Hi Everyone, I’m Maxwell Smart and my mom is Diana Madaras, the artist. I wanted to introduce myself and share what I’ve learned in my brief time on earth.
-I spent the first six months of my life on the streets of Nogales and never had enough to eat.
-Animal Control picked me up and said I would be euthanized, but I didn’t know what that meant.
-When someone sent Mom my baby pictures, she decided to adopt me. I was kind of sickly and only 26 pounds, and my head was too big for my body.
-When I first moved in, Mom couldn’t understand why I pulled everything out of the garbage cans in the house, but I thought that’s where dinner came from.
-I didn’t understand why I had to go bathroom in a special place or why I got locked in a crate occasionally. I also didn’t understand this leash-walking thing, and in protest sat down in the middle of the street and refused to move. Why couldn’t I run free, and why was Mom crying?
-After hours of training, I began to understand what was expected and realized I’d won the doggie lottery. I was safe, loved, and actually had 2 meals a day served to me!
-I got anxious one morning when Mom left for a meeting, and wasn’t sure she would come back, so I decided to do what she usually did. I went into the studio and picked out my favorite red paint and brought it to dad in the bedroom. But he was in the kitchen, and I was hungry, so I ate the paint.
When Mom got home, she got upset and said the bedroom looked like a crime scene. I thought the red paint looked really pretty on the white carpet, just like one of her paintings. She thought I was bleeding out. She kept calling poison control, and I had to endure 4 baths that day. My tummy hurt and I made bright red piles in the yard for a while, but I was OK.
-She also got really mad when I tried to eat an open safety pin and dad’s razor. She called me a “Roomba”, whatever that is.
-Now I’m 15 months old (and still alive) and 52 pounds. I’ve grown a beautiful tail, and everyone wants to pet me. I think Mom likes that.
-I’m also a cover dog, which means nothing to me, but Mom seems to like that, too.
How Diana found Max
Diana Madaras and Maxwell Smart. Photo Credit: Candice Eaton
I’ve had pets ever since I was a child living in an apartment attached to my dad’s veterinary hospital.” In 2021, my two older dogs passed away, and I decided to take a break. I wasn’t ready for the responsibility of another dog.
But despite all the charity work I do for animals, I felt a huge emptiness in my life that could not be filled by friends or family. My dogs had been my constant companions in the painting studio, and I loved them fiercely even after they broke my painting hand in 2014 when they pulled me down during a walk. Both were 14 years old when they died, and I’d had them since puppies. I was heartbroken.
Then, last October, Amy Cubillas, founder of the dog rescue organization called the Sanctuary Project, sent me a photo of a puppy looking for a new home.
Max's "baby" pictures
He was found roaming the streets of Nogales and was slated for euthanasia since the shelter there was over-crowded. My heart leapt from my chest. He was one of the cutest puppies I’d ever seen, and I knew immediately he would come live with us. Before I’d even met him, his name popped into my head, and I had a tag made for his collar that read "Maxwell Smart." And so began the adventure with this amazing little being.
(If you’d like to see more posts about Maxwell Smart, follow Diana Madaras on Facebook).