My lifelong dream was to own a St. Bernard and in my 30’s my family found the perfect little 20 lbs St Bernard puppy we called “Little Max” or Maxwell. Trying to pick one of 12 puppies was not an easy task, but he picked us, he was the one that could not take his eyes off our youngest son who was 7 at the time. Max fit into our family well and with the 2 other kids became part of the family chaos. He attended most family activities and events and is loved by all the family. Max grew to be 200lbs during his prime and looked just like Beethoven. We could not take Max anywhere without strangers stopping us and wanting to pet Max. He was a love and loved the attention. As the years passed we adopted another dog, Shadow, a little black part chow mix from the Humane Society. The 2 became soul mates and were inseparable; we lost Shad a year ago. Max was a very sensitive dog, and when Shadow died, he became very depressed. In hopes to turn Max’s attitude around, we purchased a puppy; this time another St Bernard. Max found another great companion In Lily Bell. On May 13 we lost our beloved Max at the ripe old age of 11.5 , my heart is very sad and heavy but joyful in my mind’s eye watching Max and Shad play and frolic again. Max we love you and your presence will be greatly missed. Max, believe it or not, Lily the 1 year old (it’s all about me puppy) misses you greatly and misses your leadership. She slept in your spot last night and wears your collar proudly.
Some of our best moments:
– Chewing the Dry wall completely off the wall as a puppy
– Stretching his legs and kicking my Dad off the Hammock while he was sleeping
– Pulling the kids on the Sled over and over again
– Finding the one remaining patch of snow on the mountain
– Going head to head with the ELK
– Running the hill on “beachin at the basin” at ABasin
– Every minute and moment of joy you brought to our lives
– Brushing him – He loved to be pretty!
– Playing which hand – and winning a treat
– Being an inside dog and being around his people
– Sitting on the couch without permission (to him it wasn’t sitting on the couch if just his butt was on the couch!)
– He lived for food. He would sit and watch you eat with those big eyes you could never be angry at him.
– He would always greet you at the door and lean all his weight on you. There was no getting in without giving Max some love first.
– Like monkeys picking at each other, Shadow would keep Max’s jowls clean, always daintily licking the slobber away (we didn’t realize what a fantastic service she was doing)
Maxwell – Thank you for choosing us, you made our lives more joyful and meaningful.
Thank you Home to Heaven for keeping Maxwell comfortable and letting him die with dignity and being there and walking us through one of the hardest days and moments of our lives.