When we almost gave him back

Max has been with us for right at a month now, boy has our life changed a lot in that time.
I picked Max up on a Tuesday, needless to say he was a tad confused and shy at first. It did not take him long to realize that I was not going to hurt him and that I was going to play with him. He even started playing with the children as soon as they got home from school. But you see this is where I made some of my first mistakes. I forgot that Max was in fact a dog, who was not used to children. He loved their excitement level and enjoyed running with them. But I was not becoming the leader of the park, nor were my children. We took him on a walk, but really Max walked us, he was in control.
We figured out early on that Max was sensitive about his feet, I did tell the children not to mess with them but did not stress how important it was that they made sure they did not accidentally sit or step on his feet or tail. I did other things, things that most people would think of. I provided Max with a child free zone, and instructed the kids that they were not allowed any where near his water or food bowl EVER.  I thought I had done all that I could to make sure the kids and Max were safe. I was wrong. I forgot some very important things, one being that Max was new to us, that while Max was two years old, and trained he was not trained with us, and we were not trained. I did not think about how traumatic this must be to him, new family, new house etc.

Fast forward to Friday night, yes just a few short days after I got him, we are all sitting on the couch, JM moves and in the process ends up sitting on Max's back paws. Remember he is sensitive about them, he of course reacts and nips at JM> I of course over react and tell everyone he has to go. That my children safety comes first and he can not be biting my children. I even went to a pets chat board and posted that I had to get rid of him. (word of advice unless you are wearing your big girl panties, never tell a large group of pet owners that you are going to get rid of a pet) Thank goodness I did not take offense to the things they said to me, that I read every response and that with their help I was convinced that I was being an ass and not looking at this through Max's eyes. They provided me with great websites to help me train him, http://www.dragonflyllama.com/%20DOGS/Writing/LTD.html is my favorite and has helped us so much. I started reading all I could and asking them one million questions. They tore me a new on that Friday night, but in the end I am glad they did. They taught me that Max deserved this chance to be in a happy loving home. So we did not pursue taking him back, we instead pursued training him and well of course training us.

Hence Second Chance Max...