Inspiring Dog Story - Max the Rescue Dog
by Sophie Good
(Gillingham, Kent, UK)
Max in the Long Grass
Almost 5 years ago when i was 11 my sister and i really wanted to go dog walking, to persuade my parents to get a dog which my sister and i had wanted for a long time.
We thought we would be able to persuade our parents if they got attached to a dog that we would walk at the kennels... and that's exactly what happened.
My mum agreed to us helping walk dogs at a dog kennel at the weekend.
When we walked through the gates of the kennels we saw a small dog pen on the right of us where a large dog (German shepherd x Mastiff) was running up and down the fence line.
The workers at the kennels asked us if we wanted to walk Max (the big dog) and we agreed. They walked over to the pen and got a chain lead to put on the dog. When he came near them he growled and showed his teeth with his hackles up high in the air.
When they had him on the lead they handed him to us, he relaxed and stopped barking, his hackles went back to normal and he sniffed us. He wasn't threatened by us and he seemed to feel safe.
My dad and I were first to walk Max out the gate and my sister and mum were still in the Kennels. He stopped in the car park and stared at the gate. He wouldn't move until the rest of the family were there.
After a few times of walking him we all grew a bond, especially my dad who walked him every day after work although he never told us.
We were told that Max would have to be put down as he's been living in kennels over the past year. They said he was too aggressive for anyone of the workers to handle and he had bit someone and had the potential to bite someone else.
We loved Max and we couldn't leave him to be put down. With many disagreements and arguments my mum eventually agreed to take him home with us.
He's been a struggle over the past 4 years, but it's all been worth it. We've been taking him to Stockbury Dog Club in Hartlip, Kent, a training group, for over 3 years now and with out it we probably wouldn't have been able to keep him
Two years ago he won a reward for most improved rescue dog. My dad's now a trainer at the dog club and helps at Labrador Rescue where our most recent dog is from.
If we never got Max i'd have never realised how interesting these animals are. I've learnt so much about dog Psychology and behaviour.
He's such a special dog to us all and the rest of the family He's so intelligent and i couldn't love him more. We have two other dogs now too a Cocker Spaniel who's 11, still full of beans, and a Labrador who's 9.
Max is our first dog and he's got such a story to him and his life.
