In Memorium, Max

I'm very sad to report that Max, my best canine buddy and a damn fun ski dog, died today at about 3PM with his head in Yanna's lap. While it was a relief to see the look of peace come across his face as the merciful injection took effect, it was painful to know that I'd no longer be tromping with him in the mountains. I'd given up bringing him skiing this year due to his lower back troubles (other than one slow lap at Ski Acres on quite firm snow once the lifts closed), but prior to that he'd been on all but the most ambitious ski tours I'd done in the Cascades. His giant rabbit-like tracks in the powder (he weighed about 105 lbs) were temporary evidence of the great joy he took in floating down the hill alongside us. I'm sure there were better-trained ski dogs (Max would sometimes step on ski tails when tired, and it always took a few trips early in the season for him to remember how not to get in the way of good turns, and when he got excited on a run he'd bark a lot), but I've never seen one who had more fun than Max, nor who was as able to steal hearts even of strangers we'd meet briefly.

Though Max was past his ski days, he was still getting out on hikes of 3K vertical (on graded trails) as recently as a few weeks ago, but unfortunately fate (apparently in the form of a neighbor's incautiously placed anti-freeze combined with a gate left open) snatched him before he seemed done exploring the mountains.

He will travel with his pack in spirit whenever we are in the wild. I wish you all could have met him.

I love dogs like that; they're such great friends. And such reliable and prominent examples of unconditional love. From that one trait alone we could all learn much.<br>Thank you for sharing Max with us, Jim. It's nice to get a glimpse of the great joy he brought to you.<br>Now I think you need to go out and get a little round orange puppy; today. <br>Certainly not to replace Max, but to experience the same kind of camaraderie with a completely different critter personality.

What a tough break for Max and you all. Well, you're remembering the good times. Wish I could have met Max.<br><br>I have some thoughts on your neighbor that I'll keep to myself.

Thanks, guys. It really helped me to write this down last night. Ron - the puppy will wait for a bit (we agreed that we need to wait a few months at least to let our feelings kind of settle down), but in the meantime we have Sasha who joined our adventures shortly after this photo was taken, and she'll get our undiluted attention for a little while. David - there's more to the story than I care to post (all negligence, at least rather than malevolence, but clearly serious negligence that is testing my acceptance skills and way beyond my current ability for forgiveness), I have some similar thoughts, and in fact had just declined a very reasonable out-of-the-blue offer on my house last week that I'm now seriously reconsidering in order to get a clean slate with neighbors. We were close to the edge of selling as it was, and this incident has pushed us over it (we live on a lake and Max loved swimming in it, and as silly as it sounds that was a big part of the joy we found in being there). <br><br>Thanks for the kind words, guys. It's definitely helping me to share him with a community of fellow travellers who understand the depth of the bond. I only wish it could have been in person.<br><br>Charles, if you're reading this, I never thought I'd have such a profound feeling of thanks for this community being here. You are giving in more ways that I think you could have imagined when you started TAY.

That's a real bummer.  Sounds like both you and Max embarked on some great adventures out in the Cascades.  I wish I could take my dog (120lbs long-haired shepard) but he tends to scare or chase any living thing (worked good on the slednecks at Crystal ;D).  That and the fact that he tries to take me out while I ride.  I shouldn't be too suprised though since he still chases tires on moving vehicles.  Anyways Max looked like a good wingman.  I feel for you.<br><br>Regarding your asshole neighbor...I believe what comes around goes around.  I will reserve the rest of my opinion.

Thanks snoslut, and I agree with your philosophy.<br><br>Maybe you could try the abandonded ski slopes when the lifts close at the end of season, depending on how you feel about allowing a litlte minor harrassment of ski area dwelling chipmunks? He might learn not to knowck you over...

This post reminded me of my dog when I was a kid. A great dane/doverman (spell). The longest hike we took him on was 9 days between snoqualmie and stevens. Good times. I got him on my B-day. He died after being hit by a truck on my b-day about 9 years after we got him. At 14 or so that hit hard. We had to shot him that morning all those years later. It sucked. Thanks for reminding me of an old pal, Cochise. A damn loyal/good friend that showed me the hills 'bout home. Bottoms up to them both.

My condolences on the loss of your friend.

I'm sorry to hear about Max. I lost Coby,my best friend of over twelve years, almost six months ago, and I still miss him HORRIBLY! Sounds like Max was pretty lucky to get partnered up with you. I'm glad you enjoyed each other's company so much.

sorry to hear about the loss of your buddy man, It's worse than losing a human friend. (at least it was for me) They all told me to just try and be greatfull for the time we did have together. I assume it helped I smile at the thought of her a lot more now, but it sound like good advice anyways. <br><br>I miss my dog.

Thanks, guys. SAG - you're on to something. I lost my dad yesterday (seriously strange month here). It's hard to really tell what's going on in my head at this point, but so far my dog has hit me harder. I have been hearing the same thing from a few people. We spend so much time with our 4-legged pals, and they have that unconditional love for and dependence on us. <br><br>Today's good news was a call from the vet letting us know we can let our neighbor off the hook (the anti-freeze was still in a dumb spot and wide open so I'm still pissed and he still feels bad but the scale of it is different) as Max tested positive for Leptospirosis (blood test takes a while to come back). The antibiotics he got once he went critical just weren't soon enough. Who knows where he picked it up, but it may have ironically been our shared love of the mountains that did him in in the end, as he of course drank from open mountain water sources as all dogs will. I didn't realize until now that we have lepto around here. If so, I'm sure he'd still have said he'd take the risk if he could think that way (and talk).

Gosh Jim, sorry to read about Max and then to lose your father, that's tough. I have had many pets over the years and it's never easy when one leaves the family, in fact it hurts so bad that you wonder if you will ever allow yourself to get attached again. When I lost my last cat, I found some comfort in the quote below. <br><br>"We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own, live within a fragile circle, easily and often breached. Unable to accept its awful gaps, we still would live no other way. We cherish memory as the only certain immortality, never fully understanding the necessary plan." (Irving Townsend) <br><br>You'll know when the time is right to share your love with another unique companion.<br><br>

Jim, I finally took a look at this thread, and am sorry to hear about Max and your dad. Thanks for posting the great photo, it gives a real sense of how enjoyable it must have been to be out in the snow with Max.<br><br>I did not imagine TAY being useful in this way when I started it, but at that point I didn't know very many of the great people involved in backcountry skiing around here. Knowing what I know now, I'm not surprised at all.<br><br>I don't have a dog now, but I grew up with two dogs, and they truly were great companions and we had a lot of adventures together. We also had a Max, whose full name was "Maxwell Smart, Agent 86", from the Get Smart TV show. His sister's name originally was "Agent 99" but my mother refused to use that name, so we changed it to "Lucy". Both dogs lived into their late teens and died while I was away at college, so their passing didn't hit me as hard as it might have - I had already said my goodbyes in a sense.

You might ask your vet does he/she not vaccinate with 7-way?<br><br>I have so many dogs now, I have to do all of them myself, except for rabies since vets must do that one, by law.<br><br>There is also the possibility that a vaccine does not take. But even so, Lepto deaths are only at a rate of about 10%.<br><br>Sorry to hear about your dad. You're really getting hit hard here.

David - he got hit by the bratislava strain, and that apparently is not impacted by the vaccinations that are available today. Add to that the fact that Max was a large 11 year old dog, and his kidneys may not have had a lot of spare nephrons going before this unfortunate event.

Sure enough, darn-it-all. Thanks for all the extra info. I'm asking at a rather bad time, I know. Its obviously a concern for me as well as any other dog owner. I found that pigs, horses, and rodents are vectors for bratislava serotype. And the incidence of dog infection is increasing. Interestingly, there USED to be a vaccine for that serovar.<br><br>I spent my REI dividend on the MSR MIOX, which will allow me to purify dog-team quantities of water, but you know how it is, they slop up any little puddle they come across. Plus, the negative reports about MIOX from the "other" website leave me a bit distraught.

No worries, David. If I can help even one other dog, I'm happy to be asked at this point. Thanks for the pointer on the MIOX, as I we still have Max's ski and hiking pal Sasha to keep going. This has been a tough way to learn be more vigilant, though as you say it's tough to prevent all possibility of infection with dogs. The only 100% protection I can think of is to keep them from a lot of the things they love so much (e.g. a swim in a creek or pond on a hot day!?), which is not a tradeoff I'd make. Still, I'll be much more vigilant now than I'd ever been before.