Max and Brody

As some of you know, Max isn't the only dog we have.  We also have our family pets that we adore and rescued from a shelter in Kansas about 4 1/2 years ago when they were only 7 weeks old.  They are wonderful dogs and they adore the kids.  Brody James is our big boy ~ there's just something a little extra special about him.  When he was a baby, he always reminded us of a polar bear prince:)  Not that Cooper Todd or Felicity Hope aren't special too; they are of course, but Brody has just always been more engaged and attatched to the girls.

Well, it's always been our desire for Max William to work in with our other dogs but we realized early on that Cooper just would not ever accept him.  And, not wanting to have any problems that would interfere with Max's development or his education and training for his service duties, we just really put this desire on the back burner.  I've always felt confident however, that Brody and Max could be worked in together and end up being good friends.  Several months ago, our trainer helped us introduce them and gave me a little confidence in how to handle the situation.  I've decided that now is the time to really work at fostering the relationship between my two boys and I'm pleasantly surprised at how well they are getting along.

Yesterday, I needed to walk both of them and decided to recruit some help so that they could take a walk together.  Eventually, I think that I'll be able to put them on a double lead and walk them together myself; but, these are two very big boys and there's just no way I felt confident enough to try that yesterday.  If they decided to go in two different directions, I would have had a problem;)  They did AWESOME!!!!!  Max totally loved having a buddy along and Brody showed great patience with his younger buddy's curiosity.  After we finished our walk and returned home, I let them play in the backyard together.  They both showed their manners and did really well.  They even decided to curl up together for a little R&R in the dog house:)  I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship and am thrilled that Max can have the companionship of another dog.

On a side note: Max has always been a vocal dog.  He voices his opion all the time.  I realized yesterday that he really does think he's conversing with us and that he actually "speaks" in full sentences;)  Yes, my boy cracks me up and makes me laugh all the time:)