Rescue Journal

max to the vets

Carol  ·  Jan. 28, 2010

doing anything to max is an exercise in outsmarting. just to get his leash on this morning involved some quick thinking and good hand/eye coordination on my part. i pick up the leash and then i peer consideringly at max...max very calmly looks at the leash in my hand and peers consideringly back. i plot my first move, max calmly waits to react.

it is like two wrestlers assessing their opponents and calmly waiting for the attack.

i re-think my strategy and break to get a cookie. i scout out where the ring is currently hanging from his collar. in one smooth move, the cookie is moving towards his mouth and the open leash clasp in moving toward the collar. as he reaches up for the cookie, i have to look in two places at once...i have to make sure the clasp gets to the ring and i have to make sure that max does not get my fingers when grabbing for the cookie in front of his face.

ahhh...sweet success.

now to get him into the van.

i hold the leash straight up from his collar, about a foot and then i loop the leash under his belly and bring it up around to his back. one, two, three..lift the leash at the collar and belly and up into the van goes max. it pisses him off and he tries to connect with a snap.

biting to max is like breathing..it is not personal, it is just a thing he does if someone is messing with him.

when we get to the vets, he jumps down from the van and in we go into the clinic. i sit on the bench, he stands in the middle of the floor so everyone has to alter their path to go around. i gently try to tug him over, out of the way. he plants his feet and stretches out his neck...nope, ain't moving, i am standing here in the center where i want to be....the word "cooperation" means nothing to him.

once we hit the exam room, i sit on the floor with him. i gently rub his ears and his head and he reaches up several times and kisses me. the vet comes in, we slip on the muzzle and max quietly and stoically submits cuz he knows there is no point in a battle that will not be his win right now.

bottom line...his heart and his lungs are as crappy as ever. he has even put on a pound. but he looks frailer, weaker and very much thinner...wanna bet that pound is from fluid or a tumour not found?

his liver is grossly enlarged....could be cancer, could be end stage liver failure as a result of his cardiac disease. he is pale, he is frail, he is failing...does not took good. we took blood, started him on some new meds and will decide where to go next, if anywhere, depending on the blood results.

so here is our max who really is an ass of a dog.if i dare to get mad at him for being a jerk with one of the others, he gets mad right back and tries to bite me. if i try to put on a leash, brush him or touch him when he does want to be touched, feed him a cookie...max will bite me.

no regrets, no second thoughts...fuck off carol....hey where is my ball?

and that is why i love him...if he had acted like this in the shelter...max would have been toast. but he is smart enough not to let his true self out until he can get away with just being max....the asshole.

you can love a dog to whom biting is as natural as breathing...when that dog is as honest and natural as max.
love ya babe....with a little more time, i hope you can try to bite me again.

Comments

lynne

i hope max will be okay, he is a snarly dog but one of my favorites. he reminds me of starbuck my dog, has to be somewhat in control. and he follows me to the pond but stays with me and comes back with me, he likes me and i like him.