Maka Kilo is our miracle rescue.
Maka Kilo in her quiet corner
In August of 2007, i found Maka Kilo chained up by herself, in a metal cage out in the middle of a pasture, with no water. She had wounds and chunks out of her fur. It would not be an exaggeration to say that she was feral. And scary.
I was afraid to take the dog, but wasn't going to leave her. I figured i would take her home, see how it went, and worse case scenario, would take her to the pound. Even the pound would be better than where she was.
The first week we tried to get her to understand that she was safe and that meals would come every day at the same time. We were trying to get our hands on her because she had wounds that needed care, but she cowered in a corner of the fence, on top of a pile of fire ants. The fire ants were crawling all over her, but she wouldn't move, and growled at us every time we came near. If you have no experience with fire ants, let me tell ya, those little demons leave a trail of sting where they have marched, BEFORE they bite you, and the bites can hurt for days. The look of fear in her eyes was one of the saddest things i have ever seen.
She was, and in some ways still is, the most wild domesticated animal that i have ever known. The first year that we had her, she would not look at us, or allow us to look at her. She would show up for dinner, and be invisible the rest of the time. But she was always there. In time, when we were working around the homestead, or taking walks, she would follow, but always at a distance, and under cover of the weeds or brush. She was always watching. Which is how she got her name. It means "Watchful Eyes."
She became very protective of us, in her own way. She was (and is) particularly leery of the donkeys. If the donks got too close to one of us, Maka would come out of no where, all growl and teeth and fury, to get between the donkeys and us, and would fearlessly shout them down until they retreated. And then she would disappear again.
One day, Jethro was on the far side of the pasture with the other dogs, and a stray black lab came and started picking a fight with our dogs, who were surrounding Jethro. It wasn't attacking Jethro, but he was in the middle of the fray. I saw what was going on, and was headed that way, but Maka Kilo passed me like i was standing still, and got in the middle of it all, fighting the lab, keeping it off of Jethro, until i could get there and yank him out of the chaos.
Maka sustained fairly severe injuries, so i brought her in the house, made a pallet in the most remote corner of the living room, and commenced doctoring. She stayed in the house for about a week--against her wishes, because we had to carry her back in every time we took her out. To this day, she still has a limp from the injuries she got saving Jethro.
About a month after that, Maka crashed, with all kinds of symptoms. She crawled way back under the house, and didn't come out for days. There was no doubt to any of us that Maka was dieing. Jed crawled under the house and drug her out on a piece of cardboard. I took her to the vet (we don't take anyone to the vet except to get spayed or neutered) an found that she had a parasite whose name i no longer remember, but that she most likely had when we got her, and would always have. When she gets stressed, natural immunities and resistance get low, and the parasite kicks into gear. The stress of the recuperation from the fight apparently gave the parasite fertile ground for growth.
So we brought her back in the house to her quiet corner by the firebox. She was so sick she didn't argue with us anymore, and i was able to get in her face and talk to her and love on her. Jed had a friendly relationship with the owner of the local BBQ joint, who, when he heard the story of this dog, sent big old buckets of scraps a couple of times a week....good scraps, too...some fat, but lots of meat and bone. I am now a firm believer that love and BBQ can heal all wounds.
It took about a month to get her back on her feet. In this time, she stayed in the corner of the living room, and got used to us, so to speak. We had slowly become her pack, but now she allowed herself to become part of our pack, in a small way. Over the next two years, she had a couple of recurrences, and each time came in the house to heal. Each time, she became a little more relaxed with us.
Last winter was pretty harsh for around here, so we started letting Maka come in to sleep in her corner at night. During the night, she would make sorties throughout the house, checking on each of us by sniffing our feet. Soon she started coming in to take naps during the day. She moved from her pallet in the corner to the floor at our feet. From there, she tried the couch, but not if someone was sitting on it. Then, she would get on the couch if you were there, but wouldn't touch you, or let you touch her. Try to pet her, and she would be at the door asking to go out. And then, one miraculous day, she put her nose on my lap.
At this point, Maka Kilo became known as Spud. You have never seen such a couch potato.
One morning last fall, i awoke to find Maka asnooze at the far corner of my bed. I never knew when she got up there. Jewels jumps up, and i usually feel the bed move. But Maka just kind of slinks up quietly. Slowly, she has become more comfortable, and is now known as the Bed Bug. This morning i woke up with Jewels in the crook of my knees, and Maka splayed out parallel to me. I was pinned under the blanket. Couldn't even roll over.
I can't believe how far this dog has come. She now holds her head and tail up, wags with greater frequency, will lick us every now and then, and has occasional moments of bounding joy. Of all the things that we have achieved at Tails Up, this transformation is probably the thing that i am the most proud of, animal-wise.
Maka is an important part of our fine tuned guardian team. The Boyz guard the perimeter, Ruby guards the yard, Jewels guards the house, and Maka guards the couch.
Ain't nobody gonna be stealing THAT couch.
Maka still considers Jethro her pup, and he is still the only one she will allow to wallow on her
Maka just adores Jewels, and Jewels just tolerates the interloper
Post Script: A Jethro Story. When we went to pick Maka up after her spay visit, Jethro was in the back seat with her, loving on her and said, "It's okay, Maka. I would feel bad, too, if i just had my neuters cut out."
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