Dogaversary

Somewhere in July 1996 Maxx became my dog. I thought it would be easy to find the date because my mom went to the Delta Animal Shelter to adopt him for me and just barely made it home before the road was closed due to the big Burns Bog fire that burned for 3 days. Unforturnately since there was another big fire in 2005 and perhaps because of the earlier stages of the internet and blogging 11 years ago, there is mention of that fire, but not the exact date.

I had just rented a house in Maple Ridge and the owner had enticed me to rent because she said I could have a dog. I had seen Blue Heelers at dog shows and I liked them. I had put the word out to friends and family that I was looking for a dog and my mum went straight down to the shetler and phoned me at work to tell me there was this dog called Maxx who had been at the Surrey SPCA shelter for 3 weeks and the Delta one for two. I immediately said "get him" without even meeting him. So my mum adopted Maxx and I went to her house with a friend after work that day to pick him up.

Our first few days together were very unusual. I had grown up with dogs, but he was different. Other Cattle Dogs owners since have reminded me that they are a bit crazy. On the August long weekend I took him up to a friends cabin where we were camping. I told everyone that I had just adopted him and to feel free to train and or discipline him as needed. I had him on a leash as were were on the Okanagan lake near the highway and I was afraid he'd run away or get hurt. But after a few hours one of my friends convinced me to let him loose. He spent the rest of the day running with another dog. The next day he slept on a lawn chair almost the whole day. I guess after 5 weeks in prison I don't blame him for sleeping. After that initiation we were fine together.

Unfortunately, about 8 months later, Maxx experienced a seizure and was diagnosed with epilepsy. I believe I've blogged about the rest of his story before, so I'll fast forward to today - Maxx is 13 and despite multiple predictions that he wasn't going to make it, or that old age would hit him hard and fast, here's my boy and we're still together.

(I tried to remove the reflection in his eyes, but the red-eye feature on the camera didn't do anything and the photo editing program will not change it either - maybe because it's reflecting green/yellow instead of red? That's the dingo in him! )