Max the pit bull, aka Canis Maximus, aka the long-term guest dog at Che' Mer, has found his forever home!

 ^{(Max running loops in the snow, 12/21/08).}

 We went to dinner with our friend Benjamin and his wife Kim last Friday, and mentioned Max's ongoing quest for a permanent home. Benjamin perked up and said, "Did you say a pit bull?" Yep. "My sister's been looking for a pit bull for a year."

 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Apparently, this sister has an elderly black lab, and a young "pocket pit" female (apparently a pit-corgi mix, very short, with very large ears, and utterly adorable), and she's been wanting another pit to keep the younger dog busy.

 They came out Sunday to meet Max, loved him, and took him with them for a trial run.

 The boys wake up before I do, so by the time I got downstairs this morning, they and Max were all sacked out on the couch watching Kung Fu Panda.  Evan, my oldest, said, "Yeah, we weren't sure if Max knew how to get on the couch, so we taught him how to get up here."  Nice one, boys.

From his second full day, we got this report:

 He's been on 2 walks now with us, and fits right in with our pack of ill-behaved-animals-and-children-with-leashes.  We're like a moving mass of tails and arms all going in separate directions, but still managing to make progress toward a common goal (the cul-de-sac at the top of the hill).  We seriously have to walk before people come home from work because I don't want them to think we're all hopeless.

And we got 10 of Max's nails trimmed, 10 more to go.  You were right when you said he didn't really care for the procedure.  It was sort of like clipping the nails of a jack rabbit on crack.  He'd let me do about two, then pop up and run like a crazed banshee somewhere else in the room.

 He and Ruby are still playing lots, which is awesome.  And Max can leap!  He soared off of a retaining wall in our backyard today, hit the ground once and then shot into the living room.  The boys think he needs a cape :)

Today, we heard:

He's doing awesome.  I agree with you that he's not 3 or 4 years old yet.  There's no way on God's green earth that something this lively and goofy could be over 2 years old!

 We're going to forage some more sticks for him this afternoon (They had joked while they were here that they'd need to hunt up some dead trees for Max to play with, because he was doing his best to drag recently cut tree branches around the back yard).  He loves to prance around with them and taunt the girls (who are probably thinking, "What the heck do we want an old mossy stick for?"). 

And you were right about him being a quick learner.  We've been putting him in his crate at bedtime with a dog biscuit every night; but last night when he saw Josh getting out the biscuits, Max ran into the living room and curled up on the couch as quick as he could.  Josh said, "Do you think he realizes that I'm going to put him in his crate?" I said, "Ummm, Yeah, I really do think he's picked up on that."

And then, the very best part of all:

He is a joy to have around and we love having him.  If you guys are doing okay without him, we'd love to keep him.

He is obviously going to be spoiled completely rotten, as every dog should be.

It's a good good thing for him, even though we're all going to miss him (especially Abby).

^{(Max and Abby at the back gate, 12/23/08)}

 I just love a happy ending. :)

UPDATE! 

By popular demand, here's a picture of Max's new sister, Ruby the Pocket Pit. :D 

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