He's the Max: Part 1

Meet Max. He is an 85lb bundle of lab/shepherd energy. He is the happiest soul I know. Like Doug in the movie Up he may have just met you but he loves you. He also has a number of qualities of another movie dog - Marley.

Max did not come to me as a fluffy little puppy. I first heard of him from my son who met his owner in an apartment elevator. The owner didn't want him and was going to take him to the humane society. I had recently had to say goodbye to my buddy of 16 and a half years a few months before and my son thought this dog might take some of the grief away.

So we set up a date to meet Max or Spot as he was then called. There were a number of people in the apartment when I got there and Max galloped over to say hello. I was told he was six months old and up to date on his shots. This I found out later was not true. He was scrawny and dull coated and another thing I was to find out later covered in fleas.

I watched as he would leap up behind people onto the couch and bite their heads. He jumped into laps and raced around the room. He nipped hands and feet. Not exactly the picture of a calm well behaved dog. But his actions were not those of an aggressive dog and despite my misgivings of how he would fit in in my household I agreed to take him.

The first three months were hell. I can't remember how often I asked myself "what the hell have I gotten myself into?" As I was not working at the time I could spend it all with him to get his behavior under control. Every time the teeth were used he got pinned to the floor til he submitted. It took up to an hour at times. I spent a lot of time on the floor like that with him. Holding him down but not hurting him until he understood not to use his teeth on me. In that time frame I had a number of bite marks on my arms and hands.

Then there were his little quirks. He was mortally afraid of seeing anyone on a ladder or standing on a roof. He will only approach his food if he can sneak up to it. He would find any metal object he could to chew. For the life of me I don't know where he found all the screws, bobby pins, nails and whatever I had to take out his mouth.

Why put all that effort into a dog? Because I promised him when he came to my home he would never be hungry and he would never leave. He will always be excitable it's who he is. At nearly 7 we can now get within 10 feet of another dog without him going ballistic. After the first half hour people come to visit he calms down. He no longer bites. Progress.