Hi. My name is Max. I am a canine columnist. Yup, I have my very own weekly newspaper column, my claim to fame, which I have been writing since February of 2000. My column is a regular feature in the wonderful hometown paper of Ogden, Iowa. I moved to Taos, New Mexico with my family at the end of 2000 and then became a foreign correspondant, thanks to the wonderful invention of email. I know, New Mexico is a United States state so technically not foreign, but if you live here you understand why I figure the term is appropriate. Compared to Iowa, it is foreign (in a good way, of course). And now, I am pleased to announce that I have my very own web site. Cool!

I am a black lab dog. I was adopted from the animal shelter in the spring of 1999. Guess you could say I was a pound puppy. I was about 10 weeks old at the time (this is my baby picture). I'm purebred - and a very handsome dog - but wasn't "perfect" enough to sell for a show dog. My tail curves up at the end, and nobody wanted me. Nobody except my person Ruth, who thinks I'm perfect in every way. If you want to read my whole life story, you can get my eBook which will be done soon and available on this web site. My whole life has been written in the pages of this book (destined to be a best seller, I'm sure!), and contains many of my popular weekly columns.

In case you're wondering why I have my own site, it's because I have a lot to share. Also, I need to work for a living. I help my person out by earning my keep here. I buy my own bones and toys with earnings from my newspaper column. I expect that I'll be able to buy my kibbles and vitamins and raw food diet with my web site income. I also contribute regularly to the local pet shelter and help my person take care of strays and hungry animals that manage to find their way to our place. We officially have a 501(c)(3) horse sanctuary, and we never turn away any animal in need.

My goal when I began this website was to become a Delta Pet Therapy dog. It costs money to get tested and certified, so some of my earnings were to go towards that. I'm very excited about this program. I am proud to say that Ruth and I did our test on Feb. 24, 2007 and passed! Now we get to go to nursing homes and schools to help with reading programs for young children. When I was just a young pup, I went to dog obedience classes with the goal being to become a well trained therapy dog. Then we moved to New Mexico and several years have passed. With Ruth's work schedule and all, I never did get to do this. Now we have the time once again to devote to the therapy program, so this is a dream come true for both of us.

Bindy, our miniature donkey, is in training also for the Delta program. He never had basic obedience training like I did when he was young, so it's taking him a while longer to get trained. He won't be tested till probably July of this year. By then, I'll have enough experience so that I can teach him the ropes about going to nursing homes and schools and interacting with people of all ages.

So that's what my site is about. Please check it out and enjoy! Oh, and I even have my own email account - max@mylabmax.com. I'd love to hear from you.

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