avoid the scary miniature doxie

~ Pikni – they say the funniest things when they see Maya: “Man dat da real saus-eej!” “How you call that dog?” “Chihuahua!” once as pikni approached and Maya barked we heard, “watch out for the mad sausage.”

It was nice to have Maya with us; she certainly provided plenty of entertainment! Enjoy the show.