A shelter dog who was saved from euthanasia had the most emotional of reactions to her new foster family.
Maya’s response to her foster carer’s son left her rescuers in floods of tears, and served as a reminder of why it’s so important to fight for dogs like her.
“Maya hasn’t been treasured by someone in quite some time and had absolutely no reason to trust or even show any kind of affection to humans,” Stephanie Melton, President of Jasper’s Legacy Inc, a rescue based in South Carolina, told Newsweek.
Jasper’s Legacy frequently rescues dogs from Greenville County Animal Care, a county shelter with a legal contract to take in strays from both Greenville and Spartanburg counties, two of the most populated areas in the state. “They usually take in over 400 dogs a month,” Melton said.
Sadly, due to this huge influx of new dogs, the county shelter has little option but to euthanize those canines struggling to get adopted. That’s how Jasper’s Legacy first found out about Maya.
“Maya originally came into the shelter through Animal Control,” Melton said. “She was a stray who had to be darted to be caught just because she kept running, not because she was aggressive.”
Maya has been bonding with Kayla’s son.
Jasper’s Legacy Inc.
Maya initially struggled in the shelter, raising her lip to anyone that tried to approach her in the first few days. Eventually she became comfortable enough to accept treats and being carried by staff, even giving the occasional tail wag to show she was happy enough.
Nevertheless, Melton said Maya was labeled a “behavior underdog” which meant she was “only available for another rescue organization to take her or adoption through the general public with understanding of her behavior needs.”
Maya was given a euthanasia date of 12pm on May 16 if she was not rescued or adopted. Melton is keen to stress Jasper’s Legacy holds no ill-will towards the shelter though. “They do a great job of trying to find placement for these dogs, but animal welfare is drowning right now and the shelter had just gotten in over 20 dogs in one day, making space an urgent issue,” she said.
“The least adoptable dogs like Maya are the first ones to be put on the euthanasia list. This is a community issue, not a shelter issue. We need better laws and ordinances being enforced to cut down on backyard breeding and irresponsible ownership.”
However, as Jasper’s Legacy is a foster based rescue, she knew she was facing a race against time to find him a temporary home. “I loved Maya just from looking at her shelter photo, but needed an available foster in order to do anything,” Melton said. “Thankfully, one of my fosters, Kayla, contacted me and said she could take her.
Melton contacted the shelter at 9:08 am on the morning Maya was due to be euthanized to confirm they would be taking Maya.
Kayla and her family live in Landrum and could not have been better placed to take on Maya. “Kayla is actually a dog trainer and has fostered hundreds of dogs over the years,” Melton said.
Maya and her foster carer Kayla.
Jasper’s Legacy Inc.
Given how nervous she had been before, it would have been understandable to see Maya exhibit similar behaviors in her new foster home. But foster carers afford rescue dogs a level of care and comfort that has been shown to elevate mood and bring out the best in these canines.
A 2018 study in the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science found that just 15 minutes of one on one petting was enough to boost the wellbeing of a shelter dog. A foster carer represents a natural extension of that and has been shown to yield results.
In the case of Maya, her foster stay has brought out a different side to her: the real Maya. “She has shown a special fondness for children,” Melton said. “She is gentle with other dogs both big and small, cats, and even followed a butterfly in the yard with affection.”
In footage posted to the Jasper’s Legacy TikTok page, which has amassed early 2,000 views since being shared earlier this month, Maya can be seen affectionately engaging with Kayla’s young son in a way some might have thought not possible.
“It definitely brought tears to our eyes,” Melton said. “Dogs are so forgiving and it’s a gentle reminder that we have so much to learn from them. Seeing her motherly behavior towards Kayla’s children is so heartwarming.”
Kayla will foster Maya until she is adopted. She won’t become a foster fail for the simple fact that Kayla’s work is so important to organizations like Jasper’s Legacy, so the rescue are eager to hear from anyone who might be willing to give Maya a forever home.
Even if they can’t adopt, Melton hopes Maya’s story helps people realize they can still find a way to help. “They can still donate, volunteer, and share posts online from their local shelter,” she said. “Every state has shelters that are drowning in unwanted dogs.”
Maya is one of the lucky ones. There are plenty more dogs out there still in need of help.
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