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January 24, 2024 - Remembering Max (02-01-2009 - 01-23-2024)

I first met Max in early February, 2011, when my sister told me about a dog a friend of hers had rescued from the side of the road. I think it was Tuesday, February 8, 2011, but I'm not 100% sure if that's the right date or not. Regardless, it was love at first sight! I took him home with me and there he stayed for almost 13 years, right by my side. We've been through so many things together, from being attacked by pitbulls in our front yard in 2013 to my cat's, Maverick, diabetes and subsequent death in June of 2016 to Maggie May coming into our lives in November of 2016 and so many more things. In February, 2021, he was diagnosed with a liver disease, with a mass in his liver. His vets gave him no more than a year to live, but he exceeded that by almost 2 years more. He also was diagnosed with IBD that same year, a result of his intestinal walls being thicker than usual. Since I also have a type of liver disease, and I have IBS, it was like the little fella was just a copy of me.

He'd been getting worse as he got older, being in pain, his sight and hearing were mostly gone, and he had trouble getting around a lot of the time. The only times he really seemed like his old self were when I would come home from work and he'd get excited, or when it was time to take him for a walk and he'd jump around like a bucking bronco! How he managed that is still beyond me. I knew the time was coming, but I wanted to delay it as long as I could. Finally I realized that I couldn't keep delaying it; every day I did was another day that he suffered. I was going to do it last weekend, when Steve and Ian were here, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Finally Monday I realized I really just couldn't wait any longer, so yesterday morning, I drove to Taylorsville, to his vet's office, to have it done. It’s definitely been the hardest thing I’ve gone through. I was with him until the end. I watched the light leave his eyes, I saw him take his last breath. They made an imprint of his paw in a clay formed in the shape of a heart for me, then the vet tech and I put him in a plastic bag. The drive home was terrible. I kept crying, screamed several times, but made it home safely.

I buried him with his toys that I could find, his leash and harness since he always got so excited about going for a walk, a lighted flying sphere thing because he loved chasing it, and the towels I brought him home on. He's resting next to Maverick, the only cat he ever liked, who is in some of the pictures below. My baby is gone, and my life feels so empty now. There were times on the ride home that I thought I should just end my life right there too so I could be with him again, but I managed to push those thoughts aside and make it home. Max, my love, you will always be with me and my love for you shall never diminish.

George