I've heard it said that dogs, after a time, start to look and act like their owners. I don't know if it's true, for Max is a strikingly handsome fellow. On the other hand, we share a love of long walks and our creaky joints are matching up pretty well.

He hates bulldogs. He starts acting like a rabid squirrel when he senses the two neighbor Frenchies before I even see them. Toby, the English bulldog, just wants to play and be loved, but Max will have none of it. His best friends are corgis and Jack Russells, but the bullies, large and small, just piss him off.

To my recollection, he's never met an American Bulldog. Except, of course, the one within himself, revealed only through his DNA test.

Does Max hate that mysterious part of himself? Has it always been so, or has Max really come to look and act like his owner?