James,
Max is with us only for a week. Along with Jag who is a Cassidy son out of her second litter and is 14 months old. And, of course, there are the regular 6-dog members of the family with Cassidy in heat and Rowdy dealing with his issues. Oh, and I shot a show in West Palm Beach yesterday and drove back last night in pouring rain with Jag who showed. I really need a vacation!!

Max is actually pretty easy to manage. He's as large as Sundance and as sweet as Rowdy so he doesn't have dog-aggression issues. Jag, the puppy, is just a sweetheart so both he and Max are in the studio with me. Rowdy is feeling pretty good so he gets the run of the house right now. Cassidy is in a crate in one of the back bedrooms. Sundance and Marion Louise are in the kitchen and Crash and Harry Potter have the family room most of the time.

We only get to see Max about once a year when he stays with us and right now, he's looking very good. We need to convince his owners that he should show and get his medical clearances even though they have no intention of breeding him. We don't have any frozen sperm of Rowdy's so having some of Max would be really nice down the line but only if he can clear Hips, Elbows, Eyes and Heart. Oh, and if he can finish his Championship. His owners have the financial ability to finish him if they so choose. It's up to us to convince them.

Being able to bring Rowdy back into our breeding line is important to us and Max represents the Rowdy offspring with the most Rowdy-type body as well as temperament. And Max's mother is a half-sister to Annie so he carries both sides of our breeding program. Besides, he's gorgeous and he's sweet! What more can you ask for?

BTW, on Rowdy's 7th Birthday, Max's litter was just 14 weeks old and we brought Rowdy over to Max's house along with the rest of the litter for some play time. At one point, both Rowdy and Max decided to take a "time out". Here's a photo of the two of them then. They've always been very good buddies.



Rowdy and Max still like each other. That makes things much more manageable in the household.

Thanks for your comments.

Jim