This is Maxx or Maxwell. He turned 15 this past September 22nd. Though he’s not remotely as spunky as he was in his younger years, he is still quite healthy, thank god. The house we live in mainly and have owned the longest has hard wood flooring on the first story. That has been his biggest obstacle starting about a year ago. That is because he hates his groomer cutting his nails and fur on his feet, so naturally he slides around quite easily. Plus his younger brother, LittleGuy, weighs 25 pounds more than him and tends to run into him anytime Maxx is about to receive attention. So, seeing him struggle at times walking around is quite heart breaking especially since during his younger years he was so athletic and he had impressive balance. The balance is very common for Cairn Terrier’s because they were bred in Scotland to run on sharp pointy rocks, called Cairns, that are along the water to hunt small rodents. So, for his balance to go makes me nervous about his health as he gets older. When his brother Gus past away, when they were both 9 years old, I shut myself down and did not leave my house for 14 days. During that time I had a birthday and spent it alone at home very sad. Point being, I am so thankful he’s healthy still but I’m also so scared because of his age and that someday his health may give out. When I first got him he was 7 and 1/2 weeks old. At that time I was in the process of building a new house and I sold my house I was living in. So Maxx and I had to move into a newly built apartment for 6 months. The apartment did not allow animals so he went to my business I owned during that time each and every day. Once my house was finished is when I got his brother, Gus. However, It’s impossible for me to discuss Gussy without getting very sad, so I won’t be highlighting Gus in a story here, as much as I would like too. Here’s a picture of Maxx in his room on his bed when he was 8, to lighten the article up from where it was going. 
My house that my dogs and I live in most of the year, has a huge back yard. Maxx used to run around for hours out back. He was always very protective over his yard against any other animals or birds that would be in the yard. He did catch one bird and almost caught 2 different rabbits when he was able to run around back there. As you can see his hair is a bit darker down by his feet and lower legs in these pictures. That is from him constantly being out back patrolling the yard. I used to laugh so hard about his patrolling because he would act like the toughest dog, all 19 inches tall and 22 pounds of him. Plus I know his true nature being exactly opposite of that. But all that running probably is the key to his health at 15+ years old today. Here’s a picture of him being held by my father when my parents came over sometime around 5 years ago. 
I believe my parents have accepted the fact that I probably won’t be having children and they call Maxx and LittleGuy their grandkids, lool. I bought them a house in the same neighborhood as I live in and they are always wanting to watch my two boys. When I would go out with a girl or just with friends they would be over to pick them up without me having to ask them. But once I started developing ExplodingBitcoins, I pretty much stopped going out. So they would have to wait until I went out of town and they would encourage me to stay longer with the hope they would get to keep them longer. That was funny to me since they don’t even live 0.2 miles from me and could come over anytime they want. Anyway, they have alway obviously loved my dogs. Here’s Maxx on after watching the Ohio State game when the Buckeyes won their last national championship a couple years ago. 
I do not have any pictures of Maxx as a puppy as Digital photos that I could find. The one with him on his bed in his room is the oldest one I could find. Which is strange since I absolutely refuse to delete any photos of my dogs. I found pictures of my dogs I had when I was in high school or a little over 20 years ago. But none of Maxx as a puppy. I am thinking since he was with me almost every minute of the day as a puppy, I may not have taken any. My parents have actual photos of him and Gus as puppies. To finish this up, for anyone looking to get a new puppy but do not know what breed to get, I encourage you to look at Cairn Terriers. Maxx is the second Cairn I have had in my 39 years of living and they are a great breed to own. Cairn Terrier’s are exceptionally fun dogs to have in your family and they love doing anything you are doing. I will say this though, for some reason Cairns are not very photogenic as you can probably see in these photos, that’s not even a bad quality but it is the only thing I could possibly mention as a negative quality. Maxx always seems scared getting his picture. I have no idea why since I would NEVER lay a hand on my dogs in a mean manner. 
That’s Maxx in my kitchen laying in his bed he has in the kitchen. Notice the corner of his mattress is chewed. That was LittleGuy putting his mark on Maxx’s bed, nothing more. Poor Maxwell used to be my definitive Alpha dog and now his age has taken his Alpha status away from him. Ironically that title has been given to LittleGuy by default by absolute default of age since Little is not what you would define as Alpha, lool. But it does not matter because no matter what they are both my dogs and I love them no matter what. I hope you enjoyed reading about Maxx. Thanks
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