Max turns nine this month; he has lived with us for a year and a half. We got him when he was almost eight. He had never lived in a house – he lived in a kennel and had only been out of the kennel to hunt. His previous owner wasn't very nice to him. When his previous owner didn't want to hunt any more, he dropped Max off at a friend of ours and told him to sell Max – just get rid of him. He just didn't want him anymore. I couldn't be- lieve it. It was so hard to look at a dog in that situation and not do something. So we just did it. We didn't think about it. I am such a bleeding heart. As far as labs go, at almost eight, Max was an old man. He was an old man – grey and a bit creaky. It was so hard to believe this poor dog had lived the first - almost eight years of his life – with nobody liking him, nobody ever petting him. It was heartbreaking. He is the sweetest dog. He is just so sweet. When we first got Max, he would cower around the house; he didn't understand furniture and he didn't understand being out. It was sad. We took him out to hunt him about two weeks after we got him and he was a machine. However, he didn't like us. And we were like we really like you! It took the better part of a year for him to trust us. Now, that dog, I swear he would push us out of the middle of the road if he thought there was a truck coming down it. He is just the best dog - the hardest worker. He has the most heart out of any of our dogs. And most definitely – he is the most appreciative! If it was ever possible to see a dog is apprecia- tive of where they are and what they are doing – it's Max. I really think he knows this and that his previous life didn't have to be like it was. He works so hard. He retrieves like a champ. He breaks through the ice, he goes through snow, and he's just crazy. He is just the best dog ever. He has his Junior and Senior Title and is working on his Master Title. Our six-year old daughter, Sydney, ran him in a Junior Hunt Test and she was the youngest ever AKC handler on record. That was ex- citing.

The saying, about how a dog fills a hole in your heart that you never knew you had, is total- ly true. I can't imagine not hav- ing Max or our other dogs. They are amazing and they all work so hard for us. Max and our other dogs are out every day during the waterfowl hunting season in the cold, in the ice, in the rain and they love it, they absolutely love it. The testament of how much we give to them is proven in what they give back to us. I truly be- lieve that's why they work so hard for us. They gladly sit out there all day in weather I would not be out in. If they weren't happy they wouldn't work so hard for us.