Just a Girl and Her Dog

It was a chilly day in April when I first met her. I was getting ready to babysit, doing my normal morning routine when I got the phone call...

Tori: Taya! I found your dog!

Me: What do you mean, you found my dog?

Tori: *flips camera around* I mean I found your dog!!

Me: Oh my goodness!! I'm on my way!

After I hung up the phone, I ran to my sister begging her to let me bring a dog to her house for the day. She of course asked what kind of dog and because I couldn't answer her question... I showed her a picture. She proceeded to scream same as I was and said "Of course!"

I ran to the park and when I got there, she was sitting very impatiently before she just couldn't take it anymore and she ran up to me and jumped. At first I thought she might kill me... and then she started to lick my face and I knew. "This dog is meant for me..."

I took the dog to my sister's house and low and behold, the dog has no problem with small children... "phew!" I thought to myself as I let go of her collar and let her explore my sisters house. I went on to babysit as usual, get the kids dressed and fed in the morning, take a walk to the park and let the kids play, take them home, feed them lunch and so on and so forth.

Later that day, after my sister came home from work. I had my friend come pick me up and take me home. On the way, her and I talked about the dog and where she came from.

Tori: I was walking with a couple friends and she ran up to us with so much energy, I almost pissed myself she was so big.

Me: *laughs* that's funny, I see she has a collar, did you try to find her owners?

Tori: No, I called you first.

Me: So, I'm gonna have to put up pictures. See if I can't figure out where she belongs...

We arrived at my house around 8:00 PM that night. It was dark and the cats were going crazy, I'd been gone all day trying to make money to pay rent and buy food, etc. I walked in holding the dogs collar, once again trying to make sure she is good with cats. To my surprise she likes cats. Although the cats didn't take too much of a liking to her, they ran and hissed with all their might.

The next morning, I took pictures of her and printed out paper with her picture and my phone number. Now anyone could call me if she was theirs. After I finished that, I then went and put gas in my car to go put these pictures up...

A couple days went by and nothing. No calls, no messages, nothing... So I started to think of names for her. I tried Lucy, Lola, Ceciellia (yes, spelled like that), etc. She didn't like any of them. But I kept trying... Every name I came up with she would shake her whole body as if she had just gotten a bath. All day I tried and all day I got the same result... She didn't like it.

The next day, my mother came home from being on the road. So of course I started calling her ma'am... it's just good manners. After about thirty minutes of my mother being home, my dog started responding to me. This gave me an epiphany, her name is Ma'am. I looked at my mom and she looked at me.

Me: I think her name might be Ma'am...

My mom: Oh yeah? What makes you say that?

Me: well the other day I was trying to find a name to give her and she hated every single one... but now you are here and I'm calling you ma'am she's responding to me... I don't know it just makes sense.

My mom: Well, there is no better way to know for sure unless you test it out.

I then went on to use her name and she responded every time. I thought to myself, "she is so well behaved and so smart, how could anyone just let her go?" No more than 30 seconds after i thought this, my moms little lhasa apsa started a fight with Ma'am.

Her name is Meimei (sounds like it should be spelled mimi), she's had quite a rough life that little dog. She has had her left eye popped out, her leg has been broken, and she has had multiple other surgeries due to larger dogs. So, after all this, it made my mother's dog quite aggressive towards other dogs. Meimei got underneath Ma'am's front legs and went for her neck... Ma'am, who had no problems with Meimei til now, put her body closer to the ground hoping that Meimei would wiggle out.

Snapping and snarling at each other, my mother and I attempted to get her dog out from under my dog... This did not work. I then grabbed my dog by the scruff of her neck, picked her up, and forced her to the ground. In this time my mother had her dog in hand and was checking her over. I looked at my dog and made sure she knew that was not something she needed to be doing and held her there checking her neck to make sure my moms dog didn't cause any harm to my dog, she was fine and so was Meimei... A bunch of drool but not much else. I then let my dog go and put her in the backyard, to calm down.

My mother had a stern talk with her dog. She told her that my dog could take her whole head in one bite, which made Meimei make a silly face. That was not the last fight they had, for days they would go round after round constant Meimei going for her throat and me having to slam my dog to the floor. After about a week, Meimei came off her high horse and realized Ma'am was not going to hurt her. They proceeded to become best friends, and didn't do anything without the other.

My mother and I both also had a cat each, mine being the daughter of hers. Both cats were calicos, mostly black. My mother's cats name was Calliepi, Pea for short, and my cat's name was Scooter. Pea had major issues with Ma'am from day one. She would hiss and smack and sometimes she would hiss so hard that her whole body jumped two feet in the air. Scooter, on the other hand, only had slight issues with Ma'am, and had a very silly way of showing it. She would stalk Ma'am like she was her prey... Never getting too close, Scooter kept her distance for the most part. Sometimes though, she would sneak up and smack Ma'am... And then run away in terror.

Over the next couple weeks, my mom and I talked and decided to move to Colorado. So we started packing up. The dog's and cat's were confused. Meimei more excited than anything, she knew we were leaving. Ma'am always tried to stop me from packing, to her dismay I did not stop. I kept packing what little stuff I had and then helped my mother pack.

It was St. Patricks day when we left, that morning we woke up and the first thing we did was pack everything and everyone in the car accordingly. Neither of the cats were prepared for what came next... they were stuck with Ma'am and Meimei in the back of our car for three days.

For my mother and I this was hilarious, but to the cats, it was pure torture and they screamed the whole way there! The dogs didn't mind it, Meimei had been on many road trips in the ten years she has been my moms. Ma'am enjoyed her time, she always had her goofy tongue hanging out the side of her mouth and her head out the window, when it was open.

The morning we arrived I found out there was no room for me, anywhere. I was homeless... So my mother agreed to take my dog for me til I could find somewhere to stay and have my dog. I luckily had made a friend the summer before, her and her boyfriend let me stay with them most nights, other nights, I only had a place to go when I was willing to get drunk.

One morning, I got a phone call, my dog had puppies... She was pregnant! I rushed over to see them and she had eight beautiful puppies only one being a girl. Ma'am is black and white, her puppies... well they turned out brown and black.

My mother went on to move in with a family friend, Tad. Tad is a 42 year old man with one daughter and two or three grandkids. He can get a little depressed sometimes and he tends to take it out on other people.. as you will read about in the future. My mother lived with him for a little over a month taking care of and finding homes for my dogs puppies while I was out getting a job and finding a place to live.

In July of 2018, the 8th to be exact, my mother got married and left home to Georgia with her husband. Before she left, her, Tad and I talked about me moving into Tad's house. He charged me 100 dollars a month for rent and I moved in. All was going well, I had decided to keep one of the puppies, I named him Charlie. He was a red color with a black nose and green eyes. I loved them both and my cat with everything I am.

My dog had a tendency to get into things and tear them up when she got mad at me... This would upset me and she knew it. I would scold her and tell her "bad dog". Then I would clean up the mess and let both her and Charlie outside to go potty. It was a pretty usual occurrence with me out trying to find a job and doing side jobs for people. After a while, Ma'am got used to me going out and not coming home til late sometimes and she stopped tearing stuff up... for the most part.

I lived with Tad for about three months, it wasn't easy.. living with him. Charlie ran away and I looked for him for days and days, to my dismay he was nowhere to be found. Some days Tad would be happy go lucky and laugh and play... But other days.. other days he would be cranky and tell me i need to find somewhere else to live for me and my dog... Yeah, it wasn't easy. In fact I stayed confused the whole time. Right up until the end and he tried to raise my rent by 300 dollars overnight...

I went over and talked to my grandma in the next town over, to ask her if me and my dog could live with her. Of course her being my grandmother she said yes. So over the next week or so I moved, again, into my grandmother's home. Her name is Kelly, real sweet lady, she lives in this two bedroom one bath trailer with a small backyard. Her and her husband, my grandpa, let me live with them and helped me with Ma'am as much as they could but it wasn't enough... I had to buy my dog a chain to keep her in the yard because she had a tendency like tearing stuff up she would go on her own little walks. I mean she would always come back but there were a few cases that she did not come back and I had to pay 100 dollars to get her back, which I always got her back.

After a while of this and me having to work most mornings, my grandparents could no longer help me with Ma'am... I had to find somewhere else for her or the both of us... I had no where else to go. Thankfully, through my friend I had met this man. Sent from heaven, I swear. His name is D'koda. He is a 20 year old man, about 6 feet tall, long dark blonde hair, and hazel eyes. After fighting for over a month with this guy Scott, I have never met the man but in my search for someone who could take my dog for me he offered to take her... He said he wanted her but would never show up when it came time to take her. So D'koda offered to hold onto her til I could find a place.

I had to figure out a way to get my dog 100 miles to Denver, Colorado. That's where D'koda lives. At first, he was going to come pick her up but couldn't get the money for the temp tags on his car. So I came up with some money and talked to my friend and her boyfriend about possibly riding up with them when they went for the weekend. Thankfully they said yes... at a small price. I had to clean their car. It wasn't that bad. Clothes and trash mainly.

The weekend came to take her up to Denver and so I got all of her stuff and some clothes and stuff packed for the weekend and on the road we went... It took us about three hours to get there from our little town of Salida, Colorado. Beautiful drive though, we ended up having to take a detour due to a wreck (we are guessing).

We arrived at our destination around 4:30 PM on Saturday. D'Koda had hopped in the shower before we got there so he wasn't around when we showed up. I spent my time catching up with D'Koda and getting Ma'am settled in while my friend and her boyfriend went to WaterWorld with his family. Saturday night before D'Koda and I went to bed, we talked, and we decided to get together (okay so let me explain this a little better, we didn't want to "date" each other, but we were together...). The following morning I found out it was D'Koda's birthday! He turned 20. I had brought him nothing and felt really bad... He even tried to hide the fact from me and it didn't work out to well because he slipped up.

That night, my friend looked at me and she said, "Taya, it's time to go... We will be in the car waiting for you." It was then that the realization finally kicked in. I was leaving and my dog couldn't come with me. I burst into tears because I didn't wanna go, I didn't want to have to leave her... Although I knew she was in good hands. The hands of my man. He picked me up off the ground and drew me in for a big hug all the while telling me everything was going to be okay and I would see her again. After he let me go I picked up my belonging's and off to the car I went, and then home.

I got home and had an Interview at Mcdonald's at 9 AM. the next morning. So I woke up, quickly remembered after calling her name twice that my dog was no longer there and got ready for my interview. I showed up five minutes early to my interview, the interviewers name was Andre, he must've been early to mid 30s no more than late 30s. Really funny and sweet guy, had a different accent like he came from a different country. He asked me a few questions, so I answered honestly and got the job!

My first day of work, I was going to be closing. I slept for most of the day, and had to be at work by 4 PM. I woke up around 2:30 PM on that Tuesday afternoon, got ready for work, and off I went. My first day went really well. D'Koda called me while I was on break and we talked about how Ma'am is doing and how she blew out his knee and broke his phone. All because of a little dog...

My Second day didn't go so well, the night before I had gone to spend the night with my friend and her boyfriend. The night went really well for the most part, right up until I got a message from D'Koda indicating depression and suicidal thought's. Me being worried, showed the message to my friend. Who had known him for much longer than I have and would know what to say to it. She then proceeded to tell him he needed to stop doing that, which I guess pissed him off and caused him to go on this rampage. I had fallen asleep at this point and woke up to a crying best friend, which raises questions in my head.

I proceeded to attempt to get an answer from D'Koda and all I got for most of the morning was "I'm going to sleep." to which I said okay sleep well. When he woke up he told me he was cutting me and everyone else off... This caused a fight, a really big one at that. He and I went on and on going round after round talking about how I was not accepting the fact that one, I meant and mean nothing to him and two I was not going to leave him alone because he has my dog. I told him I was going to message him every morning when I woke up and every night before I went to bed. Which I have kept up with for about the last week. I am currently using this site to help me get money to get her back.