On February 6^th, 2025, at 4:00 PM, my partner and I lost our best friend.  He’s left behind a silence in our house that’s deafening and only filled with intermittent tears.  Every jingle is his collar when he shook his head.  Every tap are his nails on the hard wood floors.  Neither of us realized just how much this dog was a part of us.

Max was a great dog, especially for me and my partner.  He was affectionate without be clingy.  Playful without being hyper.  He was patient.

We adopted him as an older dog (6 years old), and it took a while for him to accept us as his humans.  What started out as his being a flight risk turned into him not wanting to leave our sides.  Finding out what he enjoyed was so fun.  For a dog from Texas, he wound up loving snow and cold weather.  His excitement at his first hike was a joy, his excitement was so obvious.

He was also a fiend for cheese and bacon.  He somehow learned to distinguish the sound the plastic from cheese made and would beeline to the kitchen whenever I opened a package.  And we always made sure there was enough bacon at breakfast to give him at least one strip, usually two.  And he never begged.  He’d only ever approach and wait for his treat.

Toward the end, bacon and cheese were the only things we were able to get him to eat.  We’d need to break it up into small bits so he could get it down.  He couldn’t go on hikes anymore as a walk around the block became difficult.  His last good day he did get to enjoy the snow one last time.  The Seattle winter rewarded us with that memory.

We miss this boy with all our hearts.  As we are potting stuff away, I cry when I see they’re not there anymore.  It’s a reminder that he is not here anymore.  I would have given so much to have more time with that boy, but there really wasn’t anymore.

Goodbye, Max.  Maximus.  Maximoose.  Muttley.  Big guy.