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The moment I saw Max at a Border Collie rescue home, I knew that he was going to be "The One". Adam and I had been wanting to adopt a Border Collie for quite some time, but our search had been fruitless. The local humane societies and dog shelters, despite usually having a surfeit of that wonderful, hyper breed, had been curiously (and happily) void of BC's for several weeks. The Humane Society had given us the names and phone numbers of several Border Collie rescue organizations, so we had been visiting them, meeting the animals they had available for adoption. So far, we hadn't found the perfect fit. I was looking for a fairly typical Border Collie. I wanted a dog with a lot of energy and plenty of intelligence. The kind one could hike and play frisbee with. One who could learn tricks and commands with ease. While we had met plenty of nice Border Collies at the rescue organizations, so far the ones we found were either too mellow, or if they had the energy level I was looking for, the lucky dogs were already pending adoption with someone else.
One day we received a call from an organization with whom we had left a message. A husband and wife team who foster unwanted Border Collies and Australian Shepherds thought they had a dog we might be interested in. We arranged for a weekend drive to the home, whereupon we would be interviewed and introduced to dogs that might be a good fit for us.
On the appointed day, we drove deep into the countryside near Estacada, where we were warmly received at the rescue home. We sat down to fill out adoption application forms and be interviewed. Adopting a dog is serious business, just like adopting a child. If we found a dog we liked, it would be a long-term commitment. A dog would be dependent upon us to fulfill its needs for the rest of his or her life. Naturally, the rescue folk needed to know our family make-up and temperaments (including our 4-legged family members), whether we could afford to keep and care for a dog, the specifics of our house and yard, our philosophy of pet ownership, and what we hoped to find in the dog of our dreams. Based on the information we gave them, the rescue couple changed their minds about introducing us to the dog they had originally hoped to place with us, and decided to introduce us to the most energetic dog they had, instead. Max had been rescued by them from the Humane Society, where he had been placed by his previous owners due to his rambunctious behavior around their toddler.
Max came bounding from somewhere deep within the bowels of the rambling country home and met us with wagging tail, a smile on his face, and a gleam in his eyes. It was love at first sight. The beautifully marked tricolor Border Collie (cross?) was somewhat underweight at about 50 pounds. Max is a large, boisterous dog, and he immediately endeared himself to us with his happy personality. He was the one for me. The rescue people approved our application to adopt Max, and we filled out the paperwork, paid the adoption fee, and made arrangements to pick Max up shortly after Christmas. Since we were travelling to the eastern half of the state to spend Christmas with my family, we arranged to bring Max home with us after we returned.
There hasn't been a dull day since Maxie joined our happy home. His exuberance and intelligence make him very easy to train, but those same qualities also mean that if he gets bored, he finds things to do, and we don't always approve of them. He'll eat books and dismember and disembowel my stuffed toys if he's not closely watched. He chases cats, goes ballistic when he sees squirrels, dunks his toys in his water and then dumps the water to get the toys back out, and bullies the other dogs if we don't save our affections exclusively for him. For all that, though, we wouldn't trade him for a million dollars. He's happy, he's fun to teach tricks to, and he's very, very sweet. At his optimum 60 pounds, he's just a big, huggable teddy bear of a dog, and we love him dearly.
Max loves going for walks, chasing cats, playing with other dogs, fetch games, swimming, learning tricks and eating. His best doggy friend is Kiki, who worships the ground his furry white paws tread upon. Maxie dislikes citronella bark-discouraging collars, Rex (who isn't nice to him, Rex being an aggressive dominant male), and he positively despises all squirrels. The squirrels sense this, and tease Max unmercifully, running along the fence line and through the low-hanging branches of the trees in our yard. You can practically see them laughing.
So that's Maxie's story. He's a happy boy with a bright outlook on life, and we're lucky to have him in our lives.