Character Inspirations: Max

Meet Kx-8775, mostly known as Max. He's a new secondary character for book two of the Triton Experiment series, designed after the concept of K9s and military service dogs.

He's based off of one of my dogs, Kaiser. In fact, Kaiser has inspired several stories and some of them are by other authors. Both D Renee Bagby and Stephanie Burke have been inspired after spending time around him.

German Shepherd Dogs are intelligent, strong willed and loyal. Kaiser, in particular, is responsive, sensitive and very driven to "work." Because of his very strong prey drive, he requires careful supervision around smaller animals, even other dogs. His nurturing side comes out with small humans, though, and he's often trying to play with children. He's a little rough and clumsy, but you can see his mind working, learning what the limits are for each particular child.

Intelligent also translates to sneaky. He can unlock doors, climb  6 ft fences, open refrigerators and generally get into stuff. He's like a velociraptor. The minute I come home, he's back on good behavior, but he's definitely got a mind of his own.

With dogs like Kaiser, you don't command him. You convince him early on that he wants to listen to you. And once you have his loyalty, it's yours forever.

One of the aspects I like to have fun with in the Triton Experiment series is introducing animals and touching on how they've adapted or been adapted for a society with space travel. Max is special because he not only has the particular traits of his breed but he also has genetic tinkering, a commonality with Kaitlyn. Unlike most animals, he also gets to contribute to the decisions about his future. His choice over rules everyone else's, regardless of rank or position.

Dev will have his hands full with a big black and tan dog on board and a crew member who turns into a black panther. And of course, there's Chester too. By the time we get to the end of the story, the ship's captain may lose his calm. We shall see.