Boots & Max

[Cari]

We currently have two dogs, a golden retriever named Max and an Australian shepherd named Boots (or Ms. Priss).

Max seems to have the notion that he is a lap dog and will try to climb on either my lap or my husband's when we let him in for the night. Boots will typically find a spot on the floor, lie down and pretty much stay put until morning unless we are having a thunder storm...then watch out, she needs a hidey hole to crawl into.

Now the funny part is when we first got Max he figured out he could jump the 4 ft. fence and taught Boots to do the same (prior to having Max, Boots didn't even attempt to jump the fence). Well, about 3 years ago, the two dogs jumped the fence and went off exploring the woods. Boots came home with two holes in her side (we figured a buck gored her) but Max never came home. We patched Boots up and searched for Max, but no luck. Fast forward to last summer and what to our amazing eyes do we see but a golden retriever hanging around the back fence. (Neighbor boy tells me the dog had been coming around for about a week.) I stepped out and yelled, "Max?" The golden retriever sits down, cocks his head (with a "hey! I know that name" expression). The neighbor boy comes over and opens our gate for me while I held Boots. In walks "Max" and he sits down while Boots throws a royal temper tantrum, then proceeds to walk over to each of us as though to say, "Hi! I'm home." Now, we have had to keep Boots on a chain within a fenced yard because she jumps the fence (gate actually). Max doesn't even attempt to jump the fence any longer and if the gate gets opened and he does get out he comes right back! Guess the almost 2 years he was gone showed him how good he had it at home!