The Ivy Handbook: CHATHAM IVY'S TALES OF THE DOGS - MAD MAX, THE GOLDEN RETRIEVER LEARNS ABOUT CARS

Some dogs are so crazy they provide endless material for incredible stories. Chances are if you know us, you've heard at least one if not dozens of stories about Max, our beautiful Golden Retriever (when our daughter was little she used to call him a Golden Achiever) . He was so unruly he made the Lab from Marley & Me look like a service dog. Max was a rescue dog from a Golden Retriever rescue league that we adopted when he was a year old. He'd had a checkered past and had lived on the streets for a while but was so affectionate and adorable that I couldn't resist bringing him home.

His unconventional life was made obvious to me when I tried to leave the rescue center with him and realized he had never been in a car. I tried coaxing him with a treat, then pulling him with a leash, then pushing him, but I couldn't get him to go into the back of the station wagon. I finally hoisted all 90 pounds of him into our wagon but I couldn't close the gate because he kept trying to squeeze back out. I noticed him make a move so I slammed the gate, and went to the front door only to find Max sitting in my seat.

This time I was smarter and I put up the special screen designed to keep dogs in the way back separated from the passengers. So I hoisted Max in the back again, threw a treat in the far corner and slammed the gate. As I drove out of the rescue center, Max crashed through the dog screen and bounded right into my lap. I stopped the car and thought, "aha, I will outsmart him this time!" I tied him in the back and gave him a bone to keep him busy. For the next half hour he seemed happy and busy if a bit nervous. What I didn't realize was that he was busy chewing through his leash. By the time I got to our street he ended up back in my lap, proudly holding up his big slobbery bone with half of a leash dangling from his collar. I'm fairly certain local law enforcement frown upon operating a vehicle with this kind of distraction.

What I didn't know at the time was that the trip home with Max was only the beginning. He sure was lovable our sweet, mad Max, but of all of our dogs, I'd say he was the most trouble. From swiping food to drinking people's beer, to eating an entire pond full of koi, to altercations with local moose and porcupines, Max did it all. We'll tell you some more mad Max stories, so stick around.