Maximus the Wonder Lab

Maximus in his leaner years.

We got Maximus a week after our honeymoon. We almost took home the wrong dog. The dog breeder's 10 year old daughter loved Maximus and didn't want him to leave. So she switched his identifying bracelet. We were leaving with another puppy who was shaking when the dog breeder realized the mistake. She came running out and stopped our car just in time. (We would have figured it out eventually since the dog we had was female and Maximus is male.) She handed me Maximus, who immediately snuggled into my shoulder. I knew he was going to love us and him us.

He is beautiful.

I describe Maximus as slightly trained. He went to puppy school and was the star of the class. The trainer had us use dog treats as rewards. Maximus will do anything for food. He was the first in the class to sit, stay, walk on leash well, and play dead. Now ask that 100 lb. wonder lab to not jump on guests and he can't do it even with treats. The treats merely slow him down for the time it takes him to eat said pig ear (about 30 seconds). If he wasn't prone to weight gain, I would be more apt to reward him with treats to help control his behavior. He is currently on a diet. They say pets and their owners start to look alike, huh?

Maximus takes his floor cleaning responsibility very seriously.

When I got pregnant with my first, Maximus seemed to know before I did. He became super protective. We use to walk every morning at 6:30am. One morning we saw a jogger running by, Maximus froze, the hair on his back rose, and a low growl came out. He refused to move till he saw the jogger was out of sight. We had seen this jogger almost everyday for months. Somehow he seemed to think he needed to be more protective. I took a pregnancy test later that week and discovered the good news.

Maximus lets Caitlin play dentist and rest on him.

Maximus is a very gentle dog when it comes to the kids. He lets them poke him (sometimes in the eyes) and never growls. I wish he would at least move when this happens. He lets my 40 lb. daughter lead him around the house by the collar. If he didn't want to move he wouldn't. My 17 month old son has started to push him when he is trying to steal food off the counter. I guess you can say my kids are not intimidated by Maximus.

Goofy animal

Although he can drive me crazy with all his mischief (which is mostly confined to stealing food and chewing socks), I love him so much and can't imagine not having him around. He really is a wonder dog.

This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as part of a sweepstakes sponsored by Burger King Corp.