I found Max

   With the death of my dog I learned to appreciate the little things in life before they're taken away.
   Dec. 6th of 2014 began like any other morning with Max. I was awaken by Max crying at the door, so that I could let him out. I was so frustrated "shut up Max!" I snapped. I got up 5 minutes later, and he jumped all over me; I just ignored him, and opened the door to let him out.
   The rest of the morning I stayed in my room. I could see Max's shadow from the bottom of the door, trying to get in. I chose to ignore him and continued watching TV.
   Max seemed extremely needy and clingy that day. He spent all of his time with me, but I was just annoyed by him. I finally decided to leave my room, when it was time to let him out again.
   12:44pm I opened the front door to let Max out. The moment I opened the door my sister was coming through the front gate. Max ran right past her into the street. "Max!" I yelled after him.
   I started to chase after him. Within the blink of an eye he was laying in the middle of the street. I ran towards him and held him, but he wouldn't move, he wouldn't respond. His eyes were a bit open, but after 2 minutes they closed for good. I could tell he was in pain, just by the way he looked at me; it broke my heart. I couldn't keep It together; I cried until I ran out of tears, I couldn't breathe.
   My sister began to preform CPR on him. It was no use, we lost him.
       R.I.P Max Zecena
   After this tragic event, I did some research to find out whether or not the CPR could have helped. I found out that yes, it could have if we were conducting it properly.
 
   I woke up at 8:03 am December 6th and rolled over to find Max drooling on my pillow. Even though this was disgusting, I just smiled in relief; hugged him and cherished the moment.
    It was all a dream.


"CPR for dogs." Dog Emergency, petmd, n.d. web. 20, Sept., 2010.

He's not completely stupid

   On the morning of November 21 Max did something so unbelievable stupid! He pooped in the house.
   I had let Max outside to do his business that morning, but since it was raining he refuse to go, go figure. I let him back in after about ten minutes. I walked put of my room 30 minutes later to find a big pile of crap in the middle of the living room. I turned to scowl him and he looked so ashamed or scared I couldn't tell.
   "Ooo mommy is going to spank you". As soon as I said that, Max looked over his shoulder and ran under the kitchen table. I was super surprised that he understood what was going on "he's not totally dumb" I said to myself.
  I started noticing that every time Max did something bad he knew he was about to get punished. Max has a terrible habit of climbing onto the dinner table to get whatever we haven't cleaned up. He knows he should do so, so he waits until no one is looking. The other day I was sitting on the couch; without saying a word I turned to see where Max was. I assume he heard the sound of me getting up, because at that very moment he jumped down from the table and ran into his dog house.
   Whenever Max gets out and I have to go after him, he runs into the house trying to get away from me. He knows exactly what's coming to him, so he hides.
   I don't understand why he does things he's not supposed to, it's just stupid. But he tries to hide them or hide himself, so I guess he's not completely stupid.
   I looked into dog behaviors, to find out why dogs do what they do. I found out that dogs don't premeditate what they're about to do. They go on instinct and do what they want without thinking about their actions. The reason Max avoids me when he does something bad, isn't because he knows he did wrong; it's because he can sense my emotions, so he knows I'm upset with him.

Maguire, Sharon "why did my dog do that." Dog Breed Info Center, n.p., n.d., web. 1998-.

Taste Buds

   I have been very curious about a dog's sense of taste; Max eats many disgusting things, but won't eat foods that are actually good. I did some research and found out that dogs actually have a weaker sense of taste than humans do.
   My sister is currently expecting and is obviously nauseous most of the time. On Nov. 21 she was on her way out the door when her breakfast came up, and she puked right next to the front door. She had just eaten a breakfast burger, so there were chunks of the meat still in her waste. When I got up to let Max out, he went directly to the throw up. I watched as he sniffed and ate it as if it were the most delicious thing in the world.
   Every morning after that Max would continuously go back to the throw up spot. Max would dig around and eat whatever he had missed the first couple of times. I found this terribly disgusting, and wondered why he would even try it after smelling it.
   A week later I was sitting at the kitchen table eating grapes. I glanced down to find Max staring up at me; as always. I tossed him a grape, but he just smelled it and walked away. I smelled the grape myself, but I didn't smell anything at all.
   After Max wouldn't eat the tasty grape but ate nasty body fluids, I was extremely taken back. I always assumed dogs had very heightened senses compared to humans. With some research that they do, with the exception of taste. When I found this out it answered my question, but left me a bit confused as well. Dogs have a strong sense of smell, but even after Max smelled the throw up and the grape; he still ate the nastiest option.

A Sixth Sense

As I continue to observe Max I have noticed that he has what I would call a "sixth sense". Max has a great sense of smell, which I'm sure every dog does but it always amazes me how he can sniff out the food I try to hide from him. His hearing is very heightened, he can hear a car pulling into the drive way before it even has the first two tires on the pavement, it mesmerizes me because most of my family is hard of hearing lol. There is one sense that doesn't amaze me, it kind of scares me actually; Max's eyesight. I have always been told that babies and animals can see things that a regular human being cant, such as spirits and ghosts. I don't know if you guys believe in that stuff but I sure do. One night I was laying in bed with Max as always, he stood up at the foot of my bed as if ready to attack and stared without blinking at the darkest corner of my room. I was pretty frightened but I had to get some sleep so I convinced myself it was nothing and went to bed. I thought everything was back to normal until it happened again on two separate occasions; I always had doubts about my mother's superstitions, but now I do believe that dogs have a sixth sense.

Another Day in the Life of Max

 My mornings begin with Max crying at my bedroom door. I watch from the door as
I let him out, he sniffed the ground making his way to the only tree in the front yard; he smelled it for a while then tinkled (I don't really understand why he smells it every morning).
I sit on the couch and turn on one of my favorite romantic comedy. The moment Max heard the movie start he jumped up and cuddled up next to me. He only does this when I watch romance movies, weird right?
 Earlier that week my mom had been bugging to take Max out to a park. I grabbed his leash off the counter and stared as Max ran to the door and back with excitement gushing from his eyes. We walked down the street and saw another dog in a nearby house. I assume it was a female because Max kept pulling me towards her, when normally he barks at any dog in sight.
 The next morning someone left the gate open and Max got out. Normally isn't a big deal cause he comes back once I call his name, but this time he didn't. I could see Max running down the route I had taken him through the day before, to see that bitch I'm guessing (horny dogs shake my head). I yelled his name firmly and he knew he was in trouble; he stopped in his tracks, and as I got closer he ran into the street away from me and bucked it into the house.
 Monday afternoon I spent the whole day in my bedroom, forgetting to let Max out to do his business. I walked out to the living room and watched Max walk into the middle of the room, squat, drop, and walk away as if nothing had happened.

Curious Max

I have always described my dog Max as completely ordinary, but once I began my observation I realized that he is totally unordinary; he's CRAZY! At the beginning of this assignment I described my white Maltese poodle as "lazy" and "boring" to my fellow classmates, which is not completely untrue but there is so much more to his personality. I always seem to be searching all over the house for Max. Sometimes I find him easily if i just listen for his dog tags jingling as he runs up and down the hall way.
My days with Max begin pretty similarly every morning when I return from getting ready for school, I always find Max bundled up on my bed, blending into my sheets. I proceed to take him outside before I leave for the day; I watch as he stares out into the street trying to figure out what ever little noise is, he stares blankly into thin air, and finally after a couple of minutes he begins to sniff around curious to find a spot on the yard that he has not peed on. Max comes back inside and sniffs around the table trying to guess what I am having for breakfast, he seems very curious to try everything he can get his paws on, even if he's never liked it before. When I arrive home Max is always the first to greet me at the door, he jumps up on his hind legs and licks the bottom of my pants, I pet him for a  while athen try and get past the door, but he just cant get enough. Finally when he is done playing, he makes this strange sound whenever he gets too excited, he stands firmly and makes this really loud noise, as though he were congested, the very first time I heard it I believed he was dying but after a couple of weeks it just started to annoy me. Max loves to watch romantic comedies with me, its our thing! but Max gets easily distracted for there are a couple of bugs buzzing around, I watch intrigued as Max follows a moth with his eyes, he snaps forward in a flash attempting to eat the moth but failed, he doesn't give up though, Max snaps forward again only catching the tip of the wing. I watched as the moth fell to thefloor and quickly showed Max his accomplishment, so that he could finish it off, but Max simply smells the moth and looks away and continues to watch TV as if no big deal. Although I have been observing my dog for a while, everyday is a new adventure. Max never fails to surprise me.