Everyone that reads this blog on a fairly regular basis knows that we are dog lovers. And you all know our Butch, the Beagle who is 8 years old. But before Butch, there was another canine love of our life.
Max.
We 'inherited' Max from our oldest daughter's children. Well, no. That's not quite true. We actually inherited Max from the S-I-L.
Max was found in a dumpster as a young puppy by our oldest grand daughter. She carried him home with her and big-dealed her dad to let him stay. It worked....the big-dealing, I mean.
They were living in York, Pennsylvania at the time. Things were great for a while. Cute little puppy. Playful little puppy. Hungry little puppy. But little puppy started growing. He grew and he grew and he grew! The vet told them that he was a mix breed of Lab and Hound. And he grew!
They didn't have a fenced in yard so........Max (Maxamillan) became more of a house dog than an outside dog.
The first time we went to Pennsylvania to visit them, I have to admit, I was just a little leery of Max. No, I was a LOT leery! He kept me backed up to a wall most of time. One day, everyone was away from the house except Hubs, myself and Max. Max proceeded to go upstairs to the bathroom and climb into the bathtub. Brave me. I was going to get him out but the first time he bared his teeth, I left the bathroom. He sat in the bathtub until the kids got back home.
But as time passed, I lost my leeriness and we became pretty good friends.
Time passes. Our daughter was transferred to Houston with her job and the family makes another move. After a time, the S-I-L calls me, asking a favor. Would we take Max for a few weeks to see if an allergic skin condition could clear up. The vet thought a drier climate would help. Well, you know parents. We'll do most anything for our kids.
To tell you all the details would make this post much too long. Suffice it to say, a few weeks turned into permanently. The skin problem didn't clear up, it got worse. We carried him to a new vet and had blood work done. It turned out that Max had developed diabetes. It had progressed enough that insulin shots were recommended. It started out with 1 shot a day. All went well and he seemed to be doing o.k. We went ahead and made our plans to move back home. After a couple of months of being in our new home, another trip to the vet, turned into 2 insulin shots a day. And then we began to notice that Max would be walking and would run into door facings and walls. He had lost his sight.
Hubs loved Max as much as I did. We medicated, we loved, we led him outside and back inside. We petted and pampered.
At Thanksgiving, all the family was here. During the time the kids were here, Max got down and wouldn't/couldn't get back up. Hubs lovingly picked that humongous dog up, put him in the vehicle and carried him to the vet. Still trying to make this story a shorter one, Max was put to sleep. Hubs requested that he be cremated. A couple of weeks later, we were contacted and Max was brought home in a ceramic urn. This urn sits on a shelf right by our bed, on Hubs side!
This post is not my usual kind of entry. Why then, did I post it?
I was blog browsing and reading comments to my favorite bloggers. I noticed that one of the comments came from Texas. Curious as to where in Texas, I followed the link. This guy had written a beautiful post about his dog that had died from lymphoma, had been cremated, and was now in his possession. His experience was so much like ours, it inspired me to write about our Max.
When you have time, if not now, come back and read his story. It is heart-warming.
The story of our acquisition of Mr. Butch will come later. Remember, Max died at Thanksgiving. Then came Christmas.
I'll bet you can guess what happened!!
Max.
We 'inherited' Max from our oldest daughter's children. Well, no. That's not quite true. We actually inherited Max from the S-I-L.
Max was found in a dumpster as a young puppy by our oldest grand daughter. She carried him home with her and big-dealed her dad to let him stay. It worked....the big-dealing, I mean.
They were living in York, Pennsylvania at the time. Things were great for a while. Cute little puppy. Playful little puppy. Hungry little puppy. But little puppy started growing. He grew and he grew and he grew! The vet told them that he was a mix breed of Lab and Hound. And he grew!
They didn't have a fenced in yard so........Max (Maxamillan) became more of a house dog than an outside dog.
The first time we went to Pennsylvania to visit them, I have to admit, I was just a little leery of Max. No, I was a LOT leery! He kept me backed up to a wall most of time. One day, everyone was away from the house except Hubs, myself and Max. Max proceeded to go upstairs to the bathroom and climb into the bathtub. Brave me. I was going to get him out but the first time he bared his teeth, I left the bathroom. He sat in the bathtub until the kids got back home.
But as time passed, I lost my leeriness and we became pretty good friends.
Time passes. Our daughter was transferred to Houston with her job and the family makes another move. After a time, the S-I-L calls me, asking a favor. Would we take Max for a few weeks to see if an allergic skin condition could clear up. The vet thought a drier climate would help. Well, you know parents. We'll do most anything for our kids.
To tell you all the details would make this post much too long. Suffice it to say, a few weeks turned into permanently. The skin problem didn't clear up, it got worse. We carried him to a new vet and had blood work done. It turned out that Max had developed diabetes. It had progressed enough that insulin shots were recommended. It started out with 1 shot a day. All went well and he seemed to be doing o.k. We went ahead and made our plans to move back home. After a couple of months of being in our new home, another trip to the vet, turned into 2 insulin shots a day. And then we began to notice that Max would be walking and would run into door facings and walls. He had lost his sight.
Hubs loved Max as much as I did. We medicated, we loved, we led him outside and back inside. We petted and pampered.
At Thanksgiving, all the family was here. During the time the kids were here, Max got down and wouldn't/couldn't get back up. Hubs lovingly picked that humongous dog up, put him in the vehicle and carried him to the vet. Still trying to make this story a shorter one, Max was put to sleep. Hubs requested that he be cremated. A couple of weeks later, we were contacted and Max was brought home in a ceramic urn. This urn sits on a shelf right by our bed, on Hubs side!
This post is not my usual kind of entry. Why then, did I post it?
I was blog browsing and reading comments to my favorite bloggers. I noticed that one of the comments came from Texas. Curious as to where in Texas, I followed the link. This guy had written a beautiful post about his dog that had died from lymphoma, had been cremated, and was now in his possession. His experience was so much like ours, it inspired me to write about our Max.
When you have time, if not now, come back and read his story. It is heart-warming.
The story of our acquisition of Mr. Butch will come later. Remember, Max died at Thanksgiving. Then came Christmas.
I'll bet you can guess what happened!!
