Max and Eddy

Max, short for Maxine, and Eddy were to two shop dogs that George, my father in law, and I had at our place of business.  You may recall (see "The Route 3 Piglet") it was located in the Meadowland in Secaucus, NJ.  How they came to us is a matter for speculation.  Being so close to Route 3, they could have been left to fend for themselves by owners with a probable poor reason for doing so.  There weren't any houses nearby at the time that they could have run away from, or gotten lost.  No one ever came around looking for either of them.  

Anyway, I'm pretty sure they both thought they died and went to Heaven when they stumbled upon us.  We  installed trap doors so they could go in and out as they pleased.  They ate vet recommended dog food, as well as parts of our lunches every day.  It was a pretty good common law relationship, with us as servants.

Max stumbled in first.  My best guess is she was a cross between a Golden Retriever and a German Shepard, and the vet guessed she was about three years old.  After a checkup, shots, and flea collar, she was deemed to be in pretty good shape.  

She followed George everywhere around the premises, except when she was hunting rabbits among the cattail grasses that stretched behind the building for about a half a mile.  We witnessed her catch a rabbit on the run, like a lioness on a plain in Africa. 

Max loved cars and trucks.  "C'mon, Max," was all George had to say if she was within earshot.  Each day, he would take her into town, as he visited the bank and post office.

Eddy dropped in a couple of years after Max.  He was probably a cross between a German Shepard and Dalmatian.  Eddy got the same regimen that she did, and was also deemed fit.  However, we noticed after a short while, that Eddy was not too bright, and a little crazy.  Just like Max followed George, Eddy followed Max, everywhere.  Shortly after Eddy arrived, George and Max were making a daily run into town, and George just happened to look in his side view mirror and noticed Eddy running on the road shoulder trying to catch up to the car.  He stopped the car and loaded Eddy into the back seat.  Eddy barked, just to hear himself, I think, at everything.  When he barked, Max would start to bark.  So here they are, the three of them, two barking and George yelling, at them.  While proceeding onward into town, Eddy decides he want to join George and Max in the front seat.

George returned back to the shop white as a ghost, nearly crashing the car and the three of them, when he recounted to me what had happened.

"That's it!" he said, "No more dogs in the car, unless they have to go to the vet."  Until the dogs got the picture, we had to keep them inside while George got in the car to make his daily trip to town.

I mentioned Eddy being a little crazy.  Somehow, we left a can of dog food on a lower shelf that Eddy could access.  When I returned to work the next day, I spied that can of dog food, BITTEN in half, its contents devoured, and Eddy licking his chops.  Kid you not.  Change that to German Shepard and Shark!!

Both dogs were fun to be around, and without fail, they always provided at least a minor chuckle each day.  George was usually last to arrive in the morning, he was getting older, and had certainly paid his dues.  We knew his arrival by first Eddy, then Max barking.  They greeted him in the parking lot, and followed at his side as he entered the building.  Max would walk straight next to him, while Eddy would circle around the two of them, barking all the way.  They followed George into his office where he had a biscuit jar.  They would both sit at his feet, Eddy settling last, on Max's right (not left, every day).  Eddy knew that Max got the first treat, but he would stare and follow it from George's hand, into Max's mouth.  Knowing the next was his, Eddy would adjust his backside, wag his tail, then catch it as it dropped from George's hand (remembering the dog food can, George thought it best to keep his fingers this way).

Both dogs lived until their mid teens, which, for larger dogs is very old.  But hey, they didn't have to work,  their every need was attended to, and they had fun every day.  I hope when they did die, that Heaven was as good for them.