Max is quite the character – a slightly curmudgeonly Australian Shepherd/Border Collie mix boy of about 9. He is very intense about play time – fetch is, to him, the absolute BEST game in the whole world. He loves it so much, if there are no toys available, he will bring you a clump of weeds, or a rock, hoping you will throw it for him to fetch. Since he is also rather, um, portly (at 70 pounds, he is about 10-12 pounds overweight at this time), his intense games of fetch involve short tosses, and not very many of them… after which, he loves to nap in an equally intense manner – THUD, “I’m sleeping now.”

Max is good with cats and other dogs and loves all sorts of people. He would prefer to not have toddlers poking at him. He is on joint supplement now, and he is very slow to get up and to go in and out of his kennel, but a large part of that is likely the extra weight he is carrying. With gentle daily fetch and gradually lengthening daily walks, plus a diet to provide slow and steady weight loss, he should limber up pretty well.

His teeth are very worn, probably from a lifetime of carrying around rocks hoping someone will play fetch. He appears to be well housetrained and doesn’t mark.

His senior blood panel did show some areas of concern. He is somewhat anemic and has some moderately high liver enzymes, both of which can be side effects of Max’s primary medical issue: he is hypothyroid. The good news is, hypothyroidism is easy to treat; Max is taking levothyroxine twice daily before mealtime. He also will need his T4 blood levels monitored frequently during these first few months, to try to pinpoint his best dosage, and then occasionally afterwards.

All Max really wants is a home where someone will be able to throw toys and balls for him, a soft bed for him to snooze on between fetch sessions, and some gentle, loving grooming and walks with his favorite person each day. He should be a pretty easy dog to integrate into just about any sort of home and family, and deserves his final years to be filled with fun and love. Someone will be really lucky to invite this fun and endearing character into their life! He’s actually one of the few dogs that genuinely is much more adorable in person than comes through in his photos… he has already captured the hearts of all the shelter volunteers.

Max is posted for the Forget-Me-Not shelter in Republic WA who offer a 30-day money-back trial adoption period. Can’t come to Republic? Don’t let that stop you! They have monthly transports to both the Seattle area and Spokane, delivering adopted pets to their new owners.

ODH has not met this dog; we urge prospective adopters to do their own evaluation.