Puppy Max’s Rescue Dog Story

Max’s Story

Firstly, thank you Lab rescue for the work you all do. You are the silent heroes that just continue to be dedicated to saving these dogs and continue to give them a voice.

The brief story that I know is Max was on a chain and under fed in a backyard for the first 10 to 12 months of his life. The owner wanted to go on holidays so planned to place him with a euthanising organisation. A friend intervened and contacted Labrador Rescue. You guys took him into care, fed him as he was very underweight and the Vet had prescribed antibiotics for the nasty ear infections that he also had.

Max was fostered by Michelle and her partner. Max was in the ACT, my partner and I live in Victoria. Max looked perfect and sounded like a perfect fit to complete our family. I had a few phone calls with Michelle and a number of emails including a video of him. 

It only seemed right to drive to him, it was offered to have him transported to us but we couldn’t bear the thought of doing that to him as he may not have even liked us and it would have been awful for him to get here only for us to tell somebody that it isn’t going to work. Michelle even took Max to a property that had sheep and goats to see how he reacted, he passed with flying colours as he didn’t want to eat them.

The road trip took 10 hours one way. As soon as I met Max on the night I arrived in the ACT I knew he was going to come and live with us. Two days later I took Max into my care and made the 10 hour road trip back to home. Poor Max, life must have been a blur for him but he just seemed to take it all in his stride. I am sure that he missed Rocky (his foster brother) as well as Michelle and G. They were a tight unit.

We live on 10 acres with sheep, alpacas and a steer not to mention all of the other wildlife including Kangaroos, wallabies, echidnas, emus, rabbits and numerous birds. We do have expectations that Max will respect other animals and learn not to chase. He is incredible. He goes to the paddock fence each morning where he and the steer lick each other’s noses, a couple of the sheep come to the fence to smell him and the alpacas still cry out at him although that does seem to be getting less and less.

Max impresses us each day and we are so grateful to have him here with us as a special member of our family but one moment really stands out to me. We have a place called Coastal View Cabins, Max comes to work with us, he sits on the cabin balconies while we clean. This particular day it was very hot, I finished the clean, went to the car and said ‘up Max’ to hop into the car. He refused, he just sat with eyes fixed to under the car. As soon as I got on my hands and knees to check under the car he just jumped straight into the car. There was an echidna seeking shade and was laying behind a tire. From that moment Max became our ‘wildlife warrior’. I was so proud of him.

Max is so intelligent that we are left in awe at times.

Our home has a constant covering of his fur, we need to vacuum 2 to 3 times extra each week but who cares. Our home is full of fun and laughter again. He loves to share all of his toys with us. We are lucky that we live and work on the same property so we get to spend the absolute majority of time with him. I have personally lost 1kg just from all of the extra walks we do. We go to a different beach twice per day, he loves the water.

Dog training starts on Feb 1^st, he will really do well in a group setting. You Tube has also been fantastic for us for training tips.

Max really seems to be happy and we love him very much, it’s like he has always been here.

He has made some new doggy friends and has a number of people who also love him. People are starting to know him now, we often hear “Max” being called out while on some of the walks.

Thank you Lab Rescue for taking a chance on us.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.