It's been 8 months since my last Hive post so I've decided to return with an explanation why and an introduction to a new family member!
Earlier this year I purchased my own house and began looking for a shelter dog to rehome. It took some time to find what we thought would be a good match and even longer to find a shelter that would allow first time dog owners to rehome a larger dog but eventually the stars aligned and this handsome boy found a forever home.
Meet Max!
He's a (estimated) 3 year old German Shepherd / Labrador cross.
He has spent over two years of his life in various shelters so we suspect he was a puppy purchased during the Covid lockdown that grew too large for his owners to handle. The RSPCA that we rescued him from said that after people returned to work they saw the most pet surrenders ever.
The first picture I ever took of Max in the meeting pen
I love Max to bits now but the first few weeks were extremely difficult and I can understand why he was so difficult to rehome. Max weighed 100lbs and standing on his hind legs he's tall enough to lick my face, and I'm 5'10"! He is extremely strong and even with extreme measures like slip leads and prong collars he is strong enough to pull anyone over if he decides he wants to get somewhere.
Because of this we made his training a priority and bought one to one training lessons which I will go into greater detail in another article. After weeks of training and the purchase of a gentle leader harness, Max was able to walk nicely on the lead and walks went from being an ordeal to enjoyable.
He really is a huge dog
Despite weighing the same as some humans Max still thinks he's a puppy and will try to sit on laps. Part of his training is reminding him that laying his head on us is acceptable. It's necessary because Max requires several cuddles a day!
We're planning on getting him DNA tested but we're confident he is mostly Lab and Shepherd. He has the soft coat of a Lab, the size and face of a Shepherd, and his ears are a mixture of both!
When I took him inside a pet store for the first time I was approached by people wanting to pet him who then took a step back when they realised what they thought was a black labrador in the distance kept getting bigger the closer they got!
It's been 6 weeks of hard work so far and it seems to be really paying off. He's nailing every trick we teach him and last week has even been off his lead several times with good recall (for the most part).
The one thing I cannot get my head around is how it took so long for someone to rehome this giant bundle of love.
Their loss, my gain!
Nice too see you posting and so kind of you to take a shelter dog! !LUV
@svanbo(1/5) gave you LUV.
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Welcome again mate! Congrats on purchasing your own home.
Max looks like a very beautiful and energetic dog. 5'10" (177 cm) is quite a lot for just a dog, but personally I prefer dogs like that, in a way I prefer them to have autonomy and independence (and a good size ensures that they can fend for themselves if required).
I hope the training continues to pay off and that everything goes perfectly.
Looking forward to see more about him soon :)
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