Due to the inherent nonlinear nature of viscoelastic non-Newtonian fluids, one of the challenging aspects for developing and utilizing their related devices to achieve high performance is the development of models that can accurately describe their particular characteristics. In the past three decades, the models for viscoelastic fluids have been focused on how to improve the modeling accuracy and reliability. In this study, the classical Maxwell model for viscoelastic fluids is extended in terms of characteristic relaxation time strain-dependence. The extended model is very useful in describing the response of geological and many other polymeric fluids. A self-consistent extended Maxwell model for viscoelastic non-Newtonian fluids is presented. By way of example we consider the exact solution of the extended Maxwell model, describing the standard dashpot-spring configuration.