Max..................
My best friend, my pal, the one thing I could always count on.....
I found Max wondering down Fort Christmas Road just outside of our home in Christmas, Florida during
the summer of 1995.
He was a youngster then, just under one year of age. It was a common occurrence to find dogs that
had been dropped off and abandoned by their owners on this long country road which adjoins Seminole and
Orange county. The road is often used as a bypass by drivers to avoid the much busier alternative highway 50.
My family and I welcomed Max into our home and became immediately attached to him. He was instantly
accepted as part of our family. Although Max became "My Dog". He followed me everywhere.
We posted fliers and ran an add in the local paper under lost pets. Several weeks had come and gone since we'd first found Max. There
was no collar and no identification chip. No had one claimed this beautiful dog and none of the locals in town had ever seen him before. I
felt we were meant to be his "New Family".
Then it happened....... The day the owners came to stake claim to "Our Boy". I pleaded with his owners to allow us to let me keep "Our
Max" and even offered to pay for him.
The owners assured me that "Jake The Snake" (His registered name, after some Professional wrestler) was indeed her dog, and that she
and her husband had paid generously for him. The husband was a Florida Highway Patrol Officer who had purchased "Jake" after he had
failed to "Have what it took" to become a K-9 Police Dog. Stating: That Jake did not like people of color, nor did he like men in uniforms
and hated water.
All of these things combined had made him useless to the police department.
(We'll I would beg to differ)
I actually ended up driving Jake home for his owners because the wife was appalled at the idea of having the dog in the cab of her Toyota
truck.
I was adamant that Jake was not leaving my home in the bed of a pickup. I volunteered to drive Jake in the cab of my truck, I followed
them to their home with Max on the seat beside me. No, this is not what I wanted to do. But he was "their dog".
Several months had came and gone and I had pretty much gotten over the sadness of losing my pal.
Ironically, my oldest son was invited to a pool party at his friends Angela's house. Since I knew the family, I had decided to stay for the
duration of the party. Angela's home happened to be right next door to the home where Jake resided with his family.
The house was boarded up and there were signs that stated the house was in foreclosure. The family had already removed their
belongings and were long gone from the premises. The lawn had not been mowed for several weeks and was over grown. The untrimmed
shrubbery hid most of the house, leaving little view from the road. I wondered out loud what they might have done with "My Max".
Then.......Angela asked me. Who Max was? She informed me that there was a dog that had been left behind after the move. And that her
father had already made a phone call to the local SPCA. I waited until day light the next morning to go poking around the property. To my
surprise, I found Max. He was tethered to a pole just off the front porch of the home. He had survived by drinking water which was
retained in a hole he had dug to stay cool in the hot Florida temperature. The water was stagnated and full of mosquito larva.
The SPCA officer came out while I was there and told me that he had to follow proper county regulations before the dog could be legally
remove from the property.
The owners had been gone now for several weeks. But, I was forbidden to take him away from there by the authorities until the legal
time frame had passed.
I went to the home daily to give him food and water. I remember spraying him for fleas. As well as myself. My pants were covered with
fleas the instant I entered the property.
Max didn't have much time left......he was in poor condition when I was finally able to take him home.
But his personality wasn't the same as it had been a few months earlier and he was older now. In fact, he bit an adult family member.
After some Veterinary care. I placed Max with a family that lived several miles away in the next town.
Several weeks had passed since he'd been gone.
Yet, once again we found him wandering down this busy Country road. He was making his was back to our "his" home. He walked that
distance to find his way back to us all on his own.
He was in poor condition. I took him immediately to the Veterinarian the next morning. He was in such poor condition that Dr. Southworth
suggested euthanasia. Max was suffering from severe dehydration, starvation, and anemia which was caused from the severe flea
infestation.
I remember picking ticks off of him literally for hours at the Vet's office and had lost count once I got to the upper sixties.
Max stayed in the Vet's office in guarded condition for almost a week before he was stable enough to come "Home".
Max was well on his way to recovery.
About a month had passed since our being reunited;
I heard at knock at the door. It was Max' former owners. I was defiant, No, way were they getting this dog back!! ......They didn't want
him. They were merely there to profit from him. They offered to allow me to "buy" his AKC papers for the sum of fifty dollars.
Ha! What a joke! I didn't want or need them. A few words were passed between us. I was threatened with a law suit for having "their"
dog altered (neutered). Not a judge in the world could have taken Max from our family now. I never heard from them again. And no, they
never once asked if they could see him or how he was doing.
As, if he hadn't been through enough already:
It wasn't enough. Max was later diagnosed with Tick Ehrlichia and also tested positive for Heart worms. Max was prescribed 500
milligrams of Tetracycline twice a day for about a month for the tick decease. Once he was well enough, he finally underwent the
aggressive heart worm treatment. He survived this illness as well and finally became a proud and confident German Shepherd that he was
bred to be.
Although he was always reluctant to allow just anyone through the front gate, he became very loyal to us "His Family".
Max never cared much for motorcycle's and would never allow the UPS driver to properly deliver packages at the front door. Since our
house sits a way from the road you can imagine the places we'd find our packages. I remember a time that our neighbors had witnessed a
package flying through the air as the driver had thrown it towards the house and began running full speed back to his truck with Max hot
on his heels.
Guess they didn't read the sign on the gate!!!
Max matured out at over one hundred pounds. He learned to tolerate the horses and even the little weenie dogs. He loved going camping
with us on our favorite primitive Island where he was able to roam free without a fence or leash to restrict his boundaries.
The boat ride getting to the Island was a whole other story.
Our Vet treated Max for crazy things over the years. I remember once he had to have a laceration repair to his right eye from getting a
little to frisky with my eleven hundred pound Palomino mare, she laid into him with a stiff kick.
Several weeks later he went back into the paddock where he took another kick on his rump from our daughters horse.
Radio graphs were taken which revealed that Max had an "excellent" rating for his OFA test. Maybe I should'a bought those AKC papers.
(na)
Max was very protective of his family over the years and even nipped a few people during his life that I guess he felt got a little in the
way. ....Maybe in his way. He eventually learned to like people regardless of color. But thunderstorms would send him into the fetal position
in the smallest area of the house he could find.
Our home was always filled with neighboring children and not once did Max ever bare his teeth or make the slightest growl at a child.
Max started to get ill :
On Sunday, October 22 I noticed he just wasn't himself. By Monday he was hospitalized with Dr. Robert J. Moja DVM. An IV catheter
was inserted to administer antibiotics to Max.
We waited for results from the Super chem profile Dr. Moja had ordered, which would tell us a lot. The results finally came in. It was not
the news I had hoped for. Max was in guarded condition. We continued with IV antibiotics. By Wednesday there was no improvement in his
condition. The antibiotics were replaced with a much stronger one.
Second opinion:
I have known Dr. Jon D. Zern DVM of Chuluota Animal Hospital in Chuluota, Florida for several years and worked with him for a while. He
is an excellent Veterinarian. I decided to give him a call regarding Max. After reading the labs results he recommended that I get an
ultra sound on my boy right away in fear that there may be a tumor on his liver. Perhaps a Liver Biopsy would be necessary, so a PT, a
PTT, and a Platelet Count were ordered. This time the test had results that were acceptable.
If a second opinion never hurts....... Then a third would be even better:
On Thursday morning with little improvement in Max's condition Dr. Ted Oliver DVM ordered a second Super chem profile.
There was a slight improvement in the lab results, but it was only due to the aggressiveness we were taking with all the IV fluids. My
Max was still in guarded condition.
As recommended by both Dr. Moja and Dr. Zern, I called in specialist Dr. Karen Morrow, DVM, MS. She came into our office the very
next day to perform an abdominal Ultra Sound.
The news was bad. It wasn't Max's liver, but his Gall Bladder. And it would need to be removed ASAP. This is not an ordinary surgery and
certainly not one that is performed at your General Practice. Dr. Morrow recommended I take Max to the AVS (American Veterinary
Specialist).
Max was immediately scheduled for surgery for the following morning with Dr. Madden. DVM, DACVS.
By morning Max had gotten progressively worse. Surgery was no longer an option for "My Boy".
Special thank you to all the Veterinarians who helped Max over the years. But mostly to the ones that were with Max the
last week of his life, which gave me their guidance and expertise, that I will never forget.
My boss Dr. Robert J. Moja DVM
Dr. Ted Oliver DVM
Dr. Karen Morrow DVM, MS
Dr. Jonny Z! My friend whom I have had the honor of working with for several years. Thanks for all your knowledge you
generously passed on to me. Dr. Jon D. Zern DVM who was with us in the final moments of my best friends life on
October 27, 2005 at 11:20am,
when Max took his last breath in my arms.
My best friend, my pal, the one thing I could always count on.....
I found Max wondering down Fort Christmas Road just outside of our home in Christmas, Florida during
the summer of 1995.
He was a youngster then, just under one year of age. It was a common occurrence to find dogs that
had been dropped off and abandoned by their owners on this long country road which adjoins Seminole and
Orange county. The road is often used as a bypass by drivers to avoid the much busier alternative highway 50.
My family and I welcomed Max into our home and became immediately attached to him. He was instantly
accepted as part of our family. Although Max became "My Dog". He followed me everywhere.
We posted fliers and ran an add in the local paper under lost pets. Several weeks had come and gone since we'd first found Max. There
was no collar and no identification chip. No had one claimed this beautiful dog and none of the locals in town had ever seen him before. I
felt we were meant to be his "New Family".
Then it happened....... The day the owners came to stake claim to "Our Boy". I pleaded with his owners to allow us to let me keep "Our
Max" and even offered to pay for him.
The owners assured me that "Jake The Snake" (His registered name, after some Professional wrestler) was indeed her dog, and that she
and her husband had paid generously for him. The husband was a Florida Highway Patrol Officer who had purchased "Jake" after he had
failed to "Have what it took" to become a K-9 Police Dog. Stating: That Jake did not like people of color, nor did he like men in uniforms
and hated water.
All of these things combined had made him useless to the police department.
(We'll I would beg to differ)
I actually ended up driving Jake home for his owners because the wife was appalled at the idea of having the dog in the cab of her Toyota
truck.
I was adamant that Jake was not leaving my home in the bed of a pickup. I volunteered to drive Jake in the cab of my truck, I followed
them to their home with Max on the seat beside me. No, this is not what I wanted to do. But he was "their dog".
Several months had came and gone and I had pretty much gotten over the sadness of losing my pal.
Ironically, my oldest son was invited to a pool party at his friends Angela's house. Since I knew the family, I had decided to stay for the
duration of the party. Angela's home happened to be right next door to the home where Jake resided with his family.
The house was boarded up and there were signs that stated the house was in foreclosure. The family had already removed their
belongings and were long gone from the premises. The lawn had not been mowed for several weeks and was over grown. The untrimmed
shrubbery hid most of the house, leaving little view from the road. I wondered out loud what they might have done with "My Max".
Then.......Angela asked me. Who Max was? She informed me that there was a dog that had been left behind after the move. And that her
father had already made a phone call to the local SPCA. I waited until day light the next morning to go poking around the property. To my
surprise, I found Max. He was tethered to a pole just off the front porch of the home. He had survived by drinking water which was
retained in a hole he had dug to stay cool in the hot Florida temperature. The water was stagnated and full of mosquito larva.
The SPCA officer came out while I was there and told me that he had to follow proper county regulations before the dog could be legally
remove from the property.
The owners had been gone now for several weeks. But, I was forbidden to take him away from there by the authorities until the legal
time frame had passed.
I went to the home daily to give him food and water. I remember spraying him for fleas. As well as myself. My pants were covered with
fleas the instant I entered the property.
Max didn't have much time left......he was in poor condition when I was finally able to take him home.
But his personality wasn't the same as it had been a few months earlier and he was older now. In fact, he bit an adult family member.
After some Veterinary care. I placed Max with a family that lived several miles away in the next town.
Several weeks had passed since he'd been gone.
Yet, once again we found him wandering down this busy Country road. He was making his was back to our "his" home. He walked that
distance to find his way back to us all on his own.
He was in poor condition. I took him immediately to the Veterinarian the next morning. He was in such poor condition that Dr. Southworth
suggested euthanasia. Max was suffering from severe dehydration, starvation, and anemia which was caused from the severe flea
infestation.
I remember picking ticks off of him literally for hours at the Vet's office and had lost count once I got to the upper sixties.
Max stayed in the Vet's office in guarded condition for almost a week before he was stable enough to come "Home".
Max was well on his way to recovery.
About a month had passed since our being reunited;
I heard at knock at the door. It was Max' former owners. I was defiant, No, way were they getting this dog back!! ......They didn't want
him. They were merely there to profit from him. They offered to allow me to "buy" his AKC papers for the sum of fifty dollars.
Ha! What a joke! I didn't want or need them. A few words were passed between us. I was threatened with a law suit for having "their"
dog altered (neutered). Not a judge in the world could have taken Max from our family now. I never heard from them again. And no, they
never once asked if they could see him or how he was doing.
As, if he hadn't been through enough already:
It wasn't enough. Max was later diagnosed with Tick Ehrlichia and also tested positive for Heart worms. Max was prescribed 500
milligrams of Tetracycline twice a day for about a month for the tick decease. Once he was well enough, he finally underwent the
aggressive heart worm treatment. He survived this illness as well and finally became a proud and confident German Shepherd that he was
bred to be.
Although he was always reluctant to allow just anyone through the front gate, he became very loyal to us "His Family".
Max never cared much for motorcycle's and would never allow the UPS driver to properly deliver packages at the front door. Since our
house sits a way from the road you can imagine the places we'd find our packages. I remember a time that our neighbors had witnessed a
package flying through the air as the driver had thrown it towards the house and began running full speed back to his truck with Max hot
on his heels.
Guess they didn't read the sign on the gate!!!
Max matured out at over one hundred pounds. He learned to tolerate the horses and even the little weenie dogs. He loved going camping
with us on our favorite primitive Island where he was able to roam free without a fence or leash to restrict his boundaries.
The boat ride getting to the Island was a whole other story.
Our Vet treated Max for crazy things over the years. I remember once he had to have a laceration repair to his right eye from getting a
little to frisky with my eleven hundred pound Palomino mare, she laid into him with a stiff kick.
Several weeks later he went back into the paddock where he took another kick on his rump from our daughters horse.
Radio graphs were taken which revealed that Max had an "excellent" rating for his OFA test. Maybe I should'a bought those AKC papers.
(na)
Max was very protective of his family over the years and even nipped a few people during his life that I guess he felt got a little in the
way. ....Maybe in his way. He eventually learned to like people regardless of color. But thunderstorms would send him into the fetal position
in the smallest area of the house he could find.
Our home was always filled with neighboring children and not once did Max ever bare his teeth or make the slightest growl at a child.
Max started to get ill :
On Sunday, October 22 I noticed he just wasn't himself. By Monday he was hospitalized with Dr. Robert J. Moja DVM. An IV catheter
was inserted to administer antibiotics to Max.
We waited for results from the Super chem profile Dr. Moja had ordered, which would tell us a lot. The results finally came in. It was not
the news I had hoped for. Max was in guarded condition. We continued with IV antibiotics. By Wednesday there was no improvement in his
condition. The antibiotics were replaced with a much stronger one.
Second opinion:
I have known Dr. Jon D. Zern DVM of Chuluota Animal Hospital in Chuluota, Florida for several years and worked with him for a while. He
is an excellent Veterinarian. I decided to give him a call regarding Max. After reading the labs results he recommended that I get an
ultra sound on my boy right away in fear that there may be a tumor on his liver. Perhaps a Liver Biopsy would be necessary, so a PT, a
PTT, and a Platelet Count were ordered. This time the test had results that were acceptable.
If a second opinion never hurts....... Then a third would be even better:
On Thursday morning with little improvement in Max's condition Dr. Ted Oliver DVM ordered a second Super chem profile.
There was a slight improvement in the lab results, but it was only due to the aggressiveness we were taking with all the IV fluids. My
Max was still in guarded condition.
As recommended by both Dr. Moja and Dr. Zern, I called in specialist Dr. Karen Morrow, DVM, MS. She came into our office the very
next day to perform an abdominal Ultra Sound.
The news was bad. It wasn't Max's liver, but his Gall Bladder. And it would need to be removed ASAP. This is not an ordinary surgery and
certainly not one that is performed at your General Practice. Dr. Morrow recommended I take Max to the AVS (American Veterinary
Specialist).
Max was immediately scheduled for surgery for the following morning with Dr. Madden. DVM, DACVS.
By morning Max had gotten progressively worse. Surgery was no longer an option for "My Boy".
Special thank you to all the Veterinarians who helped Max over the years. But mostly to the ones that were with Max the
last week of his life, which gave me their guidance and expertise, that I will never forget.
My boss Dr. Robert J. Moja DVM
Dr. Ted Oliver DVM
Dr. Karen Morrow DVM, MS
Dr. Jonny Z! My friend whom I have had the honor of working with for several years. Thanks for all your knowledge you
generously passed on to me. Dr. Jon D. Zern DVM who was with us in the final moments of my best friends life on
October 27, 2005 at 11:20am,
when Max took his last breath in my arms.
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