Maxx walked up my driveway in 2002 and entirely changed the direction of my life. He is responsible for introducing me to agility, and we had quite a journey together. Maxx was my once-in-a-lifetime heart and soul dog, and he spent 90% of our time together within arm’s reach. I lost Maxx two weeks before his 17th birthday.

Maxx was an accomplished agility dog, and it often felt like he was reading my mind. He earned more than 30 championship titles in three different venues, made top 10 in NADAC every year, placed in NADAC Championships/DOCNA Nationals every year from 2004 to 2015, and was the first dog in Colorado to earn NADAC’s 10,000 points award and a DOCNA Gold-Competition-Merit of Excellence. He was my superstar teaching assistant who was ready to run anywhere, anytime, with anyone. He played agility with well over 100 people in classes, seminars, and at trials. When not running, he was happiest when he was being an ambassador for the sport, surrounded by adoring children.

I’m convinced that Maxx was born for agility. He was the first dog I trained to play agility, and he taught me much more than I taught him.