I am immensely pleased and relieved at the way Max now handles new situations compared to earlier.

In the summer, not long after he had moved in, I had two friends over for an evening meal on the balcony, and Max was, quite frankly, a royal pain in the …. He clearly had no idea what to do, went virtually galloping in and out of the rooms when they arrived, and proceeded to – barking loudly – demand my constant attention throughout the evening. He was distressed and having an even more miserable time than us humans 😊.

Yesterday, I had again invited two – other – friends over to watch a film, followed by a meal. Max was much calmer both when the doorbell rang and when they appeared and throughout the afternoon and evening. He initially – on my command – spent time on his pillow, calmly observing us while we had some cake. After that, he did get a lot of loving attention from one of the guests who loves dogs, but he was completely calm, quiet and relaxed and obviously hugely enjoying himself, and he did not disrupt the watching of the film. While we had the evening meal, he again dozed off on his pillow.

After the guests had left, he behaved as he usually does when it has just been the two of us throughout the evening and did not come across as extra needy of my attention.

It has to be said that all morning, Max had had a good long run, off-leash, with Frank and friends , which obviously contributed to his equilibrium. I am grateful that that help is available to me.

I am also very grateful to our current trainer, Astrid Ribois-Verlinde, for making me persevere and not give up on Max when I was at an all-time low.

I find it so interesting how, 4,5 months after I adopted him, he is still changing for the better day by day – seemingly having a much better time, getting more and more relaxed around new people, and ultimately allowing me to spend some equally relaxed time with friends while being pleased with and proud of Max and the progress he has made and is still making.

If he is not careful, other people will end up regarding him as a completely normal dog 😊.