Mac arrived in Oregon at 10 weeks of age. When he exited his crate, he evidenced the extraordinary character, presence and independence that would accompany him the next thirteen and a half years of his life. For instance, with his owners and his groomer Elizabeth, he was as meek as a lamb. For the proverbial mail carrier and the landscaping team working in the garden he seemed to inspire primal terror with hardly a bark. For the landscaper workers, they needed to be pre-warned when Mac had to be let out to take a leak, and they received this message with the same foreboding as an incoming mortar round in a war zone.
Mac was highly skilled, excelling in obedience and tracking. He even learned to return his bowl and the bowl of his fellow dog Ronyn, after finishing his meal.
He was clearly an alpha dog right to the end, on occasion trying to herd Ronyn or making him growl by lying down 5 or 6-feet away and staring, like the crocodile with Peter Pan. On car trips, he always sat in the front right seat, except when there was a human occupant who commanded him to vacate it, in which case he reluctantly slithered to the back seat. Miraculously, under these circumstances, the two dogs always shared the backseat like good citizens.
OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
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