MAX

Born: 1st March 2010

Breed: German Shepherd

Sire and Dam: Aussie and Lexis

Littermates: Marley, Maya, Mercer, Merlin, Midge, Mitsy, Monty, Mossie

Puppy Walkers: David and Elaine Whiteley, West Midlands

Trainer for advanced stage: Sarah Davies

Qualified: 25th November 2011

Have you ever been told you’ll never have something you’d dearly love to have? Well, that’s basically what happened to me. Over the years, I’d been told that I’d never have a German Shepherd as a guide dog. The interesting thing is that I was never told the reasons why, but I just assumed that it was probably because of the often narrow streets in and around Abertillery, and German Shepherds are generally larger dogs than the average Labrador or Golden Retriever.

In 2011 when Jim Powell from Guide Dogs Cymru was filling out my application form, he suggested that as I’d had a good success rate with Labrador and Labrador Retriever crosses, it made sense to stick to those breeds. ‘Why fix something that isn’t broken’ being the thought behind it. To be fair, I totally agreed with him, although the breed wasn’t of such importance to me. What he said certainly seemed to make sense, and so I agreed with him. However, if a suitable dog could be found that wasn’t one of those breeds, I would still have been more than happy.

I was invited to the Cardiff training centre for an assessment on Thursday 27th October 2011. There were three members of staff there, Katie Roberts, Caroline Viney, and Cathryn Stephenson. During the assessment, I had the opportunity to have a walk with two dogs in harness, Quella, a Yellow Labrador, and Norris, a Black Labrador cross Curly Coat Retriever. The difference in size of these two dogs was incredible, Quella, ever so petite, and Norris, who wouldn’t have looked out of place wearing a saddle!

At the end of the afternoon, I was invited into the office for a chat. Katie had noticed some things that had been written down on my application form, and as she’d known me for some time, although not as long as Jim had, they puzzled her. First of all, she queried me over the comment that said I only wanted male dogs. I clarified that for her by saying that as I’d already had three boys, Su’s preference would be another boy as she’d found it so much easier finding somewhere for them to make themselves comfy when we were out and about. But if a girl was found that was a suitable match for me, we’d welcome her with open arms. So, she then asked if it was correct that I only wanted those specific breeds, and I explained to her what had happened when Jim filled out my form, which made much more sense to her. She next told me the various breeds being trained by the association at that time, all of which I was more than happy to accept. I said that I’d even have a Labradoodle if they had one, which gave them a laugh. She updated those details, which of course opened up the field of available and suitable dogs that could be a match for me. Katie then mentioned one more breed to me, German Shepherd. “Oh yes, most definitely!” I replied, but then said that I’d been told for many years that I’d never have one as a guide dog. She then asked me if I’d like to have a trial walk with a German Shepherd, who was known as “Maxi” by the Cardiff team, and was slightly larger than Eddy. Can you imagine how excited I was at the thought of it? My jaw nearly hit the floor! I didn’t even know whether we would end up as a partnership, but just to have a walk with him would be a dream come true!

Sarah Davies phoned me a few days later, and arranged for her and Caroline Morton to bring Max up to Cwmbran to meet me, the time and date being 1 p.m. on Thursday 3rd November. One of the first things I noticed about Max on our trial walk was how he walked much more smoothly than my previous three dogs. In fact, it almost felt like he was gliding along. Maybe it’s no surprise then that some people refer to German Shepherds as “the Rolls Royce of guide dogs.” Well, they were certainly the first breed to be used as guide dogs in the UK, a class of four having qualified way back in October 1931.

I had an initial problem though, and that was Max’s length. I thought my ‘stretch-limo’ Eddy was long enough! He was definitely the longest of the three dogs I’d had until then. Not only was Max even longer, but he could snake his body like no other dog of that size I’d ever met. On getting himself into some very tight spots, he could just turn back on himself and effortlessly get himself out again! The main problem with Max’s length was when he stepped up a kerb after crossing a road. Through his harness, I could feel him stepping up, but I’d step up too soon, which caused me to trip up the kerb on more than one occasion. After some more practice, I began adjusting to his longer body, and things came together very nicely.

At the end of our trial walk, Caroline and Sarah seemed very happy with how things had gone, and suggested we go to Sainsbury’s café for a coffee and chat. It was there that they asked me: “So, do you want him?” It was almost like asking an alcoholic if he wanted a drink! My ecstatic reply got Max and I on class together the following Monday, just four days later!

Eddy, bless him, had his last harness walk with me on the morning of Monday 7th November. That afternoon, I went to Cardiff to begin training with Max. I decided that I wanted to do something that I hadn’t done while training with my previous three dogs, and that was to write up a Daily Diary about our experiences while training, including the good and the bad, the positives and the negatives. You can download a PDF version of Max’s Daily Diary here. (The file size is 1.68 MB). A very much abbreviated version of this daily diary was later published in “Puppy Tails,” a magazine produced specifically for Guide Dog puppy walkers in the UK.

Our training base was the Park Inn North hotel at Llanedeyrn in Cardiff, and the other three trainees on class with us were David from Ebbw Vale with Robyn, John from Tenby with Angel, and Margaret from Swansea with Cymro. Robyn and Max, who had both done their advanced training with Sarah, were the best of friends and inseparable. In fact, on our first day of training, Max decided to test out his commando crawl to ensure it was still working correctly. It was, and to show that he’d reached his desired target, he put one of his front paws down very firmly on Robyn’s head!

A problem soon surfaced on class, which had nothing to do with Max’s length. The trial walk in the Thornhill area of Cwmbran had been on quite spacious pavements. Training around different parts of Cardiff often took us into areas that were far more congested. Sarah, who had trained Max, was shorter and slimmer than me, and Max was used to making sure she had enough room on her right to get past things. Taller, chunkier Jon caused him a bit of a problem. He was still working on the space he used to keep clear for Sarah. So, a number of times my shoulder or arm met a lamppost or some other obstruction. After taking him back several paces and asking him to work that stretch again, he began to realise I needed a little more space on my right. Thankfully, Max was a quick learner, and these bumps soon stopped.

Once our training was complete in Cardiff, we began introducing Max to routes he would be using around our hometown. Su had taken Eddy away to visit our friend Liz in Coventry, so that we could concentrate on the final stage of our training. There were some narrow sections and a badly placed lamppost or two, but Max had now adjusted to my size, and they weren’t causing any issues. One route we learned was to the Grosvenor House Nursing Home where my dad had been a resident for a little while. The most direct route would have included a very steep hill with quite narrow pavements, so we worked out a longer, easier route. Max loved going up to see grandad, and I think grandad really appreciated his visits as well!

Caroline and Sarah wanted Eddy and Max to meet on neutral ground, so a specific day and time was arranged for them to travel back and meet up with us at Tredegar Park in Newport. The day before we were due to meet them though, Caroline remembered how noisy and bouncy Max had been at Tredegar Park the previous week, and she thought that it may be just too much for Eddy to cope with. So, the venue was changed to Abertillery town centre, the idea now being that Caroline and Sarah would take Eddy and Max for a walk for a while, so that they would hopefully get to know each other a little. Su and I were to go to the Coffee Shop in the centre of Church Street, but unfortunately the owners had decided to close early for some reason. So, another change of plan was put in place, and Su and I made our way to Marenghi’s Café in the Arcade instead. We’d hardly sat down before they suddenly appeared through the door! Problem? Eddy had had one of his stubborn moments. His brakes were on solid! The only place he would go was where Su and I had just gone, and that was it and all about it! Not even two guide dog trainers could get his brakes off unless they let him go to where his mum and dad were!

At first, Max could be very loud and bouncy, and would bark at next door’s cat. We tried our very best in getting him to sit nice and quietly whenever Sooty was nearby, in the hope that if he was always gentle and quiet, she might come over to him. Max responded well to what we were trying to get him to do, and it wasn’t too long before Sooty had realised that it was OK to come over and see Max. On more than one occasion, Su even spotted her rubbing herself gently around Max’s legs! Sadly, Eddy did not appreciate this lively young whippersnapper being around his territory in the slightest. Eddy would walk into the room, look at Max, let out a huge sigh, turn around, and then very disgruntledly wander off back down the hallway to his favourite place by the front door. this went on for some time, until Max was seriously ill. It was at that point that Eddy’s feelings towards Max completely changed, and he’d keep coming over to Max to check on him to see if he was OK. Su told me that the expression on Eddy’s face gave the distinct impression he was saying: ‘When I said go away and die, I didn’t really mean it.’ From then on, Eddy and Max built up a close friendship, so much so that they were almost inseparable! It was wonderful to see and hear them enjoying each other’s company, playing tuggy with their toys, and having lots of fun. Eddy had found a new lease of life, there was no doubt about that! To top it all off, he even managed to find his bark that had been hidden away for so long!

During his retirement, I took Eddy out for some walks with my long cane as I’d done with Isaac, which brought back some wonderful memories for me. Of course, Eddy still had his free runs at Tredegar Park in Newport, but now he had a little brother – who was actually larger than he was – to keep him company. There were a few times when Eddy had one of his stubborn moments, refusing to come back to us when we called him. Max was having none of that nonsense! Using his natural skills as a sheepdog, he’d run over to Eddy, circle him a few times, bark at him, and then make his way back to us with Eddy trailing behind him like a little lamb!

Su and I were ever so grateful to many businesses, both near and far, who continued to allow Eddy to visit them even though he was retired. Unlike working guide dogs, businesses are not required by law to allow retired guide dogs on their premises. Many choose to allow them in as they’ve taken their blind handlers into their properties throughout much of their working life. In many cases, they even view the retired dog as being a well-known and trusted customer. Some had told us that they knew Eddy had been given high quality training, and that his training wasn’t suddenly going to disappear because he’d retired. So, Max and I would go for a walk somewhere, and Su and Eddy would then meet us there a little later. This is what we did on one occasion when we’d arranged to meet up at Marenghi’s café. While we were there, Su told me she needed to briefly go back to our doctor’s surgery, and yours truly was left with both Max and Eddy in the café. After a little while, the door opened and in came a lady who suddenly exclaimed: “Oh you’ve got two dogs!” I just couldn’t resist it, and replied: “Yes, it’s because I’m blind in both eyes.” “Oh right . . .” she said, and then, realising that she was having her leg pulled, slapped me playfully but quite firmly on the arm.

Something Su and I have done for many years is to take our dogs to Coventry to visit our friend Liz. During that time, we’ve developed a liking for several places, including the Hatton Locks Café at Warwick, and the War Memorial Park at Coventry. On one occasion when we were visiting her with both Eddy and Max, we all thought it would be a lovely idea to spend the afternoon at Leamington. Even though we knew that Max had done his early training there with Marinda Wells, and had no doubt visited the shopping areas quite a number of times, he gave us absolutely no inclination at all that he knew where he was, and he certainly didn’t try dragging me into any shops that were familiar to him. Starbucks in the Royal Priors Shopping Centre was definitely among the places we wanted to visit. We always try to remember to take our collapsible dog bowl with us, but on this occasion, we’d somehow forgotten it. As it was quite a hot day, and the three of us were very much in need of a cool drink, we knew the boys would also appreciate a nice cold drink of water. We chose to sit outside because of course Eddy was retired, and we weren’t at all sure if they would allow him inside, as it wasn’t one of our regular places to visit. So, Su went inside to find out if they could find anything suitable that could be used as a dog bowl. It appeared that the only thing they could suggest was one of their larger disposable paper cups. Well, it was better than nothing I suppose. Eddy was the first to have a drink, and obviously he had the wide open end of the cup to drink from. As the cup was quite full, he seemed to manage relatively well. Next, it was Max’s turn. With the cup now half empty, and his beautifully shaped snoz fitting perfectly into the cup, he successfully managed to get his tongue right down into the narrower bottom end of the cup to get as much water as he could. We couldn’t help but laugh at him, because it looked as though he was trying his best to mimic Eric Morecambe’s classic impersonation of Jimmy Durante!

Something that Su and I noticed when taking Max for free runs in the park was how people reacted negatively to German Shepherds. Sometimes we were yelled at, with demands such as: “Get your dangerous dog back on its lead!!!” A phrase which was usually accompanied by a few choice and totally unnecessary expletives. This would upset Su and I, as Max simply wanted to play, nothing more, nothing less. Some of them had even seen Max and Eddy get out of the same car and start playing nicely together. On another occasion, a lady who had her small terrier on a lead saw Max, and probably without thinking, suddenly yanked her dog up into the air by its lead and into her arms to keep it away from Max! She could so easily have broken the poor dog’s neck! Thankfully, she didn’t, or at least, not on that occasion. Sadly, German Shepherds, like a number of other breeds, have been given a bad reputation, all thanks to very poor breeding and irresponsible dog owners. Their name itself proves they are naturally gentle animals. Just think about it for a moment, how many farmers would want a dangerous dog rounding up their sheep?

Max had an amazing skill that had absolutely nothing to do with the training he’d been given to become a guide dog. Even though Eddy wasn’t very keen of having Max about at first, Max showed genuine concern for him. One day, Su spotted Max very gently lifting up one of Eddy’s pinnas, the furry flaps that cover a dog’s ears, and was sniffing at his ear. Su decided to take Eddy to the vet to get his ear checked out as he had been pawing at it, and had been prone to ear infections most of his working life. We usually wouldn’t know about it until we could smell it ourselves, but Max had detected it far sooner. Not only was the vet impressed that Max had indicated that Eddy had the start of another ear problem, but his quick action had prevented it from becoming infected! In fact, Max did the same thing on a number of occasions, and not only to Eddy. Once while we were with our friend Sian and her guide dog Arnie, Max did the same to him. Sian remembered us telling her about how Max had pointed out Eddy’s ear problem, and decided to take Arnie to the vet to have his ear checked out. Sure enough, Arnie also had the beginnings of an ear infection!

After one of our regular trips to Tredegar Park in Newport to give Eddy and Max a free-run, Su asked me if I’d like to stop off at the Tredegar Arms pub for a pint before we headed home. That’s something she never needs to ask me twice! While I was enjoying a nice pint of real ale in their beer garden, a lady who was sat at a table not far from us began eyeing up max, and appeared to be extremely nervous of him. After quite a while, she noticed how well behaved he was, and asked if she could give him a stroke. Of course, Max was more than happy for her to do that. She then told us that she’d been bitten on the leg by a German Shepherd when she was 9 years-old, and had not gone near one ever since. She fell in love with Max, and ended up on the floor cuddling him, even snuggling up to him around his neck! We were absolutely delighted that we could share that special moment with her.

Max could also have quite easily moonlighted as a therapy dog, as he had a knack of winning people over who were initially nervous and frightened of him. It wasn’t really that surprising to us, because after I’d done some research into his family tree, I found out that some of his family had worked as therapy dogs in the United States of America.

Max was also a magnet for people who loved German Shepherds in general. On one occasion while I was stood at the bar at The Pontlottyn, our town’s Wetherspoon’s pub, a lovely lady came over and asked if she could talk to Max. My sense of humour kicked in, and I told her she could, but he would only understand her if she spoke in German. She knelt down, and to my shock, began talking to Max in fluent German! I thought to myself: “That’ll teach you Jon!”

It’s no secret at all that Su and I are regular visitors to The Pontlottyn. Max was a massive hit with Kirsty, one of the staff members there. On one occasion when Su and I had gone in for a meal, Kirsty had brought our food to the table. The next thing I knew, I heard Su saying: “Jon, we have a member of staff under our table . . .” It was none other than Kirsty, down on the floor, literally under our table having lots of cuddles and cwtches with Max!

Staying on the Wetherspoon’s theme, Max and I went by bus to Their Sirhowy pub in Blackwood with a sighted friend, Chris. As we walked up the High Street, I remembered that there was a lane going down to our right to an area where Max could make himself comfy. After he did what he needed to do, I fully expected him to go back up the lane to the High Street and then continue up to The Sirhowy. Nope, not Max! He was insistent on walking up the back lane that runs parallel with the High Street. I tried to encourage him to go back up the lane we’d come down, but I stood more chance knitting fog! As we had Chris with us, I decided to let Max go the way he wanted, after all, at least Chris could get us out of the mess we were in if everything went pear-shaped. Walking very confidently indeed, Max guided me along the lane for quite a while. Then as he turned left, Chris told me to just follow Max because he obviously knew exactly where he was going! Max led me up some steps and into Wetherspoon’s through their back door! He’d never gone in or out of that door before, and for that matter had never gone up that back lane either! We couldn’t help but wonder how on earth he knew! Did he have an in-built Sat Nav system maybe? We were both absolutely gobsmacked!

Just as we had done with my previous guide dogs, we arranged a visit to the West Midlands so that Max could meet back up with his puppy walkers, David and Elaine, and his best puppyhood friend, Miller, who sadly had decided that being a guide dog wasn’t for him. While we were there, David took Max to one of his favourite local fields for a free run and got a stunning photo of him. His sable coat gave Max a somewhat vicious appearance, but nothing could have been further from the truth. Max was as soft as butter, and wouldn’t have hurt a fly. He didn’t have a nasty hair on his body – let alone a nasty bone in his body. I must say though that his appearance definitely had the advantage of making me feel much safer and more protected when we were out together. For example, one day when Max and I were going down to town, coming towards us was a gang of what sounded like about ten or twelve very noisy teenagers, jostling each other and generally larking about. As they came closer to us, every one of them went dead quiet. They silently filed past us until they were a few yards behind us, and then began loudly messing about again. I thought to myself: “I can cope with this . . .”

Over the years, it almost felt that Max wasn’t a full German Shepherd. Having been given the details of his parents and some other ancestors, there was absolutely no doubt at all that he was indeed a full German Shepherd, 100-percent. There was a gentleman in our town who insisted Max was crossed with something, even though he’d been shown photos of Max’s parents Aussie and Lexis, and others such as his American grandparents, Zodiac and Pella. To be fair, he said it was probably Max’s American ancestry that gave him the slightly different appearance, but he very soon reverted to insisting that he was crossed with something.

From my non-visual perspective, I think what was happening was that I was picking up on the result of Max’s closeness to his puppyhood friend Miller, who he had grown up with for around twelve months or so. It seems that Max had managed to pick up some Labrador traits, which gave him even more softer and gentle characteristics, although, of course, that wouldn’t have affected his appearance in the slightest. German Shepherds are generally known as being a one-person dog, but Max was very much a people’s dog, something more typical of a Labrador. That reminded me of what Glenda Webb had told me while we were on class. Some of Max’s health issues during his early training at Leamington could well be put down to the fact that he hated being in kennels. Max wanted to be out enjoying the company of people, and it was his body’s way of reacting to a situation he really did not want to be in. German Shepherds can also be very picky and fussy when it comes to food, but Max had more of a Labrador’s interest in it. At first, this caused us a problem after Max had been seriously ill, but he seemed to realise very quickly that if he ate anything mum and dad hadn’t given him, it would make him very unwell. That was definitely not a Labrador trait that he picked up. Many Labradors tend to eat anything and everything, regardless of whether they are already feeling ill, or if eating something might make them ill. I remember when someone at our Wetherspoon’s threw a whole sausage across the room for Max. He got up, turned around, and laid back down with his rear end towards it, completely ignoring it! Su picked up the sausage, and very kindly returned it to its rightful and somewhat unappreciative owner.

During 2018, I noticed that Max was starting to limp slightly on the front, and that it mainly happened when we were walking downhill. After some checks at the vet, he was diagnosed with a shoulder issue for which he was given treatment. This appeared to work well for him, and his limp soon eased. In July of that year, Marcus Roberts from Guide Dogs Cymru came to give us one of our regular after care visits. At this point, Max had been working for around 6 years 8 months, and it was an assessment to ensure that everything was still working well and that we were staying safe. Both Marcus and myself were more than happy with the quality of Max’s work, and Marcus gave us the green light to continue working together for another year when we could expect our next after care visit. That really pleased me!

It was only a few weeks after Marcus’ visit that Max had a serious bout of Pancreatitis, which thankfully he got over after a little while. We had absolutely no idea what was about to confront us, but it suddenly and drastically changed our lives with a vengeance!

Listen to a recording of Max talking to me in our garden