My little girl Maya

I took Maya out hiking today. We had a good one, about five miles, but I managed to lose all the pics I took except the first one shown here.

The other two pics have been posted on Facebook but folks who read the blog may not have seen them.

This little girl is a pain in my ass on a daily basis, but she is also a true delight in my life. I swear that she's the reincarnated combination of the three great female dogs we've had: Gypsy, Emmylou, and Molly.

She is the smartest dog we've had, bar none, and she's still young, still learning, and still developing. I probably should take advantage of that and put her intelligence to good use in some manner, but I'm just not big on training dogs to be "useful" to humans. I believe in letting dogs be dogs. I think it's their highest calling and I envy them in many ways for it. Maya could be a great anything, but I think what she's best at is being a dog. She's working that out for herself every day and it's a joy to watch.

Meeting a turtle out on the trail.
She sniffed it and moved on.

At the brewery last weekend. She's friendly
out in public, but she's a bit subdued and
looks to me for guidance in dealing with human
situations. At home, outdoors, she looks to no one.