Maximus Decimus Meridius White-Daley is not only a fashionable, you-NEEK poocheroo, he also has quite a tail to tell. He’s Gettin’ Up There (15-ish in human) but, after almost Buying the Doghouse, he’s living his Totally Best Life.
Max’s NAY-ber-hood was like a beaudyfull liddle village: lotsa trees, flowers, fluffy bushes, an winding lanes. Me an my assistant were greeted by a frenly man an THREE poocheroos. Two were happy, eager liddle black-an-white fluffmuffins: bounced right up for the Wag-an-Sniff. (I thought they were twins, at first.) The third liddle pooch was white as SNOW, an instead of bouncin’, he carefully walked in sorta zig-zaggy steps, nose down, stopping when he approached a chair, or wall. An he was sportin’ this pawsome hairdo: His very fluffy ears stood out from his head inna curly, blunt cut, an his BANGS went straight across his face – a fluffy white triangle with just his nose stickin’ out. He gently nudged the man’s leg, an the man gave him an encouraging pat.
The liddle pooch approached me, sniffin’, then stopped almost nose-to-nose an said softly, “Hello, you’re Mr. Bonzo, correct? I’m Maximus Decimus Meridius White-Daley (call me Max).
These are my sisters, Sophia an Chloe.”
“Hi, Mr. Bonzo, I’m Sophia! I’m older than Chloe.”
“Hi, Mr. Bonzo, I’m Chloe! I’m cuter.”
“A total pleasure, ladies!” I replied, tryin’ to find differences in their curly black-an-white coats so I could tell who’s who, then noticin’ Sophia was wearin’ a spiffy, red-an-blue necktie; not the bowtie kind, the other kind.
“We’re all rescues,” Max continued. “This is Daddy Christopher. Daddy Jay is elsewhere at the moment. Oh, an, jus so you know, I’m blind, in case you were wonderin’ why I walk a liddle different, an why you can’t see my eyes.”
I WAS curious. “I didn’t know. You sure navigate well.”
“It takes lotsa practice. At first, I’d run around the house bumpin’ into stuff. Now I have it figured out, an my Daddys keep everything in the same place so I won’t get confused. Humans mostly don’t know I’m blind. See, my eyes hadda duh-ZEES when I was younger an now I ackshully don’t have any eyes whatsoever. I’m USE to it now. Plus (he smiled a large smile) I get to rock this Totally Pawsome hairdo, whatddya think?”
“It IS seriously pawsome, Max!” I agreed.
“Anyway,” he continued, “come’on IN. We’ll all sit an chat. Would’ja like a Wader or something?”
“Thanks, I’m good for now,” I said, as we all got settled in the livin’ room.
Snuggled in his Daddy’s lap, Max began. “My tail is kinda gloomy in the buh-ginning, but, as you can see, it has a very happy ending. My liddle sisters were already here when I came along in April 2021. I’m sure they’ll wanna tell you their tails a bit later.”
“Totally!” Chloe an Sophia quickly agreed.
“So,” Max continued, “I was livin’ with Daddy Christopher’s fren Miss Linda, who was fosterin’ me for a Crispy Biscuits rescue in Fellsmere: ‘For the Love of Paws,’ which mostly helps pooches whose humans are Gettin’ UP There, an can’t take care of us anymore. I was what’s called a Speshull Needs pooch, with LOTSA Serious Health ISH-yous: My teeth were terrible; my ears were totally stuffed with hair (the humans thought I was deaf at first); I had WORMS, I was Very Skinny, with Zero MUSS-ell Tone. An then, of course, there was the Blind Thing. All in all, NOT the kinda poocheroo humans Q Up to adopt.
“But THEN Miss Linda put my pick-sure On The Line an Daddy Christopher saw it an was, he called it, umm, CAP-tuh-vaded. So Miss Linda brought me to visit and, Guess What? I GOT TO STAY. Daddy Christopher didn’t even haff to POND-er! I reminded him of Bichon Frises he’d had in The Past. He took me to the vet, Doctor Charlie, and I got all better.”
“Can we tell our tails now?” Chloe asked.
“Yeah, like, cuz we were already here when Max arrived,” Sophia added.
“Go for it,” Max nodded.
“ACK-shully,” Sophia began. “I was First. My Daddies found me By Accident. It was in 2017, I was on Facebook cuz I hadda be re-homed for some reason an our Daddies just HAPPENED to come across my pick-shur. I was so teeny an adorable, I could fit in Daddy Jay’s Cargo Pants Pocket. Here, I was an Only Dog; Mistress of the Entire House. Which was Fine with me. THEN, Chloe comes along. At first I was like, ‘Hummpff! Who IS this liddle fluffball?’”
“Yeah,” said Chloe, nudging Sophia. “She was NOT PLEASED. But I just kept playin’ an puppyin’ around an now we’re Besties!”
“You have such FAS-cinatin’ tails,” I exclaimed. “Got any pooch pals? Fave toys? Do you swim?”
“YES!” replied Max. “The OCEAN! After I recovered, we went to the beach. I headed right for the ocean, an started swimmin’. Our Daddies rushed out to grab me buh-fore I got to the Bahamas. I don’t remember, but I must been to the beach in my earlier life: crossin’ that big bridge, the car roof down, the wind in my ears, all those Pawsome smells in the air …”
“I,” Chloe segued, “am Very Careful with my toys.”
“Me, I tend to shake ’em to shreds an duh-MOLL-ish the squeakers,” declared Sophia proudly.
“It’s the Yorkie in me.”
“You all are so well-groomed an Spruce,” I observed. “Who’s your groomer?”
“Ackshully,” replied Max, “I got so stressed goin’ to the groomer, Daddy Jay decided to learn to groom me himself, so he gotta buncha speshull tools. At first, I think the results might not have been what you’d call OP-timal. Daddy Christropher said it was probly a good thing I couldn’t see myself. But now Daddy Jay’s got it DOWN, an he does all of us!”
“An we all look Totally Crispy Biscuits, as you can see!” Sophia proclaimed.
“Indeed you do,” I agreed. An indeed they did.
Headin’ home, I was thinkin’ about Max, Sophia an Chloe’s upliftin’ rescue stories an what a fun an heart-warmin’ time we had shared.
Till next time,
