My person and I were recently interviewed by the folks over at Golden Retriever Magic.  I thought I’d share the interview with you in case you missed it.

1) Max: How did you get onto the blogging scene? Also, how did you learn how to type – that too with no opposable thumbs – Very Impressive!!

First off, thanks for having us on your site. Now, how did I get into blogging? Well, it really all started after a particularly long nap one afternoon. You may have heard that I enjoy an occasional nap. Okay, to be completely honest I like to take a nap whenever I can and sometimes naps sort of run together. Well, one particular afternoon after I woke up from one of my naps and I couldn’t find my favorite tennis ball… I sniffed everywhere and just couldn’t find it. That left me without a lot of options for the day. I had already eaten, I had slept and now I couldn’t play fetch without a tennis ball. So I could take another nap or paw out my first blog post. The rest, as we say in the blogging world, is a series of archived posts.

What? You were looking for a more interesting story? I’m actually working on a cooler back story. I can’t let it all out but let’s just say it includes my wife, Morgan Fairchild? Yeah, that’s the ticket… Come on… you get the Morgan Fairchild reference, right? (You know, from back when Saturday Night Live was funny.)

As for the opposable thumb thing… Oy vey… that is definitely a sore spot for me. Can you image all the cool things I could do if I had opposable thumbs? Typing, it turns out, was pretty easy to pick up. I just sort of paw away at the keyboard and hit the delete and backspace keys a bunch. If you’ve read any of my posts you’ll also see that I don’t know how to use spellcheck yet (haven’t mastered ALT-S yet) and I use a lot of dots… (like that) The dots aren’t really part of my posts but I kept hitting the dot key with my paw pad and finally just gave up on deleting them… 

2) Max: What are your favorite things to blog about? Lazing about on the couch, making new friends, new things you have learned, places you go … Any one blog that is your favorite?

You must have read some of my posts… I blog about my adventures and my friends. I have some favorite places like the dog park and the lake. I once got to visit the country and met a bunch of cool dogs. I also met these REALLY big things called cows. I still think about them every time I get to eat a hamburger that falls of the grill. My people and I moved to the beach about a year ago so most of my adventures have been about the beach and those cool beach squirrels. I think the people call them crabs. My favorite blog is probably the time I stayed in the kennel. I still chuckle at how me and some of the other big dogs messed with my friend Chiquillo the Chihuahua. I can still see him shaking and piddling.

My people also use my blog to let other people and dogs know where we’ll benext. We do a lot of traveling to dog shows and trade shows and other events where we show people our Keep On Wagging! merchandise. Even our family and friends go to my blog and website to figure out where we are. Like this weekend we’re in Orlando, FL at a Gift Show and also in Greenville, SC at a AKC Dog Show. I can’t share the details on how we can be two places at the same time but I can say we have lots of mirrors and areally cool smoke machine.

3) Max: Any funny quirks that your human has that make you laugh?

Come on! He’s human… pretty much everything he does makes me laugh. Don’tget me wrong. I love my people. I mean, without them who would throw the tennis ball or open the lid to the treat jar?

4) Max: What do you think makes your blog enjoyable to people (not counting your very entertaining writing style, of course!)?

I’m glad to hear that people enjoy by blog. You never know what people aresaying. Cats, they’re pretty straightforward, but people, you never know. Anyway, I think people like that they can see their own pets in my blogs. I’m a pretty ordinary dog (understanding of course that dogs are extraordinary by definition) and most of the stuff that I do is pretty similar to what other dogs do. I also try to keep my blogs light hearted and upbeat. I also usually include some great tunes that I assume people hum along to as they read my posts.

5) Aubrey: How did you and Max get started blogging? Any specific message/purpose you had in mind when you started?

I really just give Max a hand once in a while. Okay, I had to help him setup Word Press the first time, but other than that he pretty much handles it himself. As Max just mentioned he really got started because he was bored after losing his tennis ball so I don’t think he really had a purpose in mind when he started. That said, he definitely has developed a purpose over time. He really enjoys sharing with his readers how easy it is to enjoylife. In his words, “If life gives you tennis balls… play fetch!” It seems like all the news we see is bad. The tough economy, war, crime and bad news seem to dominate the conversation. He really wants to remind people that they should “Keep On Wagging! wherever life takes you.” Ever seen a sad dogwag? Nope, me neither.

6) Aubrey: What do you think makes Golden Retrievers (like Max) such special companions?

I’m a little bias of course, but I have to say Goldens are just the best. I’ve shared my home with other breeds (and mixes of breeds) but none have had such an easy going, happy personality. And, as a bonus, we’ve knitted three lovely afghans out of the shed fur we find everywhere around the house.

7 ) Aubrey: If you could adopt one of Max’s traits, which one would it be and why?

That’s an easy one. It would how little it takes to make him happy. Givehim a liver treat and a tennis ball and all is well with the world. Throw in a belly rub and a scratch behind the ears and he’s in doggie heaven. Not the doggie heaven that comes at the end, but the fun happy place dogs are when they’re very happy.

Aubrey: You have some really neat merchandise on your website keeponwagging.com, especially the T-shirts. Who thought up the designs?

I guess you’ve have to say Max thinks up the designs since they are areflection of him. The designs are all based on an aspect of his simple ways of enjoying life. Whether it’s hanging out at the dog park with friends, going for a meandering walk or simply enjoying a day at the beach, all the designs are meant to make people think about their dogs and smile. (Oh, yeah, and then buy a t-shirt after they smile…)

9) Aubrey and Max: Who’s the boss in your house? How can you tell?

I can answer that one! (Aubrey) Definitely Max rules the house. How can I tell? Max has never picked up my poop or taken me for a walk in the rain or moved furniture around to get my favorite tennis ball out from behind the sofa. And I don’t get a treat when I do a good trick.

10) Aubrey and Max: What’s in the future for you two and your entertaining blog? Is there anything else you’d like to talk about that might be of interest to our readers?

Hopefully more adventures will be coming soon and more t-shirt designs. OurKeep On Wagging! merchandise collection is really starting to grow which is a great thing. (Have you priced liver treats lately?) The bad thing is that cuts into our adventure and blogging time. Everybody is pitching in to make Keep On Wagging! a success including Max. He is actually our Vice Presidentof Stamp Licking. We gave him the VP title for tax purposes… shhh, don’t tell the IRS. Also, he likes handing out his business card at the dog park to impress his friends. The stamp licking thing was pretty rough going in the beginning with all the paper cuts (Have you seen how huge his tongue is?) His tongue has finally toughened up though and we found these reallycool peel and stick labels and stamps too.

We also have to through in a shameless plug for our merchandise website.Your readers can visit Keep On Wagging! to see and purchase a great t-shirt or hoodie or gift item or find a store in your area. We’ve got great stuff for people and for dogs.

You can find the original interview at  Golden-Retriever-Magic.com