PORT ANGELES — Hoping to raise enough money to save his best friend, teen Kyle Sholinder is organizing a benefit concert to pay for costly surgery for his 5-year-old dog, Max.
“He’s been like my best buddy,” said the Port Angeles 15-year-old of the German shepherd mix who shares his bed at night.
Max was diagnosed with wobbler disease, a slipped disc in his neck that causes an unsteady gait and weakness.
Treatment could include surgery, costing up to $7,000, according to Dr. Charles Schramm, a Port Angeles veterinarian.
Said Kristy Sholinder, Kyle’s mother: “Max is a big part of our family, but we don’t have that kind of money sitting around.”
Symptoms started showing up about six weeks ago.
“He just started stumbling around and bumping into things,” Kyle said.
The family thought Max might have vertigo, since a friend’s dog had displayed similar symptoms before being diagnosed with the balance disorder.
The Sholinderswere not prepared for the diagnosis or potential cost.
“For the first hour or two, I was just devastated,” Kyle said. “I didn’t think there was anything we could do about it.”
Then, Kyle got an idea.
“I figured we could throw a benefit concert for Max and maybe raise money that way,” he said.
Kyle is planning the benefit for early February, though there are still a number of details to be worked out — including the date, time and venue.
An avid guitarist, Kyle contacted a number of his friends who have bands to play the concert and is trying to woo national acts for the stage.
Kyle has lined up a roster of local bands, even enlisting the Port Angeles High School jazz band, he said.
Through a Facebook page called Save My Dog Max at www.facebook.com/savemydogmax, Kyle urges supporters to bombard the David Crowder Band of Waco, Texas, and Classic Crime of Seattle with emails asking them to appear at the Max benefit.
Although Max is not a particular music aficionado, Kyle said, “he definitely doesn’t seem to mind it.”
Kyle and Max have been constant companions since the dog joined the family five years ago.
They love running through the woods, playing ball and sniffing beach creatures, said Kyle’s mother.
“He kind of loves that dog,” she said. “You know, a boy and his dog.”
Max was part of a litter of puppies abandoned on the Lower Elwha Klallam reservation.
The Olympic Peninsula Humane Society brought the litter to Jim’s Pharmacy, where Kristy Sholinder works, for a fundraiser benefit.
After looking into his precocious puppy face, she said, she picked Max up and brought him home.
“We just kind of fell in love with him,” she said.
She decided to surprise 10-year-old Kyle and his siblings, making them wait in the family car after school one day while she ran in the house to retrieve the family’s new member.
“She opened the door and threw this puppy in my lap,” Kyle remembered.
A few face licks from Max’s tongue, and Kyle had a brand-new buddy.
Wobbler disease is common in larger breeds, Schramm said.
“Sometimes, dogs are born with poorly formed vertebrae,” he said. “Other times, dogs can suffer an injury that makes the disc protrude and put pressure on the spinal cord.”
Although Max began stumbling around the house several weeks ago, Kyle said, his condition worsened after the pup fell over backward while climbing up the stairs out of the family’s basement.
Blood tests and X-rays revealed damage to Max’s neck.
The next step is to take Max to a neurologist for an MRI to gauge the extent of damage in his neck. Schramm said that will determine the final cost of treatment.
“The last one I sent over that was done ran about $7,000,” he said. “There’s no way really to tell how comparable Max’s injury is to that dog’s.”
For now, the normally rambunctious dog is forced to lie around the house.
The neck injury means he can’t wear a collar, which means no more walks for Max.
“He’ll bring you his ball, but you just have to take it and set it on the ground,” said Marcy Peters, Kyle’s grandmother.
“It’s really tough because he doesn’t realize what’s going on. So he just lies there like he’s in trouble.”
The Sholinders already have received a few donations off the Facebook page and are in the process of setting up a bank account for donations.
However, Kyle has yet to find a venue that would hold down costs.
“We want to do it as cheaply as we can so we have money left over at the end,” he said.
Funds raised in excess of Max’s surgery costs will be donated to the Humane Society, said Kristy Sholinder.
“After all, that’s where we found Max,” she said.
For more information on how to help with Max’s treatment, contact the Sholinders through the Facebook page, www.facebook.com/savemydogmax.
Reporter Joe Smillie can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5056.
