This special dog named Max, has a story that starts around two years ago when he was found by a family vacationing in California. While traveling home to Kansas City, their vehicle broke down in New Mexico. They were waiting for a tow truck in an abandoned hotel parking lot and noticed a huge white dog hiding under a burned-out car. The dog was emaciated and his fur was deeply matted, so they fed him chicken nuggets and bottled water. The dog stayed with them for the six hours it took for the tow truck to get there and have their vehicle fixed. Once their vehicle was up and running, the family searched the dog for a microchip at the local vet, but was unsuccessful. Having found him in the New Mexico desert with no collar, no microchip, and no other identification, they determined that this Great Pyrenees dog had been abandoned. They knew that ‘Max’, his new name, short for ‘Maximus’ would be coming home with them.
Great Pyrenees dogs are known for their love of protecting livestock, people and roaming around, especially at night. Unfortunately, those instincts kicked in and the family, living in an apartment, quickly found out that Max would not be able to live with them. He frequently snuck out at night and wanted to roam where he may.
It just so happened that Sara Olson, a rural Langford resident, was good friends with this family and happened to be in Kansas City at a bridal shower the weekend the family was planning on re-homing Max.
“My friend contacted me through Facebook, and I told him we could come check him out since we were in the area,” says Olson. “As we pulled into their driveway they were running down the street chasing after Max. He had pushed open the door and gotten out again.”
Sara and her daughters couldn’t say no to sweet Max, so they loaded him up and headed north to his new home on the farm. Max quickly turned into an excellent farm protector. “He loves his humans, his cats and his chickens,” says Olson. “We know he’s kept our farm safe from coyotes, racoons, foxes, beavers and even birds of prey.” Max is truly a gentle giant who will hold your hand or try to sit on your lap.
However, his breed and genetics have shown their true colors. Several times Max has wandered away from home, often making the five-mile cross country trek to Langford only to wind up at DaMar, the local convenience store, where he gets lots of love, and breakfast.
“The workers at the C-Store in Langford love all of the dogs and will feed them when they show up,” says Olson. “Max remembers where the nice people are who feed him breakfast sandwiches and burritos.”
The family knew in order to keep track of the wandering Max, they would need to invest in a tracking device. After trying several devices, the Olson’s settled upon the Life360 App Doggie Edition. “This tracking device has proven to be the most efficient,” says Olson. “It will even alert me when he leaves the yard and shows me exactly where he is at any given moment.”
How does Max turn into a celebrity you ask? One night after Sara’s daughter Emily got home around 11:30 p.m., Max snuck out of the garage without her knowing. When the family woke up, they saw several notifications from the Life360 App that Max was on the move. “I looked at his current location and sure enough he was at the C-Store,” says Olson. “I jumped in the car to go pick him up, and there he sat, waiting for them to open so he could have his breakfast burrito.” The family looked closer at Max’s travels that night and saw that after sitting at the C-Store for almost six hours he wandered across town to Emily’s boyfriend Connor Glines’ house as well. “He’s never been to Connor’s house,” says Olson. “So it’s amazing to us that he even found it!”
After this hilarious adventure, Olson posted about it on a Great Pyrenees Enthusiasts Facebook page and the story went viral. More than 90,000 people liked and shared the original post and soon several writers from People Magazine, LADBible, The Sun UK and even FoxNews.com contacted the Olson’s to share Max’s travels for a simple burrito.
Even though the employees at Damar’s love seeing Max, the Olson’s would prefer him to stay home, or close to it. They’ve started making their own breakfast burritos, so Max doesn’t have to travel cross country for his tasty morning snack.
