About Maia

Maia has been with us for 6 months this week. PLEASE HELP US SHARE HER AND FIND HER FOREVER HOME. Maia has watched friend after friend after friend be adopted, we know her family will come along! She has been doing incredible meeting new people, with tail wags and all! Her future is looking brighter than ever! ��%A4� Maia is one of the most special dogs I personally have had come through rescue. Starting off her life with Encore with a lifesaving surgery that we were unsure would work or not, formed a special bond right off the bat. Something about someone mercilessly cutting her ears off, a scarred and emaciated body with boobies almost to the ground,(surely used as a puppy maker/money maker until they were done with her, and endless shaking, made me feel like we owed it to her to give her a chance at a good life, so we went for it. The surgery proved successful in saving her from internal bleeding but we had no idea the time, love, and patience we would spend healing her emotional wounds as well. It's hard to really sum her up quickly because when people first meet her at our home they think oh wow! She likes me! And that is definitely progress from before when you really had to earn her trust for her to let you get close to her. Now she's eager to meet friends! But when any kind of transition happens (like for example if she were to get a feeling she was going to leave the house), she will start to panic. Even after being in our home with my family for 6 months, she still spooks at loud sounds and gets scared when there is any kind of change such as things being moved around in the house, (Christmas really threw her off), etc. She is curious when meeting new people and even dare I say, excited initially, the skepticism creeps in. If she could speak I would imagine the interrogation would go something like this.. 'Who are you, what do you want and where am I going?' There's been no aggression towards people, ever, and she does come around in her own time, even coming to just sit on your feet as to say, ok maybe you're alright! This is also what she likes to do as you make dinner, we like to call her keeper of the kitchen. Maia has truly made great strides in some areas, such as meeting new people, learning sit (though I learned that she dealt better with a hand gesture over a command because even saying sit semi softly, it frightened her,) but her past certainly still remains with her as far as being cautious and frightens easily. Initially we were trying to bring her to parks and do walks around the neighborhood in the attempt to desensitize her and acclimate her to new surroundings but we realized it actually made her regress in the progress in our home so we have accepted her as she is and choose not to feed her anxiety. She would love a home where she can be a homebody/couch potato with her person or people. We can only imagine the life Maia lived prior to coming to us and don't push her with leaving our home, however we do still provide structure and boundaries and she has come so far in those areas, including learning how to properly play with the other dogs in our home and even giving any new fosters the space they need, but curiously greets them. We were very cautious with her in the beginning because of her unknown background and the fact that she did not know how to play so when she would start to get too rough we would stop her and take a little break so nothing ever escalated. (Didn't want the other dogs to misunderstand her rough play, etc). Since I've grown to know her and I know my golden is 'bomb proof' I have allowed them to start to play a little rougher and nothing has ever escalated between the two of them, but they've also lived together for a long time now and I know the things to watch for. I guess you could say I'm really protective over this special girl, as the absolute last thing I want is for her to be adopted to a new home and her come back because someone doesn't understand the time, dedication, and patience she may require. (And maybe she would do great and I'm just being an overprotective Mom. The last thing we want is another hurdle in her life, it's time for her Encore!�٪� We know Maia will be the perfect family member to someone who understands all of this about her. I can't express enough how fiercely loyal she is once she knows you mean no harm. She is an amazing companion and the perfect home-body and can frequently be found in the playroom 'watching' the kids play and is very gentle unless startled (then she becomes a cheetah and can be out of sight in .5 seconds). I think she would probably be most comfortable in a calmer household and everyone in the household would need to be on board with committing to our special girl, as everyone she's around will be key in continuing to build her security and confidence... And after all, she may take a little more patience and understanding than some. An adoption application can be filled out at encoreanimalrescue..

Kent County
Camden, Delaware