Dear Mark;

I can relate to your loss of “Sprite”, as a went through a similar experience in 2002, and I am still not over it.

Back in 1984, one of my adopted sons came in from playing. He was carrying a small Rat Terrier that was bleeding from the nose and mouth. When I asked him where he got it, he told me that he took her away from some kids three streets over, who were kicking her like a football. We took her to a vet and had her checked over. The vet told me that the dog was a year-old and that except for some slight bruising and a broken tooth, she was fine.

I decided to keep her and the boys named her “Baby”. She took to me right off the bat and went every where with me. As an Orthodox Catholic priest, I was required to work a secular job to help support myself and my family, so I was a local and short run truck driver and “Baby” went to work with me, every day.

After my sons grew up and left home, “Baby” and I spent more and more time together and she got to where she could literally understand over 56 different things that I would say to her. From the time she first became a part of my family, she would never walk on a leash. She absolutely refused to be on one, but she would stay right by my side where ever I went.

In 1996, “Baby” developed cancer in three of her mammary glands. I had her operated on, but I could not afford to have her undergo chemo, so the vet could not promise that she would live too long.

Well, “Baby” pulled through, and then one night in 2001, while we were out walking, she suffered a stroke, which blinded her, but she still refused to walk on a leash, but she would follow me every where, because as I walked, I would tap my cane and she would follow the sound. People used to laugh saying they heard about ‘Seeing Eye’ dogs for people, but they never heard of a ‘Seeing Eye’ person for a dog. The following year, “Baby’s Kidneys and bladder shut down and she began to experience severe pain. I had no other choice but to have her euthanized on October 13, 2005 at the age of 19. That was the hardest thing I have ever had to do, and even though it has been a little over 5 years, I still break down in tears when I think of her. She was my little girl and always will be.

One month after “Baby’s” passing, I adopted another little dog, a Toy Fox Terrier, who also came from a very abusive situation. I named her “Munchkin”. She just turned 9 and she is my #2 little girl.

Rev. Gregori from New York