This year, Life to the Max is proud to be a part of the Airedale Rescue Quilt promotion which is now underway at http://www.airedalerescue.net/a_day_in_the_life/. We have donated seven Life to the Max books to their annual fundraiser to use as incentives to buy raffle tickets. If you do not already know about the Airedale Rescue Quilt, here is some information about this unique project.

The Airedale Rescue Quilt originated with a core group of Airedale enthusiasts who had another common interest: Quilting. These members put together an Airedale Quilting Bee website and decided to make a quilt with pictures of their passion, Airedales, to be raffled to raise money for National Airedale Rescue. The proceeds help to re-home/re-educate every purebred Airedale that comes into Airedale Rescue’s care. Although many people suggested that this project seemed impossible, the members of the Airedale Internet community, who often resemble the feisty, focused breed they love, were determined that this project would happen.

A quilt that raises $15,000 can help out 30 healthy Airedales, yet well over 600 Airedales were reported to have entered Airedale Rescue groups in 2007. Although a $15,000 donation from the Airedale Quilting Bee may seem to be a lot of money, it doesn’t stretch far with the costs of bringing an Airedale into Rescue and finding a Forever Home. Sadly, we see a lot of Airedales in Rescue as far too many people get an Airedale because of the Teddy Bear look, forgetting that pet ownership continues even when the puppy/dog eats a hole in the Oriental carpet … or de-stuffs the sofa.

All the Rescue Quilts show humorous and imaginative design, and the quality of workmanship makes them into pieces of art. Airedale Quilting Bee members, all over the country, make up the pieces, then send them to a designated member who puts them all together, and adds the finishing touches on the Rescue Quilt. Now the Airedale Rescue Quilt is ready to head to Montgomery, Pa., where during early October each year, there is an All-Terrier “do”. This do is where the finished Rescue Quilt is to be raffled off. Everybody with a ticket has equal chance of winning, as you don’t have to be present for the draw.

The 2008 quilt depicts “A Day in the Life of an Airedale”. The scenes will be familiar to all who cohabit with this wonderful breed, starting at the crack of dawn when the Airedale “greets” the owner who would prefer to remain in bed and ending with a sleeping Airedale, dreaming of the high points of the day. For a sneak preview, go to www.airedaleterriers.org/quilts/ and click on the 2008 quilt at the bottom of the page.

How Another Rescue Dog is Teaching Her Family that the Benefits of Canine Companionship Far Outweigh the Fear of Loss

We get a lot of fan letters and stories from people who have enjoyed our book, Life to the Max, but Jeff Munn took the time to send us pictures of his family’s beautiful rescue dog named Cinderella and the following story:

“Thank you so much for such a great book. I first became aware of it at McClintock Animal Care, where we take our best friend, Cinderella.

“I felt the sorrow right along with you when that moment came to say goodbye to Max, but what a wonderful way to describe Max’s journey to be reunited with Bernie. Having grown up with dogs, the thing that always prevented me from trying to convince my wife and kids to bring a dog into the house was the heartbreak you experience at the end. Last July, we were three months removed from having to say goodbye to the kids’ hamster, which broke all our hearts, when the family surprised me on my birthday with a webpage printout from the Arizona Animal Welfare League detailing Cinderella, a five year old lab mix. We immediately went to the League offices to adopt her.

“In the 13 months she has been with us, Cinderella has helped my daughter Hayley overcome her fear of dogs, lowered my blood pressure and has sent word to the neighborhood cats that they can’t camp out on top of our block fence anymore. She’s still working on our pigeon problem. I can’t imagine life without our Cinderella, and I’ve come to realize that while it will hurt when that day to say goodbye comes, it will be small compared to the joy she has and will continue to bring to us.

“You are so right about the staff at McClintock Animal Care. When our hamster, Cupcake, left us, Dr. Claus sent a sympathy card. Cinderella always produces smiles from the staff when she comes to visit. She loves to go bye-bye, whether it’s to the clinic, the Dog Park, or Petco, where she’s on a first name basis with the staff there as well.

“I know her name isn’t Max, but I thought I’d share her story and her picture. What a precious gift Max was, and what a precious book Max wrote with your help.”

As I wrote back to Jeff when he sent this story: beyond all the laughter, comfort and unconditional love our dogs give us, they also give us the opportunity to accept death as a natural cycle of life. Some people are surprised by the intensity of their feelings when our furry friends leave us, but why shouldn’t we be sad when we lose a relationship that has brought us so much joy? Even in death, they teach us that by overcoming our fear of letting them go, we have dared to receive so much more in return. God bless you and your family for giving Cinderella the opportunity to be your teacher.

You may recognize Jeff’s name as one of the radio voices from the Arizona Diamondbacks. We know he must be pretty busy these days so we appreciate the time he took to share this story with us.  Go D’backs and live Life to the MAX!

Did you see my mom at the Changing Hands booksigning on Saturday, August 9^th? If you missed it, she ROCKED! My little sister, Amber, was there along with the wild child, Krissy and guess what? They were both angels. Guess that’s because Dad and Andrew kept them on a short leash, so to speak.

Anyway, the turnout was fantastic for my mom’s talk and her special guests, Dr. Wight from McClintock Animal Care Center, Elizabeth Vaughan from Fairwinds Pet Memorial Services and Patricia Zebuth from Southwest Airedale Rescue. There was a standing room only and even a few other Airedales were in attendance. To see a slide show of the day at Changing Hands, click on the play button above and watch for another video of the whole talk that we will be posting shortly on YouTube.

Also if you haven’t already, sign up for feeds from this blog, so you’ll get notified when there are new posts. We are going to be having some other booksignings coming up soon, so stay tuned and thank you to all of you who have been doing your part to support rescue and us!

I received this link to a story about Little Janey who is an Airedale stray that was found in Mesa, AZ with a badly broken pelvis. http://www.airedaleterriers.org/azjaney/ She could have been hit by a car or she could have been horribly abused. Either way, this baby needs help. If she needs an operation, it could be between $2,000 to $4,000. So please donate to Airedale Rescue and earmark the funds for Southwest Airedale Terrier Rescue or Arizona Fund to help Janey get the medical care she needs. How someone could just drive away or abuse a dog like this just makes me cry.

In an effort to do more for rescue, we are expanding our options for donations.  Since April when we really kicked off our sales program, we have been donating 10% of the price of the book to either National Airedale Rescue or Southwest Airedale Rescue when purchased on our website http://www.lifetomax.com/buy-now/.  Now we have decided to increase the amount of the donation to 25% and we are giving buyers the option to choose from a list of even more animal rescue groups.  Right now we have a agreements with National Airedale Rescue ATCA), Southwest Airedale Terrier Rescue (SWAT), Arizona Animal Welfare League (AAWL) and just recently, we added Rescue a Golden of Arizona (RAGofAZ). We are in discussion with more rescue groups and we hope to add more soon.  This only applies to purchases on our Life to Max website and not to events or other websites. If you are a rescue group and you would like to partner with us, please email us at max@nicecreative.com.

A lot of people who are not familiar with Airedales often ask what the breed is like. I think Chip Brown, a national magazine writer, gave the most apt description in a 1990 article for Connoisseur magazine in which he said Airedales have “style, brains, and clownish wit– everything one looks for in a spouse”

Even so, many people still do not know what Airedales are like until they see them in action. Joyce Miller, a friend of mine, an Airedale enthusiast who has worked as a teacher, writer and researcher for 40 years and who maintains a dog educational site called Dear Jubilee, sent me this YouTube video of her Airedales, Kate & Neisha. Kate is teasing Neisha to chase her and it pretty much sums up what life is like with Airedales. You can’t say we don’t have PERSONAILTY!

We just got an email warning, reminding us about the xylitol danger to dogs.  Xylitol is a sugar alcohol that is commonly used is sugar-free products like chewing gum, candy, chewable vitamins and throat lozenges.

In humans, high doses of the sweetener can cause mild diarrhea, but in dogs, it can be fatal. When a dog ingests xylitol, it can cause a sudden surge of insulin, causing a sudden decrease in blood glucose.  Within 30 minutes, the dog may exhibit signs of weakness, lethargy, loss of coordination and seizures and without veterinary intervention could suffer severe liver damage and irreversible brain trauma within 24 hours.  Just three grams of xylitol can kill a 65-pound dog, which is about 8 to 10 pieces of sugarless gum, but for a small dog, it could take as few as two sticks to prove fatal.

As you may have noticed, dogs are pretty good Hoover vacuums when anything even remotely food-like hits the floor.  In addition, an open purse lying on the floor is just an invitation for a little nosing around.  So be diligent about keeping chewing gum, candy or any other foods containing xylitol out of our paws.

But if accidental exposure does occur, call the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at 1-888-426-4435 and get your pet to your vet for immediate treatment.  It really could be the difference between life and death.