Good Ole Max

[Good Ole Max]

Just found this site and wanted to share Max with you guys. We've had Max since he was six weeks old. He celebrated his 16th birthday a couple of weeks ago. He is blind, but gets around the house pretty good. He loves to go camping (but spends most of his time on the couch in the 5th wheel). He has a younger brother, Bear, who is a Golden Retriever.

[pkcrossley]

hey, what you say, handsome fella?

i had a shih-tzu who had minimal vision for most of his life and was stone blind for the last five years of it. he always knew how to handle things to get done what he had to get done, and because we picked him up to go in and out, and to get on and off the bed and so on, he was used to being cuddled, gentled, handled and warm all the time. little dogs do great without sight if they have to, and bigger dogs can do very well to with some extra guidance.

since max is a cairn and cairns have some special vision issues, may we ask the cause of his blindness?

[Good Ole Max]

Max started getting cataracts (sp?) sometime after he turned ten years old. I spoke to someone at the vet school at Auburn University about surgery, but they did not want to risk it at his age. It took several years for him to lose his sight completely. I think he gets along great to be sixteen. No major health problems. He wanders around the house and we carry him outside to potty and then carry him back in. Of course, he is slower in getting around than he used to be. I can remember when that little fellow could just fly! He's been a great dog for sixteen years.

[pkcrossley]

he looks very wise and kind, and clearly feels he is in good hands. my dog agreed with all the wisdom on the sites i found for blind-dog discussion and support --any self-respecting dog's primary sense is his sense of taste! everything else is negotiable. max looks like he enjoys his food just fine. very, very handsome guy!

my mother had a blind westie who was one of those terriers who couldn't tolerate unseen hands invading his space. his life was pretty difficult to manage. clearly max learned to adapt and the fact that he trusts you completely is probably very important.

he's going to enjoy the coming years as much as he has up to now.

[Duncan's Mom]

Max is a very handsome fellow! We have Sara - a 13 year old 10 lb poodle who is almost totally deaf and blind. She will still bark to let us know she needs to go out or is hungry, thirsty etc. and she occasionally gets bursts of energy. We also have a 12 year old lab mix that still runs 5-6 miles with my husband. And, oh yeah - Duncan, the baby. He is our cairn terrier that will be two in October. He loves my four year old son and will spend hours playing ball and wrestling. It is like having another toddler!

[Good Ole Max]

Thanks for the welcome and kind words to Max. Its nice to find people who feel the same about their furry family members as we do. I ran into a real estate agent the other day who was so upset. She volunteers part time at the local humane society and someone had dropped off their golden retriever that day with the excuse that "he is too old". How can someone be so insensitive? Max may be old, but he still loves us and knows we are always going to protect him. I would NEVER consider getting rid of him because he's too much trouble! (And I would fight anybody that tried to come take him away from us.)

We've enjoyed looking at all the your pictures and reading your stories. Cairns are certainly a special breed.