Max's Long Journey Home

I just wanted to write and let you know that after nearly two years, we are still so happy and grateful that we stopped in one day back in 2017.   We had just let go of our 16 year old dog the night before and were on our way to Massachusetts for the day when I looked up your website and saw the photo of the one dog you had available: Costa/Max.  

We learned a lot about him early on.  He was intense, and energetic.  We chalked a lot of it up to him being in a shelter.  We learned about his history from the shelter you guys got him from.  We learned that he was reactive with prey drive and that we were his fifth home.  For some people, this may have been overwhelming.  Admittedly, we had a handful of days where we felt helpless.  But more than anything, we felt this deep commitment to him to ensure we would provide the last home he’d ever know or need.   

We called in trainers early on for private lessons and we started to see subtle but steady shifts.  After the first year we knew we were finding our way with him.  Now, as we approach the two year anniversary of his adoption, it is so very clear that we are his humans.  He sits on the back of the couch waiting longingly for whichever one of us isn’t here to return home.  We’ve redirected his prey drive to games and puzzles, and we’ve found ways to lessen his reactivity by being tuned in to him and keeping him under threshold.  

He’s not perfect, by any means.  Neither are we.  But he completed our little family at a time of great loss and sadness and I can’t imagine him not being a part of our lives.  

So, thank you.  

Jaime

P.S. We go on lots of hikes and adventures.  And he has no idea that he’s not a lap dog, at 48lbs.