Max in Maine

Max is in love with the outdoors and smelling every possible new MAINE scent he get wrap his little puggle nose around. He just takes off, leaping over large logs, exploring forests and bushes and comes out of it all licking everything and everyone. We just went on a canoe ride; Max was a passenger...for about five or ten minutes. We dropped him off in the water by the shore across the pond from the house. He ran with Sadie and Fenway until Sadie got in the water (she is an avid swimmer, even at her age!). He then realized that he was going to go swimming, whether he liked it or not, if he wanted to keep up with Sadie. Typically, he loves the water,but this is very very very cold pond water.He belly flopped himself in the water. In the, I repeat, very very very cold pond water. He simply is a puggle in love with himself, his canine "sisters", his human parents, and the environment around him. I fall in love with him every time I see him bound in to the bushes and come out the other side full of leaves, shaking them off furiously. On land, he is more comfortable with running to catch up with Fenway, trying to pull tricks only possible for a dog his size (gloating in front of Fenway and Sadie) and it is just too adorable. I know when day he will get old and just curl up on the deck, or patio or what ever Jeff and I will have at the time. Now, he's just a little two and half year old puggle who still acts like a puppy and I love to watch him be.

I just got to talk to Jeff's sister (Becky) about the boxer Annie that she has had since Annie's infancy and it makes me wonder about Max's parents. Who was the beagle? Who was the pug? I can only imagine he was taken care of prior to finding him on http://www.petfinder.com/ . I adopted a pug with bright white intact teeth, pink paw pads and an excellent disposition. I almost feel guilty that he probably just ran away from a loving home and I simply paid for him and took him home after his surgery. Then I think back-he had no tags, no microchip, no neutering. Who ever cared for him did not spend a lot of money on looking after him or the pet population! I promptly took care of these things. There was no way this little creature full of love was going to get away from me.

Fortunately, when Max escaped from the fenced yard soon after we moved to Lookout Mountain, I had tags and someone called when a responsible dog lover (or perhaps just a responsible human being) found him. He left me a message on my cell and brought him to the veterinary clinic at the bottom of the mountain. I went immediately to pick him up and got new tags. Since then, we have gone on the road in the RV. We outfitted all three dogs that we have with new tags with their names and my current cell phone.

Maybe I just lucked out with Max, but puggles are just full of joy and happiness. I would still be interested in owning a full breed, but after researching full breed puppies, I may have a lower maintenance dog on my hands here and I love him!