This morning I found myself not in a hospital for humans, but a hospital for my running partner Max. We rescued Max from an animal shelter in October 2006. They estimated him to be 4 months old. After doing my research and knowing I wanted to get some sort of boxer to help keep me safe running streets and trails wherever I went, I found a cute brindle boxer-mix puppy and went immediately to go visit him. Of all the dogs in the shelter, Max was the only one sitting calmly in the corner of his cage, shivering with fear instead of jumping up and down barking at me as I walked up to meet him. From the second I saw him I was hooked. He was mine! It was just a matter of convincing Ben:) Sparing details, Max became our first additional member to the Harris Team a couple of days later:) He has been the best dog in the whole world! He never barked and he LOVED every person and every animal he ever met:) Nobody ever told him dogs arent supposed to like cats, or if they did, he didnt listen! If Max had a fault, it was he was TOO kind and gentle; he wouldnt stand up to anyone, even if it meant he took perhaps more abuse from my growing children than any dog should be required to:) Max was the best running partner I could ever hope for, training up to 20 miles with me during my marathon training. He was always excited to run, never whined or complained, and didnt require me to talk while still keeping me constant company and offering steadfast support mile after mile. Max would do anything for me; many times he kept me from getting lost on long trail runs. He would stop at an intersection and not follow me until I went the way he was wanting to lead me; he was never wrong:) He was so soft and kind with each one of my newborn children as one by one his role as my child steadily decreased. He didnt care; he loved my kids almost as much as he loved me:) Over the past few months our gentle boxer has been coughing a lot and slowing down. Eventually food wasnt appealing to him anymore, and after the antibiotics to clear what we thought was pneumonia didnt work, we knew our boy was very sick. We made the hard decision last night it was time to release him from his body, for it was no longer capable of holding his free and happy spirit. As I held my dog in my arms as the vet administered Maxs medicine and he fell asleep one final time, I felt like Max unselfishly gave up his life so our final child with such a tiny immune system could have a clean and sterile home to come to without the possibility of being infected with anything Max might have introduced into Howies environment. Max, run and play My Boy, go explore all the hills and mountains you want. Run free; set your own pace:) Go find Deets and Zeus and Libby and Lucy, and we will go on many more runs after my body is old and warn and can no longer hold my spirit either:) I love you My Boy! When it rains, it poors. But much like Elsa, the rain never bothered me anyway!
Posted on: Fri, 06 Jun 2014 14:13:00 +0000
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