Charity Marie Blogs!

Guardian

Tonight, I saw something I've never seen before. We have four dogs in our house but one of them, Max, has been with us for about three years as of this Christmas. He's a chow-retriever mix and absolutely gorgeous. He's the smartest and sweetest tempered dog I've ever known. And when I say smart, he can get out of cages, he can open doors, climb on counters to get to food, you name it. He's clever. But he's also got the best heart of any dog I've ever seen. I have no doubt that he would protect us with his life if a situation called for it. We actually got him to be an alert dog because of my PTSD and to replace my dog Nani after she passed. But he's turned into so much more than that. This dog has stolen away my heart in a completely unique way I never could have expected. He has a different relationship with each of us. With me, he's a total cuddler. He will dance himself silly when I come through the door and I'm the only one he does that for. With my husband he's an emotional support animal and helps him out in public. Same with daughter when she's having a hallucination or anxiety attack. He will sit there, perfectly still, and let her bury her face in his ruff for as long as it takes until she feels better. When she cries, he comes to check on her. With my son they rough house and are best buddies. Max is also a tremendous goofball and gives hugs if you'll let him.

The other dog we have is Blue, who I recently wrote a short piece about that was loosely inspired by him. We brought him home from the pound about a month ago. We were told he was exceptionally well trained and he got along with Max. About three days after we brought him home, he bit my 11-year-old daughter when she was trying to pet him. It didn't need stitches but scared us pretty badly. We discussed returning him and then decided to try to work with him for. We figured maybe he was having trouble adjusting. We spent the next few weeks working to desensitize him to our daughter and had him wearing a muzzle.

Tonight she reached down to pet him and he tried to bite her again. Fortunately, he was tethered and she was able to get away. And then, instantly our dog Max, went into defense mode. I didn't even have time to do anything but check on Libby before he literally put himself in front of Libby and growled at Blue, hackles raised. His stance was pure and absolute. He sent a very clear signal that he would not tolerate Blue hurting her. Blue growled a little bit then whimpered and laid down. Max continued his protective posturing and even blocked her from going near Blue. Max refuses to leave her side now and keeps eying Blue from all angles, growling periodically. It's very clear he sees Blue as a threat now. Blue keeps trying to play with him and Max just keeps growling at him in a way that makes Blue just look at him perplexed. Now mind you, Blue, as sweet as he is, is as dumb as a box of rocks. No intelligence there whatsoever. I'm not sure why, but it's really obvious that Max is the alpha and the smarter of the two.

We'll keep Blue tethered until it's time to take him outside or to the pound again. It's sad that whoever had him before helped condition him to be this way. He is a really sweet dog to adults and has never even given a hint of agression to me but for some reason, he doesn't like my daughter at all. We suspect he was badly abused at some point because he cowers a lot for no reason. And we suspect there may have been children that were part of that based on his response to Libby.

I have to admit to being so proud of Max. I know Max would never do anything to hurt anyone in our family. Outside of our family, that's a different story. We have to keep a careful eye on him because he doesn't get along with some dogs he sees as a threat to us. Especially pit bulls, boxers, and German Shepherds. I've only ever known him to be hostile toward one person and it was someone who knocked at the door, supposedly to sell me something. Because of Max's behavior, I wouldn't open the door. It might have been nothing, but I've learned that Max sees and understands things I can't.

The shelter is closed on Sundays but first thing Monday, Blue is going back. While I wish we could have worked it out with him, it's not worth the risk. But oh, what a guardian we have in Max. Thank goodness because that's just exactly what this family needs.