MAXX
at the Rainbow Bridge: 1/8/00
3/17/99 (1st Gotcha Day)
To all of Maxx's Friends
and the people who put up with Me:
Today is Maxx's "gotcha
day" (or as good a day to celebrate as any). One year ago
today, Don drove to Binghamton & picked up a terrified 105lb
GH at a rest stop. At first, no one remembered to say goodbye.
When they all turned to leave, and had almost gotten to the car,
"Dad" remembered, and called to his 8 year old son, to
say bye to Maxx. The kid could hardly be coaxed from the
swingset, but when called in the "dad" voice, he ran
over, patted him on the head and ran back to the parent's car, in
one swoop. No one turned around for one last look.
Don loaded him up in his
pathfinder and drove him to Lucy &
I waiting at the Petco in Scranton, PA. Maxx pooped and peed
3 times in Don's car. He did the same thing several times on the
floor at Petco. I thought oh great, the dog's not housebroken. In
reality, he's never done anything like that since and he's been
in our cars a multitude of times since. In retrospect, I realize
that he was almost literally scared to death. How awful is that?
He was so terrifed he couldn't control his bodily functions....
In this past year, I
have beat my head against the wall a hundred times trying to deal
with all of Maxx's baggage, and you all know, the size of that
baggage. But you know what? I wouldn't do anything different even
if I knew what I know now.
One thing above all,
Maxx has
taught me patience that I never knew I could find in myself. And
a capacity to "deal with things". And, as much as I
love all my furballs, Maxx is special, probably because he really is pretty
unloveable on the surface. And I guess I have an affinity for the
underdog. But every single time Maxx
has a "breakthrough", it means so
much more, to the both of us. All dogs run to the door when you
come home, right? Big deal? It took Maxx
about 9 months to figure that out. Now,
every time someone comes to the door, I revel in it. All
greyhounds love to run, right? It took Maxx even longer to
figure that out, and he still only does it on rare occasions. But
when he does, it's such a joy, I almost always cry, because I
know he's feeling good. Sometimes Maxx
comes over & wants to get petted -
pretty pathetic when you think that your own dog only
"sometimes" wants to be petted. But up until 2 or 3
months ago, Maxx RAN when I tried to love on him. Even if he
only stands still for 5 seconds, it's a major improvement.
So, tonight we
celebrated with kibble, pumpkin and carrots for dinner. A
preservative free pressed spinach nylabone for dessert. And 5
really cool squeaky toys which Maxx ignored but
Blitzen, Dakota and Clancy had a ball
with. And hopefully, a seizure free night.
Sorry for being so
sentimental and "mushy" but you have to look back on
significant occasions and this is just such an occasion. No
matter what happens in the next 12 months, I'm very thankful for
tonight and for Maxx. He really is the Maxximum Greyhound.
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