Mimosa Masai: Our first pittie

Masai is our almost 14 year old pit bull; she is now very slow moving, almost totally deaf, and has cancer, but we’ve managed the cancer for over 3 years now with a variety of supplements and meds. She still has a fantastic appetite, loves to roll on the grass every day, or in the snow in the winter…. She has even made friends with Astro recently, but still prefers for him to stay in the barn and not invade her privacy in the house.

After living with cats for several years, Todd and I decided we would love to adopt a dog…. we had been taking care of our neighbors dogs for several years, because our neighbors worked long hours. I had fallen in love with pit bulls when Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana back in 2005; there were so many dogs, mostly pit bull types, stranded, left behind and in need of a home. I had had German Shepherds in my 20s, and loved them as well. But something about pit bulls…. they are so loving and kind.

So in 2009-2010, after looking extensively all over the country for 9 months, and either not finding the right fit, or not being able to adopt a pitbull type dog for the dog’s best interest and safety, most pit bulls are adopted locally, or at least were back then.)

Masai came to us in May of 2010, at about one year old. She was found as a stray in Kansas City, and when I saw her photo online, I fell in love instantly and I called the shelter immediately to adopt her; she had already been picked up by a rescue and driven further north somewhere on the east coast and when I contacted them, she was still in transit and they hadn’t met her yet.
The shelter had named her Mimosa, as she was so pretty like a flower. We chose Masai and always used that name, but wanted to honor her roots by keeping her given name as well (for that matter, almost all of our pets, including the horses, have double names).

This was the photo I saw from when she was in the shelter

She stayed at a foster home for several weeks, while we were going thru the adoption, and then she was brought over to Portland OR by several people who drove long distances to deliver her to us (after a house inspection by a local rescue to make sure we were good dog people :) . We were so grateful to all of them for giving of their time and gas money to bring her to us!! She arrived on May 18, 2010, and we fell in love with her immediately. She adapted to our household and our then 3 cats seamlessly.

Masai was became a great addition to our family. Granted, the cats did not think so at first, but as cats often do, they adapted well, and Masai was very respectful of cats and literally laid down when she saw them, giving them lots of space, and staying still and calm.

We started taking her out and socializing her right away, and she did really well with everyone. She loved to play, and she played hard, ran fast and loved to swim. She was super active but very calm at home, probably because she was so exhausted with all the activities!

The day after she arrived we gave her a knuckle bone and she was ecstatic :)

We spent so much time outdoors with her, and here is when I started to become aware we needed to move to the country, so I could give Masai even more space (I was the one who needed more space, truly). That did end up happening, but in all honestly, Portland OR was/is a fabulous place for dogs, and she got to go to all the amazing places that are open to dogs like 1000 acres park in Troutdale, only a 25 mins drive from our home in SW Pdx. There are literally 1000 acres where dogs can be free from leashes and can run around like dogs :) We took her there (and later Bodhi too) every week almost, maybe more in the summer. Yes, it was crowded (not during the week though) but with all the space, and water options, it was just a heaven on earth for an active and friendly dog.

We really started to discover so much about Portland then, even though we had already lived there 10 years by the time Masai came along. Every day it was a new outing, as we had a flexible work schedule where we worked mostly early morning and later afternoon/evenings, we had time to walk or hike with Masai, mostly off leash. Masai always had great voice recall. By nature she did not want to be away from us, and had to be, most of the time (except one time in Mosier where she ran after a deer and was gone about a minute!) within sight of one of us.

Soon after adopting her we found an amazing trainer, Casey Newton of Wonder Puppy, who became a friend. Casey helped us as Masai pulled on the leash SO MUCH. She was just so excited. It was a big challenge; we tried all the different leashes and harnesses and nothing really worked that well. She was just so exuberant on walks!

We worked on her Canine Good Citizen program certification, and she was a natural as she really wanted to please (still does), but we did not get certified, as somewhere down the road, it did not have the priority for us that it had initially. But working with positive reinforcement with Casey really got us on a great start and Masai excelled at everything we taught her…. except walking on a leash calmly :)

Eventually we just enjoyed taking her off leash to places where we could. Our favorites were Woods Memorial near home (technically not off leash, but OK when it was not busy), Council Crest park in the west hills, occasionally Gabriel park, so close to us, as well as Forest park. And in summers, down at the beach in Sellwood park, which was literally covered with dogs of all kinds!

Being adored by all our teachers and staff at our yoga studio. Photo by Joshua Seaman

When we moved to the Methow in 2018, Masai (and Bodhi too) loved the drier weather and did not mind the snow at all. Masai loves snow, and loves to roll and roll in it, even when we humans think it’s too cold!

As she got older, it was perfect for us to move to Maine, as we now have access to an easy walk in the woods from our front door, helpful now because getting in the car isn’t so easy for her anymore. We do have a step up contraption, but even that is starting to become hard for Masai. We still love taking her somewhere new every once in a while, but it’s not a daily event.