Welcome Home Maximus!!!

Everything went smoothly with adopting Max (we have decided to make his full name Maximus) and continues to go really well. We were able to go pick Max up on Friday afternoon and he has settled in really well. The first couple nights we didn't quite know what to expect and it had been our intention to make the kitchen his sleeping quarters because we weren't sure if he would resort to chewing or destruction if he got anxious or bored during the night. After two nights of the heartbreaking sound of dog whining, but no destruction at all, we decided not to restrict him to the kitchen. He has settled on sleeping on the couch and we have all been getting more sleep now and he seems much happier. 

I keep bracing myself for him to act up, but we haven't had any problems with him being left alone. We are lucky to have a dog who we can trust not to destroy our house when we are out or asleep. This week I found out that I won't be starting my new job until June 1st. The building we are moving into is a month behind schedule so they just don't have a desk for me yet and other things essential to my job are running a bit behind schedule. It works out perfectly for us because I will have a month to get Max settled in before I start leaving him for the day and hire a dog walker to come walk him in the middle of the day. Everything kind of fell into place perfectly.

I think it is safe to say that Max is an adoption success and I am so happy with our decision to adopt a dog that needed a home. There are so many dogs who need homes and love but are homeless due to no fault of their own. I think there are a lot of misconceptions about shelter dogs. When I told people we were planning to adopt a dog from Dogs Trust people gave me a laundry list of reasons why I shouldn't and it makes me sad that so many people won't give these dogs a chance. 

Many people assume that shelter dogs will all have terrible habits they picked up from previous owners or that all dogs in shelters come from violent pasts and are there because they are aggressive dogs. This is so far from the truth and there are many dogs in shelters who have been left homeless because their owners could no longer afford to keep them or had some other kind of life change that created a situation where they could no longer afford to care for their dog. As I sat in the rehoming centre listening to the other dogs' stories, most of them had come from that type of situation.

I am so glad I didn't listen to the nay-sayers and decided to go ahead and adopt a dog. I think there are many advantages to adopting a dog. Most of all, on top of having a companion I feel like I have given this little guy a second chance at a happy life and every dog deserves the chance to live in a loving and happy home. 

Here are some photos we took of Max, he loves to run and he especially loves splashing in the sea and playing football with Jason.