A MESSAGE FROM 'MAX':

My name is 'Max' and I have a little something I'd like to whisper in your
ear. I know that you humans lead busy lives. Some have to work, some have
children to raise.

It always seems like you are running here and there, often much too fast,
often never noticing the truly grand things in life.

:Look down at me now, while you sit there at your computer. See the way my
dark brown eyes look at yours? They are slightly cloudy now, that comes
with age. The gray hairs are beginning to ring my soft muzzle. You smile at
me; I see love in your eyes. What do you see in mine?

Do you see a spirit, a soul inside who loves you as no other could in the
world? A spirit that would forgive all trespasses of prior wrong doing for
just a simple moment of your time?

That is all I ask. To slow down if even for a few minutes to be with me.
So many times you have been saddened by the words you read on that screen, of
others of my kind, passing. Sometimes we die young and oh so quickly,
sometimes so suddenly it wrenches your heart out of your throat.

Sometimes we age so slowly before your eyes that you do not even seem to
know, until the very end, when we look at you with grizzled muzzles and
clouded eyes. Still the love is always there, even when we take that long
sleep, to run free in distant lands.

I may not be here tomorrow; I may not be here next week. Someday you will
shed the waters from your eyes, that humans have when deep grief fills
their souls, and you will be angry at yourself that you did not have just "One
more day" with me.

Because I love you so, your sorrow touches my spirit and grieves me. We
have now, together. So come, sit down here next to me on the floor. And look
deep into my eyes. What do you see? If you look hard and deep enough we will
talk, you and I, heart to heart. Come to me not as "alpha" or as a"trainer"
or even a "Mom or Dad", come to me as a living soul and stroke my fur and
let us look deep into one another's eyes, and talk. I may tell you
something about the fun of chasing a tennis ball, or I may tell you
something profound about myself, or even life in general. You decided to
have me in your life (I hope) because you wanted a soul to share just such
things with.

Someone very different from you, and here I am. I am a dog, but I am
alive. I feel emotion, I feel physical senses, and I can revel in the differences
of our spirits and souls. I do not think of you as a "Dog on two feet" --
I know what you are. You are human, in all your quirkiness, and I love you still.

Now, come sit with me, on the floor. Enter my world, and let time slow
down if even for only 15 minutes. Look deep in my eyes, and whisper to my ears.
Speak with your heart, with your joy and I will know your true self.

We may not have tomorrow, and life is oh so very short.

Love,
'Max' (on behalf of all canines everywhere)

"May be reposted and shared freely as long as this credit appears with the post given to J.D. Ellis 2001"