Hi All,
I'm new here. Came upon the site while doing breeder research as I am now in the position of welcoming a new Yorkie baby into my home hopefully sometime in the near future.
I was so happy to have found a place with an outlet like this. Especially with a community who shares in memorial stories of babies who've passed on. See, I recently lost my little prince Max a few months ago. He was just shy of his 14th birthday and he was the light of my families life & home.
I'm 24 years old and Max was an 11th birthday present for me right before I entered middle school in 1999. My older brothers had all left home and I would be coming home after school to an empty house, so my parents decided a dog would be a perfect addition. And oh, was he!
We were lucky in our search to find him, the perfect match. My father had done work for two families who had pups from this breeder in Staten Island so one day in August 99' my mother, me, and a friend of mine visited her pet spa where she showcased her pups to potential families. When we walked in, it was a bit decrepit and she had four dogs in a pen, all had to be 5-6 months old, lethargic, and didn't seem happy to see me. Not what I was looking for at 11 years old. I shook my head and my mother had proceeded to tell the woman that we would continue our search.
That's when the women stopped us and told us she did have one more pup. So we stayed and waited. She went in the back room and came out a few minutes later with the tiniest, fluffiest, little black ball of hair. You couldn't even see his face until his ears propped up when we locked eyes.
She handed him over to me and that was it. I knew he was mine. He licked my face for 15 minutes and nuzzled my neck like he had chosen me instead of the other way around. The feeling was mutual. My mother knew and so she paid and signed all the paper work.
She said we would return the next day to pick him up with my father so I put him in the pen and proceeded to pick out a collar and a leash for the next day. He wasn't down for more than 30 seconds before he started crying and barking, wanting me to pick him up. I felt so bad and kept telling him I'd be back tomorrow. That's when my mother turned and said, "Ok, pick him up, we'll take him today." I don't know who was happier lol.
On the way home he fell asleep in my lap and that's where I named him Maxwell. I felt it fit him and his confident little personality; over the years he was Max, Maximus, Maxamillion, ...everyone around here had their own little name for him & he responded to all of them. He knew he was king of this turf.
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When we brought him home....it was perfection and stayed that way for his almost 14 years. He fulfilled a space that I didn't even know existed. He was my best friend, followed me everywhere, kept me company always, and was the life of this house and every where we took him. He was my first dog and I just feel so lucky to have had the honor to have such a friend.
He passed rather suddenly. He was diagnosed with what the vet said was "an odd case of pneumonia" and three weeks later, became ill, was diagnosed with heart disease, and passed two days later.
I knew the day he passed, that it was his last day. He didn't get out of bed that morning, so I put my head next to him and laid with him for a half hour before I left for class for a few hours. When I came home, he was in the kitchen under one of the chairs and wouldn't get up. So I picked him up, carried him around, nuzzling him for about 10 minutes. I placed him back down on a blanket on the floor in the living room.
Though he was lacking his strength, he found the power to jump up on the couch onto his favorite blanket. I walked past the living room and saw him there, so I went and sat down to him, petting him, and I can only think that he found peace in that moment to finally decide this was his time to go. And he did. And I can only be thankful that he made the decision himself because I don't think I could have ever done it myself, and he didn't have to suffer through a chronic illness. And I was just so touched that he waited for me. He was there for me for 13 and a half years and he had the strength in his final moments to wait for me to allow me to be by his. Such a wise little boy.
I know you all can relate. These little babies are something so special and we're all just on the receiving end of all the gifts they give to us.
So this one is for my handsome little Max, who I can't thank enough for the wonderful years of unconditional love he provided to me and my family. Perfection at it's finest and cuddliest. I pray that I get to cuddle you some more one day.
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