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Focus Artesia Fall 2021 | Pawsitively Exceptional

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Meet Mayci Sarborough!

The dog loving, stray finding, Lego building, animal fact discovering, nine-year-old friend to all animals.​

Mayci has a soft heart for strays. Large, small, mangy, long-haired or short-haired, puppy or elderly, Mayci would like to welcome them all. Her dog fostering dream is to allow one month for each dog to get returned to their owners or adopted, and after that, they are her pets forever. She hopes that when she grows up, she lives in a house “with land and lots and lots of dogs, probably at least 30, and one cat too.”

Mayci has such a powerful love for down-on-their-luck dogs that her grandpa, Eric, couldn’t help but take pity on both Mayci and the strays. Loaded down with slices of ham, Mayci and her grandpa would hop in the truck and go trolling for dogs. They’d cruise up and down the streets of Artesia looking for lost, downtrodden dogs to help. Once they found a stray, they would quietly get out of the truck and a drop a piece of ham. If the dog ate it, they would drop another, and another, in hopes that they could get close enough to lure the dog into the truck and off to the shelter, where locating an owner or securing an adoption could be possible. When asked if their pork ploy was ever successful, Mayci said, “not one time. The dogs never got close enough to catch.” However, tenacious Mayci could not be discouraged.

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Last spring, Wags and Whiskers and Artesia’s Paws and Claws Humane Society partnered to host a low cost Adopt-A-Thon. Of course, Mayci wanted to attend. There, the Scarborough family found the most recent addition to the family: Scout.

Mayci’s dream is to open a no-kill animal shelter. She would “be happy to keep each animal for as long as it takes for them to be adopted or to live out their lives.” One of her favorite pastimes is visiting the animal shelter and seeing the dogs and cats available for adoption. Her mom is happy to oblige but with four dogs and “a whole bunch of cats,” Mayci has to leave the shelter empty-handed: her family is at maximum pet capacity. “If it was up to Mayci, we’d adopt a new pet every time we went to the shelter,” says Mayci’s mom, Morgan.

When asked if there was something that Mayci could teach grown-ups, one thing she mentions is how to make homemade doggie treats. Her specialty: frozen, peanut butter-based doggie treats in a cute, paw print mold. Mayci’s dogs, Chase, Parker, Lexi, and Scout, are happy to assist as taste-testers. To her mom’s amused chagrin, she also wants all the adults to call her if they see a stray out and around Artesia.

Not only does Mayci surveil the streets for strays and concoct homemade doggie treats, she also volunteers her time each week at the local dog grooming establishment, Wags and Whiskers.

When the owner of Wags and Whiskers was looking for an employee, Mayci begged her mom to “apply.” She insisted she did not need payment, just getting to hang out with dogs was payment enough. So Mayci was “hired.” She helps out on Wednesdays, as a service human to dogs that are overwrought while being groomed. She holds their heads and comforts them during the grooming and walks the finished dogs out to their owners. Mayci does this, a young girl, just about to start third grade, without the expectation of payment because of her passion for dogs.

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This special child is not only an animal enthusiast, but she is also a math whiz, an artist, a fact finder, and a Lego master. Her mom, Morgan, declares that Mayci is dogged in her determination to complete entire Lego sets. “She’ll go in her room and not come out for hours until the entire thing is done.” Mayci prefers the Lego sets that are animal related. She always follows the instructions to a T, instead of going rogue like her little brother, who prefers to dump all his Legos in a pile and build from imagination. She currently has over 50 completed Lego sets on display in her room. In her free time, she likes to research animal facts. The most interesting fact she’s come across lately is the “Lemon Dalmatians. It’s kind of like a reverse Dalmatian but instead of black with white spots, they’re white with blonde spots.” The walking, talking version of a compendium of dog facts, Mayci is an armchair expert on all things dog.

Mayci would like Artesians to know there are often dogs and cats available at Paws and Claws Humane Society looking to be adopted into their “furever” homes. If you see a smiling blonde with a slice of ham and a canine in the vicinity, that is probably Mayci. Give her a wave and some encouragement. She is the local hound helper, champion of pound puppies, and all around, outstanding young lady who is destined for big things.

Article written by Morgan Fox and originally published in Focus on Artesia 2021 Fall edition.

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