Maya is a happy 4 year old coming to us from owners who no longer had time for her.  She is "wonderful and easy" according to her foster family.  She loves other dogs and is quite the polite houseguest.   I want to summarize our experience with a 4-year old lovely lady, Maya. She's superb. Maya is the ideal for a "model."  She's thin and tall.  Her silky auburn coat is sleek and shiny.  She has a light-up-the-world smile; and her public relations department wags in overtime!  She's like a young lady and an old veteran rolled up into one - and she's only four years old.  We brought her into our home on Sunday, only four days ago, but she's carved out a place in our hearts already.

 Maya was shy and hesitant when we brought her home.  She searched all over and seemed to approve.  Then we took her to Zilker Park to see how she likes water and if she swims.  She liked wading, but wasn't much of a swimmer.  In a couple more visits she has now started to venture into the deep water and even looks like she'll become a good water dog.  She doesn't believe in her last name - Retriever.  In fact, she doesn't recognize tennis balls, kongs, or any other toy we throw for her to get and bring back.  (Probably from a leading a deprived youth.)

 She has learned that she is loved and is wanted in our home.  So in the last few days she's gotten over her hesitancy and shyness and is a wonderful playmate for our Sam (the Wonder Dog who we adopted after his leg surgery last year.)  She's the first foster dog that would play with Sam, and he loves it.  They run and jump and you can almost hear the laughter!  Maya is a "daddy's girl."  She seems to always want to know where Dean is, and is especially attentive to him.

 Maya is a "picky" eater.  She barely touches her breakfast so we pick it up, and she barely touches her dinner too.  We have tried her on dry mixed with canned food, but she seems to prefer dry only.  That probably explains her model figure.  She sleeps on the floor next to our bed, and sleeps the whole night through.  She has been absolutely perfect in her behavior and is totally housebroken.  She has behaved with small children and other dogs.  She gets excited about cats, however.

 On walks, she tugs a little, and if given slack will pull strongly.  So we always let her know there's no slack on the leash.  When she sees a cat up the street she wants to chase it down, so it requires our attention on our walks.  In other words, she's normal!  In the house, she refuses to get up on furniture, although she has jumped up on our bed when she and Sam played.  We loved it.  When we reminded her that the bed is for people, not dogs, she looked guilty, wagged her tail and slowly, very slowly, got down to her proper resting spot.  Cool.

 Maya will be a wonderful addition to any home that shows her love, and hugs, and a warm heart.  We'll miss her when she's adopted, and we'll be happy for finding her a model existence.  For a cover girl, she deserves the best.

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