Max A Pooch is nominated to run in the Emerging Hero Dog Category in the 2013 Hero Dog Awards contest

sponsored by the American Humane Association.

Endorsed by Mark Winter, Executive Producer and Cofounder of Pet Life Radio

     Vote for Max A Pooch 

 

Canine Crusader for Animals and Environment

  Inspiration for  The Pet Life Radio Program Max A Pooch's Awesome Animal Advocates

 Max A Pooch's two campaign planks are straight forward!   1.  Help stop the deaths of an estimated 5500

dogs each day at kill shelters.  2.  Reduce America's WASTE line, by educating
humans to pick up litter.

You can learn more about Max A Pooch by visiting his website.  You may of course can visit the landing page for Max A Pooch's Awesome Animal Advocates at Pet Life Radio. You may wish to see some videos of Max A Pooch in action at his You Tube channel.  Max A Pooch is also an environmental reporter for WCCR.TV and even has a "Certified Official" badge to prove it.

 

Max also does promotions. He did a promotion for WCIU TV of Chicago Illinois to promote the TV series Rules of Engagement.

 

A vote for Max A Pooch is a vote to help him raise awareness of the harm humans do to animals and environment.

 

Remember, you can vote for Max A Pooch once a day!

 

 

 

 

"Award winning essay."

Mitsy's Miracle: The true story of a plucky beagle who found her way home

It will be a quiet moment like this as I sit with Max A Pooch I recall my first dog Mitsy taught me about courage and not to give up, and most of all how truly incredible dogs are.

 

  
Mitsy was a little beagle hound who had a big heart, incredible spirit and boundless energy.  Together the two of us rambled in the nearby woods and fields; the iconic boy and his dog.  I’d watch admiringly when she flushed a pheasant or chased a bunny. She’d watch with amusement when I splashed in a nearby pond clumsily attempting to catch frogs and pollywogs.  She slept on the foot of my bed, and I was always awakened by her in the morning as she licked my face saying, “It’s time to get up.”

One summer my parents left Mitsy with a friend while we were on holiday.   They thought it would be a much more pleasant experience for her than staying in a boarding kennel.  As soon as we returned from our vacation my father received a phone call from their friend who was “dog sitting” Mitsy.  He explained that Mitsy had scooted through the door the previous evening and disappeared into the darkness. He had searched for her, but couldn’t find her. We were all heartbroken and immediately drove the twenty five miles to his house to look for her.

We placed an ad in the newspaper and posted lost-dog signs on telephone poles, but there was no response. I was heartbroken.  During the first few days Mitsy was gone I cried myself to sleep.  My worse fear was she’d been struck by a car and died alone on the shoulder of a road, and that image haunted my dreams.  Each morning I looked out of my bedroom window hoping to see Mitsy.

After a few weeks had passed my parents attempted to convince me that she was gone and nothing would change that sad truth.  They offered to get another puppy.   “I’ll have no part in that.”  I told them, “Mitsy is coming home!” 

One morning   as I looked out of my bedroom window I was amazed to see the body of a small emaciated, filthy, beagle lying on our lawn.  Its eyes were filled with vile puss.  The dog was so still I thought it was dead.  I couldn’t believe what I saw as I ran from my bedroom shouting, “Mitsy! She’s outside.  She’s returned!”

Dad said, “Impossible! It can’t be Mitsy.. How could she ever find her way home? It’s more than twenty five miles from where she was lost.”

I was right. It was Mitsy. Tears welled in my eyes when I looked at her.  She was still as death. Her ribs were protruding and her stomach was shrunken so much that I could have encircled her abdomen with my fingers. My heart stopped, I thought she was dead. Then she looked at me and weakly wagged her tail. She tried to stand and walk, but she collapsed and laid on the ground whimpering.

We immediately took her to the veterinarian and he diagnosed her as having distemper and several other maladies. His advice was “Your dog is so sick it will be best to put her down.” 

Dad hesitated then he said, “I’ll stay here with her son you go to the waiting room with your mother.”

“Noooooooooooo!” I wailed, “Mitsy deserves a chance to live… she didn’t find her way home just to have us kill her!.”

As I pleaded Dad looked at Mitsy, and she stared back at him, wagging her tail feebly as if to say, "Give me a chance. He’s right you know."  Then Dad looked at mom and knew that he would get no support from her. 

The veterinarian said, “She can’t stay here she’s too contagious. If you take her home   it’s going to require a lot of time. Your work and her suffering may be for nothing.  You’ll have to bottle feed her  and clean up after her.  Are you willing to put in the effort?” We shook our heads yes.

In less than a year Mitsy was accompanying me again as we rambled in the nearby fields and woods. It was like old times.  No one could explain how Mitsy had found her way home. I thought her return was miraculous.

Mitsy died seven years later when she was eleven and I was seventeen. I buried her at the edge of the garden where she had loved to sniff for and to chase bunnies. I found a flat rectangular rock in the nearby field.  Tears streamed down my face as I chiseled the word “Mitsy” on  the surface of the rock and placed  it on the ground as a headstone for my childhood friend.

Today, decades later I still remember Mitsy and how she travelled and travailed to find her way home.   She made my childhood richer and taught me that there are things that happen that can’t be explained. Those things are called miracles.  I’ve also learned that as time passes and families dwindle, even memories of miracles fade until all that is left is a man who remembers a plucky little dog who found her way home. 

   

 

MAX'S MAXIMS. Max A Pooch says it is spring and the litterbugs are out in force in Litterfield, USA. Litter is more than unsightly. Food litter can make canines and other animals sick or even kill them. Plastic litter is slowly filling our oceans and waterways and is slowly breaking down into minute particles that will get into our food chain.

Help  Max A Pooch find an answer to the age old question. 

"Why does the dog always have to pull?"

Max A Pooch asks Awesome Animal Advocates why whenever there is a dog, a sled, a human, and either a harness or a rope why the dog has to pull. He thinks it would be fun to sit in the sled and have the human pull. What do you think?  Max A Pooch would love to hear your dog's point of view. Leave a comment and let's hear what your Pooch has to say about who should pull.

This is one of a series of pictures under of photos that are Max A Pooch's Max's Maxims. A new one will be posted every week or so. Please like this and share the link with your friends.

Max A Pooch's Max's Maxims

A maxim is according to the dictionary a general truth, fundamental principle, or rule of conduct

or  a proverbial saying.

 

Periodically Max A Pooch will add a photo that provides a look at his general truths and fundamental principals. Please come back periodically for more of Max A Pooch's Max's Maxims. 

Keith Sanderson is the creator and host of Pet Life Radio's Max A Pooch's Awesome Animal Advocates. He also writes Chicago Animal Advocacy Examiner, National Celebrity Animal Advocacy Examiner, and is the human companion of Max A Pooch.

Why advocate for the birds and bees?

Is what is happening to bees a proverbial "Canary in the coalmine" when it comes to warning us about the pesticides clothianidin and thiamethoxam? Photo courtesy of Center of Food Safety and taken by NY beekeeper Jim Doan.

 

Yesterday, the Center for Food Safety (CFS) filed a suit in behalf of a coalition of four beekeepers and five environmental and consumer groups against the Environmental Protections agency seeking the suspension of the use of pesticides clothianidin and thiamethoxam.

 

Late last month the American Bird Conservancy released a study titled The Impact of the Nation’s Most Widely Used Insecticides on Birds. That study issued dire warnings about EPA’s failures to assess threats to birds and to the aquatic ecosystems many species depend upon. The chemicals included in that study were clothianidin and thiamethoxam.

 

 

"Busy as a bee" is a familiar attribute and we owe a lot to the work billions of worker bees do in pollinating both food crops and wild plants such as flowers. While not native to North America the demise of the honeybee would create the loss of, or serious decline of many food crops that growers and farmers depend upon honeybees to cross pollinate.

 

Birds! It saddens the heart to imagine as The American Bird Conservancy claims that "As little as one kernel of corn shows that a single corn kernel coated with a neonicotinoid can kill a songbird"

 

If that claim is anywhere near true the number of birds that can and will succumb to a cruel and painful death by poison is staggering. Of course of paramount importance is the damage that these poisons may do and are doing to creatures large and small to the entire ecosystem.

 

It would seem that birds and bees are the proverbial "canary in the coal mine" when it comes to warning of the negative results of the use of the pesticides clothianidin and thiamethoxam. It is because of this warning of the potentially incredible negative impact on the environment and humans we should advocate for the birds and the bees. If we don't we may very well suffer similar consequences.

Keith Sanderson is the creator and host of Pet Life Radio's Max A Pooch's Awesome Animal Advocates. He also writes Chicago Animal Advocacy Examiner, National Celebrity Animal Advocacy Examiner, and is the human companion of Max A Pooch.

The two sides of Max A Pooch

As this video clearly demonstrates there are two sides to Max A Pooch. One side of him is  champion of  animals. His other side is   champion of environment.

That duality is not unique to Max A Pooch. It is difficult to imagine someone who advocates for animals who isn't concerned about environment and vice versa.

That is why the slogan for Max A Pooch is "Canine Champion of Animals & Environment." That moniker is the foundation of a strong," positive message describing for what Max A Pooch stands. It also provides the opportunity for him to communicate his messages. When he picks up litter and puts it in a trash can, or sorts recyclables from waste. He reminds people how easy picking up and disposing of litter is. He educates his audiences what is recyclable. People are amazed to see a dog do tasks that many humans won't or don't undertake. The second message of course is that Max A Pooch is a dog that was rescued. He is living proof of how friendly, bright, and helpful shelter dogs can be, and that there are millions of pooches who are waiting for homes.

Max A Pooch sees those who litter and those who abandon companion animals, as humans who share a common trait. That trait is lacking a sense of responsibility. Because of that shortcoming the environment is damaged and millions of animals are subjected to heart breaking trauma and death each year.

Whenever we are out for a walk and Max A Pooch finds a plastic bottle or other litter he picks it up and disposes it in a trash container. The reader can imagine the look on a passerby's face when Max runs past her or him with a bottle in his mouth.

I always make it a point to say, "Oh, of course he does that. He was thrown away and if things been different may have been euthanized and his body cast into a landfill.  There are thousands of dogs each day that aren't so fortunate. Now doesn't that make you sad to think how many Max A Pooch's are euthanized each day for no greater sin than not having a home? Shouldn't we be more concerned about animals and the environment?"

Keith Sanderson is the creator and host of Pet Life Radio's Max A Pooch's Awesome Animal Advocates. He also writes Chicago Animal Advocacy Examiner, National Celebrity Animal Advocacy Examiner, and is the human companion of Max A Pooch.

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Marketers of green pet or other products or services put Max A Pooch for you. It will help you, help the environment and help animals everywhere.

What animal advocates have done for me

Welcome! Many friends have asked me why I have spent more than a year chronicling animal advocates for Examiner.com, and now undertaking Max A Pooch's Awesome Animal Advocates and this blog.

The answer is Max the dog who we adopted a few years ago is what animal advocates have done for me. Since I adopted him he  has become known as Max A Pooch the Canine Superhero to the Environment. You see, we gave Max a forever home and after he arrived he recycled and repurposed me.

Briefly, prior to adopting Max I had gone through a rough few years. First, I suffered a stroke that left me paralyzed on my right side. I had to relearn how to walk, and I also had to relearn how to write and again control my fine motor skills. In addition, my speech was impacted and I needed speech therapy.

Thanks to the support and encouragement from my wonderful wife and a great medical staff I recovered. Unfortunately, soon after recovering from the impact of the stroke I was diagnosed with cancer.  I had surgery and the cancer was removed. After recovering from the surgery I returned to work. Two days later my employer told me my position in the company had been terminated and I was let go.

I was devastated. I had fought hard to recover from the effects of the stroke. As with many cancer patients I had been through a psychological roller coaster of hope and despair. The surgery had been major and the recovery painful. Now, at 55 I was told my job was terminated. Both mentally and physically I was in no way prepared to receive the news. After all, it is tough enough to find a job when one is over 50, being a stroke and a cancer survivor would make that task all the more difficult.

Although I did find employment, I never again held a position comparable to the job I had prior to my stroke.  My morale was at an all time low and I began to feel sorry for myself. It was then we went to Orphans of the Storm Animal Rescue with our granddaughter Zoe to adopt a kitten. We also ended up adopting Max.

Max was a project dog. He was six months old, had no training and was full of energy. He was also super smart, and willing to please.  Slowly, he began training me to be aware of the simple, but incredibly great things in life, like him greeting me when I came home.

As I trained him to pick up litter and recycle bottles and cans my attitude began to change and I saw life through his eyes. It was good. It was then I realized as I was training Max, he was recycling and repurposing me. I put my marketing and promotional skills to work. Through Max we could help raise awareness of the thousands of companion animals waiting for homes at animal rescues, and to help people become aware how easy it is to reduce America's WASTE line. One of the things we did was make a website for Max A Pooch.

It was when TAILS Magazine called Max, the Canine Superhero to the Environment in an article they wrote about him I realized what a positive change he had made in me.  And, I owed a debt to animal advocates that I will never meet.  Because of these people the rescue shelter from which I adopted Max exists and because of them I found Max. That is what animal advocates have done for me.

How many people are there who like me found their lives improved by the addition of a rescued cat or dog to their homes? How many people are their whose lives are enriched because a wild animal or species of wild animal is saved?  I will never know the answer to those questions. But, I do know there are countless people who can step forward and say thank you to the awesome animal advocates who fight for those who can't speak for themselves; and by doing so make the lives not only the animals  for whom they advocate better, but make lives for countless people richer and better.

I hope through my efforts I can help animal advocates spread their passion and energy, inspiring others as my way of saying thank you to those who efforts allowed Max and me to meet.

Keith Sanderson is the creator and host of Pet Life Radio's Max A Pooch's Awesome Animal Advocates. He also writes Chicago Animal Advocacy Examiner, National Celebrity Animal Advocacy Examiner, and is the human companion of Max A Pooch.