Written by Michelle Rosen
Professional photography by Blue Lace Photography
How do you begin to write a love story?
It all started on the very first day that my mom and I began helping Jane James at her Thaba Tshwane Outreach.
We’d been feeding animals at the different houses. When we arrived at this particular house, we were greeted by the friendliest little white-and-brown Jack Russell (I’m not sure if he’s a Foxy or a Jack Russell, but for this story I’ll call him a Jack Russell) called Max. Max ran out to greet us like he’d known us forever and, already then, he’d crept into our hearts.
Forever in the streets
While feeding him, Jane filled us in on Max’s history. She’d known him since he was a puppy, had been feeding him, had him sterilised, and had tended to all his wounds from bigger dogs attacking him. She’d personally paid for his hospital stay when he was very ill with tick bite fever and pulled him through. Max was forever in the streets; you could never keep him at home!
Jane told us that, once we were finished at his house, he’d follow us to the next couple of houses we were going to visit. As we pulled away, sure enough, Max was running behind our cars. He eventually caught up with us at the next house – he clearly knew all the shortcuts!
He again greeted us like he hadn’t seen us in years!
He wasn’t there
This happened every time we visited him, and we looked forward to seeing him and to make sure he had enough food and a warm blanket in his kennel until our next visit. On a few occasions when we got to his house, Max wasn’t there; he was probably visiting all his friends in Thaba Tshwane (TT). We were always so anxious when he wasn’t there and always so happy when we’d visit his house and he was actually home!
One lasting image I have in my mind is seeing Max through my rearview mirror, standing in the middle of the road and watching us as we drove away from his house.
Fast forward six months and Jane was away visiting her parents. We got to Max’s house to feed him and he wasn’t there. I didn’t worry too much as this was a normal occurrence. We left food at his house and carried on to the next one. I was busy with the other dogs there and Belinda, the other lady who helped us at TT, called to me that Max was there, hiding under a bush.
He’d been badly hurt
I went over to check on him and could immediately see that he wasn’t his normal self; he was in a lot of pain. When I examined him further, I saw that he’d been badly hurt. His tummy was bruised and was all shades of purple, red and black. He had an infected gash on his inner leg and puncture wounds on his lower back – he needed urgent medical care. I gently picked him up and drove back with him to his house to let his owners know that he needed help.
When his owners eventually came out to see me, and after I’d shown them all his injuries, I was told that they had no money to take him to a vet and that he’d be okay without treatment. At that stage, I had no option but to try and clean out his wounds with what little I had in my medical kit. I left some antiseptic and gauze with the owners, asking them to make sure the wounds stayed clean. I reluctantly left him there in their care.
I phoned them the next day to see how he was doing and they disinterestedly said they thought he’d gone back to the house where we found him. I asked them to please go there and bring him back home; imagine being so sick and in so much pain, but you’d rather walk a couple kilometres instead of wanting to be at your own house...
I called again later that day, and they told me they’d brought him back home but he was still sore and wasn’t eating. We then arranged to come and fetch Max the next morning so that we could get his injuries sorted out, as it was clear his owners weren’t going to do anything to help him.
They were quite happy to hand him over to me, and a few days later, they surrendered him over to us. I’ll never forget that, when we went to collect the signed surrender forms three days later, his little kennel had already been dumped in the back with all their other rubble.
When we left TT that day, with Max in my arms, I made my first promise to him: he’d never be coming back to this place.
He needed urgent surgery
When we got him home, I started checking on all his injuries and cleaned them as best I could, but my expertise wasn’t enough. He’d need to see a vet. We took him to our vet and he was examined thoroughly. It was found that he had an inguinal hernia and the infected gash on his inner leg had become an abscess. He needed urgent surgery to repair the hernia and to drain the abscess and clean all the puncture wounds. Leaving it untreated would have been life-threatening.
We immediately arranged for the surgery to go ahead, but it didn’t go without complications; at one stage, the surgeon thought they were going to lose him, but this tough little guy pulled through. We still don’t know what caused these injuries, whether it was a fight with other dogs or if he’d been hit by a car, but they were very serious. Max spent five days in hospital to recover, and by the time he was discharged, we’d already made the decision to adopt him.
Part of the family
Even with all the pain he was in, he fitted into our house like he was always supposed to be here. Our three other dogs instantly accepted him as part of our family.
Everything was new to him. He received a proper meal daily – something he’d never been used to. At the time of his operation, he weighed 5kgs; today he weighs nearly double that. We had to teach him that he was allowed to come inside – he’d stop at the kitchen door and go no further until getting reassurance that it was okay for him to come inside. Sleeping on the furniture and on the bed was also a new experience, but he quickly learnt from his brothers and sister that this was all okay!
Max has made a full recovery, and he’s such a happy little guy. Every day is a new adventure for him, whether it’s chasing Hadedas, hunting lizards, playing with his brothers, emptying his toy box of all his toys, or just lying next to us for company.
He’s also never forgotten his Aunty Jane – he still remembers the sound of her car, and when she comes to visit, he’s not happy until he’s licked every inch of her face!
Dogs don’t ask for much. They just want to share their life with you, and they give you so much more than you give them.
Adopting Max was the best decision my mom and I have ever made, and we can’t imagine our life without him. He’s so loved and holds a very special place in our hearts.
There’s another promise that I made to him – I’ve promised him that nobody will ever harm him again, not while we’re around!
We love you Shmuxy Mux, our Maximillion!
